Technics and Time, 1: The Fault of Epimetheus (Meridian: Crossing Aesthetics)

do publishers subcontract printing to second grade outfits when the book is obscure or distributed by Amazon? Seriously poor quality print job. Makes one not want to read the book. Or maybe philosophers don’t care about the aesthetics of their life’s work...either way. Kind of repulsed by this book’s printing.

A major work of contemporary continental philosophy. Sharp and profound reflection on the undergoing de-individuation effected by technology on humans and the social destruction that occurs from this. Very complex but very rewarding, if you can get past the unbelievable tangled Derridean style the author uses for this book. Some of his later work is easier to read.

A wonderful summary of Heidegger with an eloquent argument for extension into the being of technics. This is not an easy read and it addresses the side effects of our reliance on technology.

Must read- for any thinker seriously engaged in the question concerning technology.

This is a difficult book to read, but it is worth the effort.

if you love the late barthes, drool over the melancholic nature of lack and need another foundation from which to cry 'alienation' in the face of the one/multiplicity- stiegler is your man!his derridian inversion, making technicity the de-fault, determining structure of dasein is interesting for the ride- but it's merely formal play. by shifting from an oral/written (instrumental) conception of temporality to a written/industrial (cybernetic) division, one reads, especially in the second volume (la desorientation- only out in french), the same negative engagement Heidegger had with modernity.before reading stiegler ask yourself: must i do this (for school)? am i a true disciple of phenomenology (hegel, husserl, heidegger, merleau-ponty, etc.)? will i be engaged by hearing virilio-esque media hysteria? do i revel in adorno-esque negativity, put my trust in a top-down image of the culture industry, and/or have no particular concern for the question of agency/appropriation?if more than 50% were yes, then this is for you, those folks who love existential analytics combined with a high culture conservatism.