Bit Rot by Douglas Coupland

A stunning collection from Douglas Coupland that explores the different ways 20th-century notions of the future are being shredded.

In Bit Rot, Douglas Coupland explores the different ways in which twentieth-century notions of the future are being shredded, and creates a gem of the digital age. Reading the stories and essays in Bit Rot is like bingeing on Netflix . . . you can't stop with just one.

‘Bit rot’ is a term used in digital archiving to describe the way digital files can spontaneously and quickly decompose. As Coupland writes, ‘bit rot also describes the way my brain has been feeling since 2000, as I shed older and weaker neurons and connections and enhance new and unexpected ones’.

Bit Rot the book explores the ways humanity tries to make sense of our shifting consciousness. Coupland, just like the Internet, mixes forms to achieve his ends. Short fiction is interspersed with essays on all aspects of modern life. The result is addictively satisfying for Coupland’s legion of fans hungry for his observations about our world. For almost three decades, his unique pattern recognition has powered his fiction, and his phrase-making. Every page of Bit Rot is full of wit, surprise and delight.

Douglas Coupland

Reviews

“ Coupland adopts…an Andy Warholish mode, somewhere between mocking, lamenting, celebrating even the most troubling aspects of postmodernity. ”

Times Literary Supplement

“ [Coupland’s] new collection has its basis in that rarefied literary form, the art catalogue … [he] is at his best when he muses on new opportunities and challenges presented by technology. ”

The National

“ [T]he Vancouver-based tech-seer, critic, author and artist again proves himself to be one of the most entertaining and thoughtful futurologists on the planet. ”

The Herald

“ Bit Rot is wry and wise, terrifying and hilarious, and it makes us LOL while still using “LOL” correctly. ”

i Paper

“ Every page is full of wit, surprise and delight ”

Dluxe Magazine

Paperback

9780099510895

October 16, 2017

Windmill Books

432 pages

RRP $24.99
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EBook

9781473537941

October 13, 2016

Cornerstone Digital

432 pages
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