Delayed Response, Jason Farman
Delayed Response, Jason Farman
List: $19.99 | Sale: $13.99
Club: $9.99

Delayed Response
The Art of Waiting from the Ancient to the Instant World

Author: Jason Farman

Narrator: Graham Halstead

Unabridged: 7 hr

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 11/20/2018


Synopsis

We have always been conscious of the wait for life-changing messages, whether it be the time it takes to receive a text message from your love, for a soldier's family to learn news from the front, or for a space probe to deliver data from the far reaches of the solar system. In this book in praise of wait times, award-winning author Jason Farman passionately argues that the delay between call and answer has always been an important part of the message.

Traveling backward from our current era of Twitter and texts, Farman shows how societies have worked to eliminate waiting in communication and how they have interpreted those times' meanings. Exploring seven eras and objects of waiting—including pneumatic mail tubes in New York, Elizabethan wax seals, and Aboriginal Australian message sticks—Farman offers a new mindset for waiting. In a rebuttal to the demand for instant communication, Farman makes a powerful case for why good things can come to those who wait.

About Jason Farman

Jason Farman is an award-winning author and media studies scholar at the University of Maryland. His work has appeared or been cited in the Atlantic, Atlas Obscura, and the New York Times. He lives near Washington, DC.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Brienne on January 19, 2019

There is no way I can possibly do justice to Dr. Farman’s Delayed Response in a short review. However, hopefully I can give some insight into this phenomenal book. Being a rather impatient person, I was challenged throughout the book to look at waiting in a whole new light. The way he puts a positive......more

Goodreads review by Gena on April 18, 2020

3.5 really? Parts of this book were nerdvana. Miles of pneumatic tubes underneath New York City? Fascinating! And the thesis was perfectly au courant for all of us waiting out the Covid-19 social distancing days. Unfortunately, despite the well-researched, fascinating factoids and stories (of which t......more

Goodreads review by Frank on February 04, 2021

Love the introduction and some interesting history (e.g. pneumatic tubes) regarding this topic. Lacking sufficient discussion on social media, though the author refers to tech companies in the introduction and conclusion.......more

Goodreads review by Belén on September 17, 2019

Una de las joyas de mi 2019.......more

Goodreads review by Sarah on March 18, 2019

Love. My best thoughts come during waiting. For work. For relationships. For art. For priority organizing.......more