1. Do you check your email every one hour or even within a shorter duration ?
2. Do you feel left alone if your Facebook post is not ‘liked’ by at least 10 people ?
3. If your Tweet is not ‘RT’-ed ( Re-Tweeted ) at least by 10 people, do you experience panic attack ?

If any of the above is true, then “The End of Absence” is for you.

Michael Harris amazes with this masterpiece. He talks about the absence of ‘absence’ in our lives. No doubt being connected has its merits but its de-merits merit attention.

Absence should also become part of our lives when we get to connect with ourselves. But in our zeal to be connected with all others, we seldom connect with ourselves. And that has disastrous consequences.

The post-1980 generation has become so used to the internet and the devices that they are seldom aware of a world out there that still continues to function normally without the necessity of internet. This generation would suddenly cease to exist if they are cut-off from internet.

Harris compares his life before and after the birth of internet and writes a compelling story of life with and without being connected.

The number of examples that he cites, the volume of documentation that he has researched, the number of people he has interviewed – all these amaze me as a fellow writer.

I am left wondering -‘What drives this humongous effort ? How much driven should the author be for accomplishing this feat of writing such a book that touches upon neurology, history, psychology and computer science?’

I am touched when he quotes from my favorite authors Henry David Thoreau and Wordsworth.

What if you read this book :

• You would want to listen to your inner voice and correct your course of daily life.

What if you don’t read this book :

• You would continue to exist in the virtual world oblivious to the real world and to the beings our there.
• You wouldn’t know the difference between living and existing.