“My take on life is that it’s a giant hors d’oeuvres tray and my approach is to have a taste of everything.” - Jack Fitzgerald Jack Fitzgerald is the author of several books and has produced many stage plays. He recently turned 89 and, in spite of failing eyesight, decided to write one last book. It had to be unique and different. Fitzgerald’s book consists of forty-two emails. They are replies to phone calls, greeting cards, and emails, none of which are in the book. What you do see though are forty-two email replies from Jack to these friends, relatives, and his readers. These emails build a matrix that in many ways is like a puzzle. From each email you will glean certain information about Jack’s life. As you proceed through the book, you will get more and more droplets of information. By the time you finish email forty-two, you will have a rather complete autobiography of Jack’s life. So, for once, you can have unusual fun reading someone’s emails and clues to their life lessons and experiences. So, get started at once on this email puzzle and begin collecting virtual autobiographical clues. Have fun on your very first virtual autobiographical puzzle.

This novelistic rendering of a true account tells of a celebrated rape case which took place in an electronic "salon", where Internet junkies have created their own interactive fantasy realm.

Millions of people around the world today spend portions of their lives in online virtual worlds. Second Life is one of the largest of these virtual worlds. The residents of Second Life create communities, buy property and build homes, go to concerts, meet in bars, attend weddings and religious services, buy and sell virtual goods and services, find friendship, fall in love--the possibilities are endless, and all encountered through a computer screen. At the time of its initial publication in 2008, Coming of Age in Second Life was the first book of anthropology to examine this thriving alternate universe. Tom Boellstorff conducted more than two years of fieldwork in Second Life, living among and observing its residents in exactly the same way anthropologists traditionally have done to learn about cultures and social groups in the so-called real world. He conducted his research as the avatar "Tom Bukowski," and applied the rigorous methods of anthropology to study many facets of this new frontier of human life, including issues of gender, race, sex, money, conflict and antisocial behavior, the construction of place and time, and the interplay of self and group. Coming of Age in Second Life shows how virtual worlds can change ideas about identity and society. Bringing anthropology into territory never before studied, this book demonstrates that in some ways humans have always been virtual, and that virtual worlds in all their rich complexity build upon a human capacity for culture that is as old as humanity itself. Now with a new preface in which the author places his book in light of the most recent transformations in online culture, Coming of Age in Second Life remains the classic ethnography of virtual worlds.

A serious-minded teenager and her self-absorbed, style-obsessed mother struggle to understand each other in this poignant, witty novel. Single mom Stella wants nothing more than to impress her teenage daughter—who doesn’t share her mother’s interests in fashion, social media, or partying. Instead, Tara can only cringe over the fact that her mother is famous—or at least thinks she is—as an editor at a magazine for “hot teens.” Stella has shielded her daughter from her own religious upbringing and has told her nothing about her father. But when they move back to Belfast, hiding the past becomes trickier—and the strained relationship expands from two generations to three. Meanwhile, Tara blogs about her teenage angst and begins working at a home for rescued animals run by the enigmatic Nora. When Tara’s blog takes off, a rival magazine offers to publish it as a column, putting her in a difficult situation—having to risk hurting her mother in order to achieve her own dream of being a writer . . .

Live your Second Life to the fullest! Create Your Virtual Life in an Incredible Online World...Right Now! Imagine a virtual landscape where everything is created and owned entirely by residents like you. Imagine a place where you can enjoy sunsets, ride a jet ski, buy land, plant a garden, get a tattoo, go sky diving, spend an evening dancing the night away, or relax at home by the fire. Picture a world vividly developed, socially dynamic, and strikingly real where you can bring previously unimaginable things to life with friends from around the globe. This is Second Life®, the hottest Internet phenomenon in years…maybe ever! Now, there’s a totally real, totally independent guide to Second Life. This full-color book is as rich as Second Life itself! It’s packed with insider tips, easy step-by-step techniques, and interviews with dozens of SL residents telling you what they wished they knew when they started! Brian White pulls no punches: You’ll learn exactly what’s great and not so great about SL...how to thrive in its unique culture, and how to create your dreams! The more time you spend in Second Life, the more useful this book will become...teaching you more advanced skills; everything from vehicle construction, Linden Scripting Language, particle systems, to creating custom animations and the new sculpted prims! Visit the companion site in Second Life to find all the textures and objects from this book as well as the contributor’s gallery and other goodies: http://slurl.com/secondlife/humuli/222/123/29

We live in a wired world where 24/7 digital connectivity is increasingly the norm. Christian megachurch communities often embrace this reality wholeheartedly while more traditional churches often seem hesitant and overwhelmed by the need for an interactive website, a Facebook page and a twitter feed. This book accepts digital connectivity as our reality, but presents a vision of how faith communities can utilize technology to better be the body of Christ to those who are hurting while also helping followers of Christ think critically about the limits of our digital attachments. This book begins with a conversion story of a non-cell phone owning, non-Facebook using religion professor judgmental of the ability of digital tools to enhance relationships. A stage IV cancer diagnosis later, in the midst of being held up by virtual communities of support, a conversion occurs: this religion professor benefits in embodied ways from virtual sources and wants to convert others to the reality that the body of Christ can and does exist virtually and makes embodied difference in the lives of those who are hurting. The book neither uncritically embraces nor rejects the constant digital connectivity present in our lives. Rather it calls on the church to a) recognize ways in which digital social networks already enact the virtual body of Christ; b) tap into and expand how Christ is being experienced virtually; c) embrace thoughtfully the material effects of our new augmented reality, and c) influence utilization of technology that minimizes distraction and maximizes attentiveness toward God and the world God loves.

Fizzy Oceans lives, works and travels in the virtual world where the dead are very much alive, places like ancient Babylon have been reconstructed, and with the click of a button †WHOOSH! †one is transported throughout the Ages to events and destinations that make up our human history.

Lexie is obsessed with her computer and believes that the Internet equals truth. But when her mom is killed in a car accident, Lexie is forced to piece together strange clues and phenomena that reveal what becomes a murder mystery.

A Real Simple Best Book of the Year A deeply moving story of an epic home renovation in the Pacific Northwest—from New York Times–bestselling author of The Scent Keeper In this mesmerizing memoir-in-essays, Erica Bauermeister renovates a trash-filled house in eccentric Port Townsend, Washington, and in the process takes readers on a journey to discover the ways our spaces subliminally affect us. A personal, accessible, and literary exploration of the psychology of architecture, as well as a loving tribute to the connections we forge with the homes we care for and live in, this book is designed for anyone who’s ever fallen head over heels for a house. It is also a story of a marriage, of family, and of the kind of roots that settle deep into your heart. Discover what happens when a house has its own lessons to teach in this moving and insightful memoir that ultimately shows us how to make our own homes (and lives) better. “ . . . for anyone who has wondered where home is and how to find it, fix it, love it, and leave it for later as well.” —Laurie Frankel, New York Times–bestselling author of This Is How It Always Is

Virtual worlds have exploded out of online game culture and now capture the attention of millions of ordinary people: husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, workers, retirees. Devoting dozens of hours each week to massively multiplayer virtual reality environments (like World of Warcraft and Second Life), these millions are the start of an exodus into the refuge of fantasy, where they experience life under a new social, political, and economic order built around fun. Given the choice between a fantasy world and the real world, how many of us would choose reality? Exodus to the Virtual World explains the growing migration into virtual reality, and how it will change the way we live--both in fantasy worlds and in the real one.