Bit Rot: stories + essays

A thought-provoking, binge-worthy new collection of essays, stories, and musings from Douglas Coupland, Bit Rot explores the different ways in which twentieth-century notions of the future are being shredded, and it is a literary gem of the digital age. "Bit rot" is a term used in digital archiving to describe the way digital files can spontaneously and quickly decompose. As Douglas 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 is a fascinating meditation on the ways in which 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 established fanbase hungry for his observations about our world, and a revelation to new readers of his work. For almost three decades, his unique pattern recognition has powered his fiction, his phrase-making, and his visual art. Every page of Bit Rot is full of wit, surprise, and delight. Reading Bit Rot feels a lot like bingeing on Netflix... you can't stop with just one.

About the Author :
Douglas Coupland is a Canadian visual artist, writer and designer. His first novel was the 1991 international bestseller Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture. He has published four-teen novels, two collections of short stories, eight non-fiction books and a number of dramatic and comedic works for stage, film and TV. In 2014, Coupland had his first major solo exhibition at the Vancouver Art Gallery, after which the show toured to Toronto, and then internationally. His most recent book, Kitten Clone, was a finalist for the Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Non-fiction. Coupland is a contributor to The New York Times, e-flux journal, Artsy and Vice online and is a columnist with the Financial Times of London. Since 2015 he has been artist-in-residence at the Google Cultural Institute in Paris.

Review :
"Douglas Coupland is a media theorist, artist, writer, and designer. He's also wickedly funny, which makes his thoughts on modernity all the more biting and enjoyable. Bit Rot...shows off all sides of Coupland's work without ever losing his sardonic edge.... The book feels like an ongoing conversation with a hilarious, intelligent friend...an engaging, thought-provoking look at the modern age through the thoughts of one smart, funny man.” —Noah Cruickshank, Shelf Awareness "Douglas Coupland is back, with a tasty collection of bingeable treats for a new generation." —Joshua Chaplinsky, Lit Reactor "Bit Rot offers priceless insights.... Few people are better [than Douglas Coupland] at explaining the ramifications of the digital era." —Jane Ciabattari, BBC “[Douglas Coupland’s] voice is undiminished after more than a quarter century in the cultural spotlight . . . a writer, thinker and artist utterly perfect of and for his time.” —Robert J. Wiersema, National Post   “[A] respected futurist, bestselling author, prolific visual artist . . . [Bit Rot] is classic Coupland – created intentionally for the Internet age.” —Marsha Lederman, The Globe and Mail "We should really pay attention to Coupland. His eye is so firmly on the ball he’s virtually clairvoyant." —Nicholas Lezard, The Guardian "[Coupland] is at his best when he muses on new opportunities and challenges presented by technology." —The National “Unremittingly famous for defining a generation, Douglas Coupland is, himself, a creative whirl.” —The New York Times    “A contemporary prophet.” —The Sunday Times   “A brilliant social commentator.” —Elle   “A shrewd observer of modernity.” —The Observer   “A writer, thinker and artist utterly perfect of and for his time.” —National Post   “We should really pay attention to Coupland. His eye is so firmly on the ball he’s virtually clairvoyant.” —The Guardian “An eclectic and thought-provoking collection . . . [Bit Rot] reveals the breadth and depth of Coupland's writing.” —Kirkus Reviews "The current landscape, the mindless and endless landslide of mass culture versus individual vulnerability - no one sees these or gets to the heart of them quite like Coupland." —Ali Smith "In the future, if people are curious about what it was like to live in our times, in the early twenty-first century, they will do well to read Douglas Coupland." —Yann Martel