''The Age of Earthquakes: A Guide to the Extreme Present'' is a book written by British writer and curator

Shumon Basar Shumon Basar (born 15 October 1974) is a British writer, editor and curator. Life and education Basar was born in Pabna, Bangladesh, in 1974. His mother Dilruba Basar emigrated with him to the United Kingdom, to join his father, Abul Basar, who ...

, Canadian writer and artist

Douglas Coupland Douglas Coupland (born 30 December 1961) is a Canadian novelist, designer, and visual artist. His first novel, the 1991 international bestseller '' Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture'', popularized the terms ''Generation X'' and ''McJ ...

, and Swiss curator

Hans Ulrich Obrist Hans Ulrich Obrist (born 1968) is a Swiss art curator, critic, and historian of art. He is artistic director at the Serpentine Galleries, London. Obrist is the author of ''The Interview Project'', an extensive ongoing project of interviews. He is ...

. It was published in 2015 by

Penguin Books Penguin Books is a British publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers The Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the following year.The Medium is the Massage ''The Medium Is the Massage: An Inventory of Effects'' is a book co-created by media analyst Marshall McLuhan and graphic designer Quentin Fiore, with coordination by Jerome Agel. It was published by Bantam Books in 1967 and became a bestse ...

,'' by

Marshall McLuhan Herbert Marshall McLuhan (July 21, 1911 – December 31, 1980) was a Canadian philosopher whose work is among the cornerstones of the study of media theory. He studied at the University of Manitoba and the University of Cambridge. He began his ...

Quentin Fiore Quentin Fiore (February 12, 1920 – April 13, 2019) was a graphic designer, who worked mostly in books. Early life and education Quentin Fiore was born on February 12, 1920, in the Bronx, New York to Antonino, a tailor, and Bice (née Bononi) ...

and Jerome Agel — which was first published by Penguin Books in the UK — ''The Age of Earthquakes'' updates McLuhan's prophetic 20th century pronouncements to the Internet addled, 21st century. "The unpredictable side effects of technology are what dictate the future – there is always an excess to what we invent," say Basar/Coupland/Obrist, "we would argue that it's those excess effects... that produce the most radical – and also sometimes most unsettling – moral, philosophical, social and cultural transformations." The book's abiding premise, therefore, is that, "We haven't just changed our brains these past few years. We've changed the structure of the planet".

Design

''The Age of Earthquakes'' is directly inspired by Quentin Fiore's experimental style he made famous in ''The Medium is the Massage.'' For ''The Age of Earthquakes'', graphic designer Wayne Daly took familiar visual cues from contemporary apps and other screen based matter, and translated them onto the printed page, in stark black and white. The text — written and collated by Basar/Coupland/Obrist — appears as aphoristic phrases and quotes. Some pages are left blank, while others require the reader to rotate the book 90 degrees, reminiscent of the portrait/horizontal modes on mobile phones. The reading experience emulates what Fiore achieved with ''The Medium is the Massage'': to create "a dialogue between the computer and the book."

Visual contributors

Most of the images in the book were generated from a process entitled "mindsourcing." The manuscript was sent to 35 artists, from all over the world, some born after 1989, several born before 1945, who were asked to respond with relevant visual work. They are Farah Al Qasimi, Ed Atkins, Gabriele Basilico, Alessandro Bava, Josh Bitelli, James Bridle, Cao Fei, Alex Mackin Dolan, Thomas Dozol, Constant Dullaart, Cécile B. Evans, Rami Farook,

Hans-Peter Feldmann Hans-Peter Feldmann (born 1941 in Düsseldorf, Germany) is a German visual artist. Feldmann's approach to art-making is one of collecting, ordering and re-presenting. Early life and career In the 1960s, Feldmann studied painting at the University ...

, GCC,

Liam Gillick Liam Gillick (born 1964, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire) is a British artist who lives and works in New York City.

, Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, Eloise Hawser, Camille Henrot, Hu Fang, K-Hole, Koo Jeong-A, Katja Novitskova, Lara Ogel, Trevor Paglen, Yuri Pattison, Jon Rafman, Bunny Rogers, Bogosi Sekhukhuni, Taryn Simon, Hito Steyerl,

Michael Stipe John Michael Stipe (; born January 4, 1960) is an American singer-songwriter and artist, best known as the lead singer and lyricist of alternative rock band R.E.M. He is known for his vocal quality, poetic lyrics and unique stage presence. Poss ...

Rosemarie Trockel Rosemarie Trockel (born 13 November 1952) is a German conceptual artist. She has made drawings, paintings, sculptures, videos and installations, and has worked in mixed media. From 1985, she made pictures using knitting-machines. She is a prof ...

, Amalia Ulman, David Weir and Trevor Yeung.

Reception

''Pacific Standard'' magazine described it as "a kind of philosophical ''

Anarchist Cookbook ''The Anarchist Cookbook'', first published in 1971, is a book containing instructions for the manufacture of explosives, rudimentary telecommunications phreaking devices, and related weapons, as well as instructions for the home manufacture ...

'' for the online era"; Jon Snow on

Channel 4 News ''Channel 4 News'' is the main news programme on British television broadcaster Channel 4. It is produced by ITN, and has been in operation since Channel 4's launch in November 1982. Current productions ''Channel 4 News'' ''Channel 4 News'' ...

called it "absolutely amazing"; Vice.com characterised it as "a new philosophy-cum-modern-self-help book"; and

Dazed ''Dazed'' (''Dazed & Confused'' until February 2014) is a bi-monthly British style magazine founded in 1991. It covers music, fashion, film, art, and literature. Dazed is published by Dazed Media, an independent media group known for producing ...

said it was a "guidebook, map for today and mediation on the madness of our media, it's an awesome, dizzying read." However, ''

The Los Angeles Times ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'' accused it of being, "a project that looks backward, rather than ahead,"; and Kirkus Reviews said, "its hipper-than-thou self-satisfaction runs close to the surface of a superficial book."

Jarvis Cocker Jarvis Branson Cocker (born 19 September 1963) is an English musician and radio presenter. As the founder, frontman, lyricist and only consistent member of the band Pulp, he became a figurehead of the Britpop genre of the mid-1990s. Following P ...

dedicated one of his last

BBC Radio 6 Music BBC Radio 6 Music is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC, specialising primarily in alternative music. BBC 6 Music was the first national music radio station to be launched by the BBC in 32 years. It is available onl ...

Sunday Service programs to ''The Age of Earthquakes''. Cocker interviewed Basar and Coupland, in a montage of music and words that echoed the experience of the book.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Age of Earthquakes, The 2015 non-fiction books Penguin Books books Works about earthquakes Blue Rider Press books