Second Lives, Tim Guest
Second Lives, Tim Guest
List: $19.95 | Sale: $13.97
Club: $9.97

Second Lives
A Journey through Virtual Worlds

Author: Tim Guest

Narrator: Paul Michael Garcia

Unabridged: 10 hr 43 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 02/19/2008


Synopsis

Second Lives takes us on a revelatory journey through the electronic looking glass, investigates one of the most bizarre phenomena of the twentyfirst century: virtual lives. Each week, thirtyfive million to fifty million people worldwide abandon reality for virtual worlds. They create a virtual body, work virtual jobs, and make virtual friends and family. And as online communities like SecondLife, EverQuest, and MySpace attract more members, the lines between the real and the imaginary become blurry. After all, in these virtual realities, you can build houses, make and sell works of art, earn real money, and get married and divorced. On web sites like eBay, people sell virtual clothes and rent virtual property for real cash, for a total of nearly $800 million worth each year.

About Tim Guest

Tim Guest writes for the Guardian and the Daily Telegraph. He lives in London.


Reviews

Goodreads review by William

It is a 4 star book for those interested in virtual lives. I read it to get some kind of perspective on my sons (15 and 17) seeming addiction to cyber world game playing. If you have no vested interest, the rating is misleading. I must say that the author presents a compelling case that virtual is t......more

I bought this book in hardcover as part of my ongoing facination with virtual worlds even though i do not play second life. The best parts of the book was where the author was a good jounalist telling me about a group of patients with a severe disablity who play second life as an escape from their w......more

Goodreads review by Michael

The book's reportage on virtual worlds is fascinating; the flowery literary prose "linking" the chapters, documenting the author's interest and his musings on the real world appeal, is decidedly less so. Too much of the author's personality in what would have made a far more interesting series of ma......more