Ama­teurs!

I have to confess that I am not reading that many books these days. Most of the time, I resort to listening to them in audio form. But every once in a while, a book comes along that is just too interesting not to at least give it a try.

Reading Kai Brach’s excellent newsletter Dense Discovery, I came across such a (new) book by Joanna Walsh: Amateurs!: How We Built Internet Culture and Why it Matters.

That title sounds intriguing, right? The description even more so:

“Since the nineties, platforms have invited users to create in return for connection. From blogs to vlogs, tweets to memes: for the first time in history, making art became the fundamental form of communication.

What started as fun soon became currency, something vital to finding friends, work, and love. Then, as ‘meatspace’ job security eroded, online creativity became work itself. Now an internet presence is no longer optional, platforms increasingly charge users. Whatever it is we’re creating online, it isn’t amateur anymore. But is it art?”

And also what others have to say about it sounds delicious. Like Helena Aeberli in the Los Angeles Review of Books:

Sounds too good to not order it right away.

I’ll let you know how I like it – and whether I actually manage to read it back to back. 😉

❦

This is post 23 of Blogtober 2025.

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