Title: Too Much Information
Author: Dave Gorman
Type: Non-Fiction
Page Count/Review Word Count: 336
Rating: 4/5
I’ve been a Dave Gorman fan for quite some time now (there’s actually a funny story that I could tell you about that, and so it should come as no surprise that I enjoyed this one. Perhaps the thing that impressed me the most was the fact that it didn’t feel dated, despite the fact that it takes a look at technology and social networking and is ten years old or so.
The idea here is pretty simple. Gorman points out that we’re all being overwhelmed by too much information, and his stated goal is to investigate some of these information sources one by one to figure out what truth (if any) lies behind it. Along the way, he tackles everything from sponsored tweets to newspaper headlines, with one memorable section taking a look at how often the Daily Express runs the same headlines over and over again.
First and foremost, Gorman is a comedian, and so it’s interesting to read a book like this where he blends satirical comedy with a serious look at the society in which we live. It’s also forward-thinking to a certain extent, because I think that we’re more aware of the problems with the prevalence of information today than we were back when he wrote and published it.
Now, I don’t think you’re going to find anything particularly ground-breaking here, but it can certainly be eye-opening at times, and it’s written in a way that makes it easy to whizz through and to enjoy. I also quite like the irony that in some ways, he’s just contributing to the excess of information that he’s so against in the first place.
I still prefer his travel writing in which he heads off on improbable missions, such as when he tried to meet 54 other people called Dave Gorman, but this was fun too. I’d recommend it to non-fiction readers.
