Chris Stedman

As the memoir of a young man, it would be easy to dismiss this book. While a twenty-five-year-old has undoubtedly learned a lot of valuable lessons and collected many profound and personally significant experiences, how much can any of this really benefit others?

But Stedman's basic message is one worth talking about, that believers and nonbelievers can usually find enough common ground to live and work with each other, to cooperate in creating a better world for everyone. He shares the experiences that have led him to this conclusion, acknowledging that they are limited. His attitude suggests a desire for his readers to share their own stories with one another, rather than draw conclusions from his life story only.

So while my life was not transformed by each idea and anecdote in this book, it did make me feel welcomed into an important discussion about keeping religious beliefs (or unbeliefs) from becoming obstacles to cooperation and social good.… (més)

As the memoir of a young man, it would be easy to dismiss this book. While a twenty-five-year-old has undoubtedly learned a lot of valuable lessons and collected many profound and personally significant experiences, how much can any of this really benefit others?

But Stedman's basic message is one worth talking about, that believers and nonbelievers can usually find enough common ground to live and work with each other, to cooperate in creating a better world for everyone. He shares the experiences that have led him to this conclusion, acknowledging that they are limited. His attitude suggests a desire for his readers to share their own stories with one another, rather than draw conclusions from his life story only.

So while my life was not transformed by each idea and anecdote in this book, it did make me feel welcomed into an important discussion about keeping religious beliefs (or unbeliefs) from becoming obstacles to cooperation and social good.… (més)

This book offers a list of problems being faced in the digital world, ranging from a slow ebbing away of authenticity, the insidious creep of social media into our daily lives and how with every passing tweet or Instagram post, we become less real and begin to long for the highly curated lifestyles we see online. We feel inauthentic and struggle with how to be our ‘true’ selves in an online environment.
I would give this book 3.5 stars, if only because of the simple fact that many problems are presented, and very few solutions are proposed. I read this to see how to ‘find’ my ‘real self in a digital world,’ not be bombarded with a litany of digital problems with no solutions in sight. The subtitle is misleading.… (més)