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The Tyranny of E-mail: The Four-Thousand-Year Journey to Your Inbox Paperback – Illustrated, January 11, 2011

by John Freeman (Author)
4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 36 ratings
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There’s no question that e-mail is an incredible phenomenon that represents a kind of cultural and technological advancement. The first e-mail was sent less than forty years ago; by 2011, there will be 3.2 billion e-mail users. The average corporate worker now receives upwards of two hundred e-mails per day. The flood of messages is ceaseless and follows us everywhere.

In The Tyranny of E-mail, John Freeman takes an entertaining look at the unrelenting nature of correspondence through the ages. Put down your smart phone and consider the consequences. As the toll of e-mail mounts, reducing our time for leisure and contemplation and separating us in an unending and lonely battle with the overfull inbox, John Freeman—one of America’s preeminent literary critics—enters a plea for communication that is more selective and nuanced and, above all, more sociable.
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  1. Print length
    256 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Scribner
  4. Publication date
    January 11, 2011
  5. Dimensions
    5.5 x 0.8 x 8.5 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1416576746
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1416576747
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“[A] thoughtful and provocative book.”—Seattle Times

“We live in a culture devoted to technology, and yet most of us cannot find the time to consider its history or its consequences. John Freeman has made the time, and has thought carefully about how we have gotten here…. Freeman knows his history, and he offers an engaging account of the evolution of correspondence.”—Bookforum

“An elegant self-help book. . . . Freeman uses lush prose and invokes examples from great literature to make his points. He comes at things not from a giddy utopian perspective that permeates most writing about technology but from a humanist one. It makes the book refreshing and powerful.”—Boston Globe

“[Freeman] brings the reader a fresh, intelligent look at email’s infiltration into and influence over every aspect of 21st century life. . . . The Tyranny of E-mail serves as an engaging reality check.”—The Daily Beast

“Freeman offers up fascinating trivia . . . [and] makes a persuasive case that e-mail has at once corroded epistolary communication and strangled workplace productivity.”—The New Yorker

“E-mail is eating us alive . . . Luckily for us [John Freeman] has a solution.”—Chicago Tribune

“A book with a title this bold and provocative . . . requires an airtight and compelling case to back it up. To keep us reading, the book must also inform and entertain. John Freeman . . . delivers on all counts.”—The Oregonian

About the Author

JOHN FREEMAN is an award-winning writer and book critic who has written for numerous publications, including The New York Times Book Review, the Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, and The Wall Street Journal. Freeman won the 2007 James Patterson PageTurner Award. He is the editor-in-chief of Granta and lives in New York City.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Scribner; Illustrated edition (January 11, 2011)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 256 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1416576746
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1416576747
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 8 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.8 x 8.5 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 36 ratings

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  1. John Freeman

    John Freeman

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    John Freeman is the editor of Freeman's, a literary annual of new writing, and executive editor at Alfred A. Knopf. His books include "Dictionary of the Undoing," "How to Read a Novelist" and "The Tyranny of E-mail," as well as several anthologies about inequality, and "There's a Revolution Outside, My Love," a book co-edited with Tracy K. Smith about living in an American riven by racial violence. "Maps," his debut collection of poems, was published in 2017, followed by "The Park" and "Wind, Trees." He has also edited The Penguin Book of the Modern American Short Story. His work has been translated into more than twenty languages and has appeared in "The New Yorker," "The Paris Review," and "Alta Magazine," for whom he hosts the California Book Club once a month. His latest book is "Sacramento Noir," an anthology of crime writing set in his native Sacramento.

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  2. John Freeman

    John Freeman

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4.1 out of 5 stars
36 global ratings

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Top reviews from the United States

  • Stan Kingma
    5.0 out of 5 stars A must-read. Excellent book.
    Reviewed in the United States on November 16, 2016
    Verified Purchase
    Captivating and well written history of communications and how the digital developments during the last several years are revolutionizing how we relate to our fellow humans. A MUST read. The author explains how we are tinkering with changes that will have lasting impact on humanity, and how we are entering this new era blindly. Would love to see everyone read and ponder his message and perspective.
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  • T. Pratt
    4.0 out of 5 stars Well researched
    Reviewed in the United States on December 4, 2009
    Verified Purchase
    This is well researched and of interest to professional and personal email users. The suggestions to capture back your life are good for the personal email user, but not completely practical for the professional. Still they are good in principle and can be adapted.
    2 people found this helpful
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  • L. Lawrence
    5.0 out of 5 stars Required Reading for All E-mail Users
    Reviewed in the United States on August 6, 2010
    Verified Purchase
    This book puts into words all of the discontent I'd been feeling with the way e-mail has come to dominate our lives. It does NOT advocate abandoning e-mail, but offers many good reasons why we find it such a time sink, and offers in the last chapter rational, possible ways to regain control of our lives. I think it should be required reading for all e-mail users, and I'm recommending it to all of my friends.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Phil Simon
    5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent
    Reviewed in the United States on December 20, 2012
    Verified Purchase
    This well-researched book is making me reconsider my whole approach to communication. It should be required reading for just about everyone with a computer, tablet, or smartphone.
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  • Phillip I. Good
    1.0 out of 5 stars Less than meets the eye
    Reviewed in the United States on March 27, 2010
    A single short essay would have covered all the salient points and even then, the author, a relevant newcomer to email would have missed much of the history. For example, the main reason so many email exchanges are lost forever is that the computers that held them crashed and were abandoned for a newer model.

    He might have helped us with a brief dissertion on how to avoid spam, but he didn't. Anyone know of a real book on the topic?
    4 people found this helpful
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  • brneydbrunette
    4.0 out of 5 stars Good Read
    Reviewed in the United States on November 11, 2013
    Verified Purchase
    This was a great book (I needed it for a class) and I enjoyed reading it. Very interesting seeing how technology has changed over time.
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  • KAL
    5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
    Reviewed in the United States on January 30, 2016
    Verified Purchase
    Great reading.
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  • Jim LaRegina
    3.0 out of 5 stars The new devouring medium
    Reviewed in the United States on December 7, 2009
    The late advertising man David Ogilvy called television "a devouring medium." If there is a communication vehicle just as ravenous of our attention to be developed since T.V., it's the computer. Perhaps the most voracious aspect of the computer age is electronic mail, says John Freeman's book THE TYRANNY OF E-MAIL: THE FOUR-THOUSAND YEAR JOURNEY TO YOUR INBOX.

    Think about how distracting it is in a restaurant, waiting area, or hospital room when a television set blares. As THE TYRANNY OF E-MAIL argues, computers on our work stations, home office desks and, most recently, hand-held devices prove checking one's inbox just as hard to ignore. So easy and convenient to use, e-mail can prove a hindrance to communication, the book argues, when it substitutes for necessary face to face interaction. Before computers and e-mail, one could drop by a colleague's desk and convey more with eye contact than he or she does today shooting an e-mail to that person down the corridor.

    With e-mail at our fingertips more and more, it competes with cellular phones as a constant source of interruption. Movie theaters now ask audiences to turn off not just mobile telephones but all hand-held devices before the film starts. THE TYRANNY OF E-MAIL asks if it's possible anymore to concentrate on anything for more than a few minutes without electronic interruption.

    Read THE TYRANNY OF E-MAIL.
    One person found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

  • mprapss
    1.0 out of 5 stars One Star
    Reviewed in Canada on September 29, 2018
    Verified Purchase
    rather simple and found it stated the obvious. not a lot to learn
    Report