Another book I bought after listening to an episode of the Tech Won’t Save Us podcast. And, for once, I read it almost immediately.

What is it about

Grafton Tanner analyses how nostalgia went from being defined as a mental illness to being the main driving force being culture and politics.

From illness seen as an obstacle to efficient factory workers or soldiers to being redefined by the advertising industry in the 1950s and 1960s to induce a inextinguishable need that could be redirected and fulfilled by products. Weaponised FOMO before its time. Coincidentally, this topic was also well discussed in Technofeudalism which I recently finished reading.

Beyond this initial discussion, he explains the difference between préservation, restoration and foreverising and the background and impact of each of these approaches, his main thesis being that we are more and more exposed to foreverising rather than the first 2 which defines previous generation relationship with the past and its products.

This leads to an eternal Work In Progress state in movies, books, comics or mangas so that it can become a franchise as well as being discussed and continuously be redefined by the fans. A whole soap-opera-ification or drama-ification of movies and books.

The same process being used in politics when evoking the good old times disconnected from facts but redefined and seen through the current lens and the past being continuously reshaped to fit the current times.

Final world

My understanding is that the book is written as an introduction to the topic and as such references a lot of other works and researchers.

I really enjoyed the book and could clearly see how the approach is used in Japan (especially in the manga industry), eventhough this is not something that seem to have been in the scope of the book or the researchers he mentions.

Go for it, its a short book which can be read in a single afternoon seating if, unlike me, your TDAH leaves you alone.