The Atlantic

The Books Briefing: The Techno-Future Is Now

What’s passed and what’s yet to come: Your weekly guide to the best in books
Source: Alfred Gescheidt/Getty

The pandemic has made many of us more reliant on technology. As this dependence has combined with a heightened anxiety over what comes next, readers have been drawn to books that imagine dystopian techno-futures. Some are turning to works of , such as Alvin Toffler’s . Others are finding unsettling reflections of their experiences in fictional works, such as Mary South’s short-story collection, , which .

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from The Atlantic

The Atlantic4 min read
Hayao Miyazaki’s Anti-war Fantasia
Once, in a windowless conference room, I got into an argument with a minor Japanese-government official about Hayao Miyazaki. This was in 2017, three years after the director had announced his latest retirement from filmmaking. His final project was
The Atlantic8 min readAmerican Government
The Most Consequential Recent First Lady
This article was featured in the One Story to Read Today newsletter. Sign up for it here. The most consequential first lady of modern times was Melania Trump. I know, I know. We are supposed to believe it was Hillary Clinton, with her unbaked cookies
The Atlantic4 min read
KitchenAid Did It Right 87 Years Ago
My KitchenAid stand mixer is older than I am. My dad bought the white-enameled machine 35 years ago, during a brief first marriage. The bits of batter crusted into its cracks could be from the pasta I made yesterday or from the bread he made then. I

Related Books & Audiobooks