The Revenge of Analog - by David Sax (Paperback)

About the Book

"In this spirited book, David Sax has found story after story of entrepreneurs, artisans, and creators who make real money by selling real things. And they're not just local craftspeople, either. As paper is supposedly vanishing, Moleskine notebooks--a company founded in 1997, the same year as the first dot-com boom--has grown into a large multinational corporation. As music supposedly migrates to the cloud, vinyl record sales were up over 50 percent in 2015, and generated almost $350m in sales. And as retail was supposedly hitting bottom, star Silicon Valley companies like Apple and Amazon are investing in brick-and-mortar stores. Sax's work reveals not just an underreported trend in business but a more fundamental truth about how humans shop, interact, and even think. He captures what you're missing when you can't find a good song in a vast iTunes library, or can't recall the details of an ebook you read: any simulation of a sight or smell or activity you experience in the real world is just that--a simulation. As you read this enlightening book (preferably on paper!) that seemingly simple observation gathers ever more weight. The success stories in this book are eye-opening, even inspiring. You'll come away from this book with a renewed sense of what it means to work, live, and shop. It is the perfect gift for a book lover--something you can unwrap and hold. And for anyone who has grown weary of overnight billionaires and social media market-disruptors, it is proof positive that there's another side of the story"--Publisher's description.

Book Synopsis

One of Michiko Kakutani's (New York Times) top ten books of 2016

A funny thing happened on the way to the digital utopia. We've begun to fall back in love with the very analog goods and ideas the tech gurus insisted that we no longer needed. Businesses that once looked outdated, from film photography to brick-and-mortar retail, are now springing with new life. Notebooks, records, and stationery have become cool again. Behold the Revenge of Analog.

David Sax has uncovered story after story of entrepreneurs, small business owners, and even big corporations who've found a market selling not apps or virtual solutions but real, tangible things. As e-books are supposedly remaking reading, independent bookstores have sprouted up across the country. As music allegedly migrates to the cloud, vinyl record sales have grown more than ten times over the past decade. Even the offices of tech giants like Google and Facebook increasingly rely on pen and paper to drive their brightest ideas.

Sax's work reveals a deep truth about how humans shop, interact, and even think. Blending psychology and observant wit with first-rate reportage, Sax shows the limited appeal of the purely digital life-and the robust future of the real world outside it.

Review Quotes

"A perky and well-illustrated... look at a discordantly retro cultural trend."--Kirkus Reviews

"A thoughtful look at the many ways in which analog has not been eliminated from the world but in many ways is still thriving...Sax's book reminds us that we live in an analog world. It is a good reminder that digital can only take us so far."--Tadas Viskanta, Yahoo! Finance

"Captivating...Sax provides an insightful and entertaining account of this phenomenon, creating a powerful counternarrative to the techno-utopian belief that we would live in an ever-improving, all-digital world."--Michiko Kakutani, New York Times

"David Sax has written a brilliant cri de coeur about the way things used to be, should be, and, increasingly, are becoming once again. The Revenge of Analog reminds us that it wasn't so long ago that records were vinyl, laces were double knotted and the mailbox at the end of the driveway was lovingly banged up. It's a book that brings something even more rare than a perfect song at the perfect moment-hope."--Rich Cohen, cocreator of HBO's Vinyl and author of The Sun & The Moon & The Rolling Stones

"Hang on digital mavens, the real world ain't going anywhere. In The Revenge of Analog, David Sax shows the continued importance of the physical stuff to how we live and work today."--Richard Florida, author of Rise of the Creative Class

"Here is a compulsively readable book after a Luddite's heart.... Sax isn't preaching a return to the pre-Industrial Age, but neither is he embracing the robot overlords. He thoughtfully, wisely, and honestly points out how analog experiences enhance digital creativity and how humans benefit from what both have to offer. Essential reading."--Booklist, Starred Review

"No matter which side you're on in the debate over digital technology, there's something to cheer you in The Revenge of Analog."--Scott Timberg, New York Times Book Review

"Sax's message is that digital technology has certainly made life easier, but the analog technologies of old can make life more rich and substantial. This book has a calming effect, telling readers, one analog page at a time, that tangible goods, in all their reassuring solidity, are back and are not going anywhere."--Publishers Weekly

"The better digital gets, the more important analog becomes. In this fun tour of modern culture, David Sax has collected hundreds of ways that an analog approach can improve our newest inventions. Sax's reporting is eye-opening and mind-changing."--Kevin Kelly, founding executive editor of Wired and author of The Inevitable

"The more advanced our digital technologies, the more we come to realize that reality rules. David Sax reassures us surviving members of team human that material existence is alive and well, and makes a compelling case for the reclamation of terra firma and all that comes with it."--Douglas Rushkoff, author of Throwing Rocks at the Google Bus

"We all thought the digital age would be the end of analog media--and we were wrong. In this smart, funny, glorious book, David Sax explains why so many of us still crave the tactile, sensual experience of listening to music on vinyl records and taking notes with pencil and paper. Turn off your electronic devices, find a quiet place, and savor this remarkable book."--Dan Lyons, bestselling author of Disrupted

About the Author

David Sax is a writer, reporter, and speaker who specializes in business and culture. His previous book, The Revenge of Analog, was a #1 Washington Post bestseller, was selected as one of Michiko Kakutani's Top Ten books of 2016 for the New York Times, and has been translated into six languages. He is the author of Save the Deli, which won a James Beard award, and The Tastemakers. He lives in Toronto.