Review: The Empathy Diaries: A Memoir

The Empathy Diaries: A Memoir by Sherry Turkle
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I cannot stop talking about this book, and not just because the author is a favorite of mine, with her earlier books about the effect of technology on education and our psyches. She describes encounters with so many other famous writers and technologists -- she was Present at the Creation of our computer-saturated internet world. Note that the title is purposely plural: several personal points are interwoven into the chapters, sometimes repeating details that a "normal" book would elide. But she is a talented writer and psychologist: the very writing style is intended to affect the reader and illustrate psychological points. I did cringe at the repeated references to the Freudian incident with her stepfather (fear not, dear reader -- no outright abuse here, just psychological trauma unearthed by years of analysis, along with all-too-typical infidelity and familial dysfunction). The book demonstrates the result of years of psychoanalysis and a brutally honest voice of a truly empathic and brilliant person. I will gladly attend any lecture of hers and read any future book, and I tell everyone about how this book struck me -- its technology-history, or its psychoanalytic tone, may not be everyone's cup of tea; but I give it five stars!

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