In time for the holidays, a look at four of 2011's most talked-about books on technology.

Alone Together
The Net Delusion
Reality is Broken
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What Technology Wants
by Kevin Kelly

Kevin Kelly's latest book, What Technology Wants, rolls out a provocative theory that freewheels through layers of philosophy, chemistry, biology, history, and even metaphysics.

Informed by a deeply pensive intellectualism Kelly has brought to roles including co-founder of Wired magazine, as well as to previous books Out of Control (1994) and the bestselling New Rules for the New Economy (1998), this one is neither strident nor pedantic. Rather, What Technology Wants is energized by an impressive and appealing blend of Blade Runner cyber-punk noir and New Wave optimism.

At its core is what Kelly calls "the technium":

"The technium extends beyond shiny hardware to include culture, art, social institutions, and intellectual creations of all kinds. And most important, it includes the generative impulses of our inventions to encourage more tool making, more technology invention, and more self-enhancing connections."

Based loosely on the ideas of the 19^th century theorist Johann Beckmann, Kelly's technium captures the idea that all the things that humans have made throughout history (he loves cell phones as his examples) require thousands of other technologies to support them and allow them to operate.

In this sense, culture is re-imagined as an ecosystem of technologies and attitudes that are at once independent and deeply interdependent.

As Kelly points out, to see the world through the lens of the technium is to recognize the symbiotic relationship between what exists and what might possibly exist. Put another way: "A world with more opportunities produces more people capable of producing yet more opportunities."

That may be familiar territory to readers interested variously in Thoreau's life on the pond, Kurzweil's explorations of singularity, or more general discussions of disruptiveness.

But the real impact of Kelly's argument is delivered when he notices that "[a]t some point in its evolution, our system of tools and machines and ideas became so dense in feedback loops and complex interactions that it spawned a bit of independence. It began to exercise some autonomy," and to shape (albeit without consciousness or motivation) the evolution of future technologies.

What human inventors might want (or believe they want) has been relegated to second rank behind what technology itself wants and needs:

"The technium is now as great a force in our world as nature, and our response to the technium should be similar to our response in nature. We can't demand that technology obey us any more than we can demand that life obey us."

Kelly is quick to admit that this conclusion - that technology is driving itself and we are simply along for the ride - "can make us crazy," especially if we accept without question that the "technium is a global force beyond human control." But this book is far from a doomsday prophecy or Luddite manifesto.

On the contrary, Kelly is adamant that although many additions to the technium are inevitable, we do, as individuals, have the choice to opt out of many of them (cell phones again being an obvious example). The chapter on what he calls Amish hackers is not only a great read but a reassurance that resistance is not futile - if thoughtful and strategic.

Also counteracting this paranoia-inducing slide is Kelly's openness about his own deeply ambivalent relationship with technology. As he notes in his opening chapter "My Question," he might bear witness to his "friends leashed to their vibrating handhelds" but he is determined "to keep the cornucopia of technology at arm's length so that [he] can remember who [he] is."

And who is he is, in the end, is who most of us are: a piece in the puzzle, a glimmer of potential in the universe, a moment of opportunity. As Kelly humbly and wisely concludes:

No one person can become all that is humanly possible; no one technology can capture all that technology promises. It will take all life and all minds and all technology to begin to see reality…. Along the way we generate more options, more opportunities, more connections, more diversity, more unity, more thought, more beauty, and more problems. Those add up to more good, an infinite game worth playing.

What Technology Wants is by no means a light and easy read. Erudite, challenging, thought-provoking, and even a touch disconcerting, it is a book that many people might not even want to read.

But as another group of culture-shifting provocateurs once noted, although we can't always get what we want, if we try sometimes we might just find we get what we need. What Technology Wants is a much-needed reminder of how "technology brings to us individually … the possibility of finding out who we are, and more important, who we might be." - Dr. Klay Dyer

Alone Together: Why We Expect More From Technology and Less From Each Other
by Sherry Turkle

Can technology deliver emotional fulfillment?

That question is the core of Alone Together, psychologist and MIT professor Sherry Turkle's final installment of a trilogy that includes The Second Self and Life on the Screen, two pioneering studies of technology's effect on the human condition.

Turkle comes to her answer by examining the role of robots in society and of social media and wireless communication in our lives.

Technology is a great enabler, but can machines, for example, provide true companionship? Do Facebook and texting adequately replace face-to-face contact?

Turkle is unconvinced: "Technology reshapes the landscape of our emotional lives, but is it offering us the lives we want to lead?" After reading her investigation of our quest for intimacy in the digital age, expect to re-evaluate your own relationship with technology, and, in turn, people. - Scott Messenger

The Net Delusion: The Dark Side of Internet Freedom
by Evgeny Morozov

With The Net Delusion, Evgeny Morozov issues a gloves-off challenge to the notion of the Internet as a threat to authoritarianism. The book preceded Arab Spring, but Morozov didn't recant in a March article at guardian.co.uk.

"Perhaps the outsize revolutionary claims for social media … are only a manifestation of western guilt for wasting so much time on social media," he wrote.

Lively, smart and a tad cranky, Morozov - blogger, researcher and scholar focused on the political impact of the Internet - thrashes what he calls the "cyber-utopian" mindset.

Just as Twitter and Facebook appear to have the power to spark revolution, dictatorial regimes have turned the web into a machine for propaganda, surveillance and tightening control. Whether you agree with Morozov or not, The Net Delusion reminds that, fundamentally, the Internet spreads information, not democracy. - S.M.

Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better And How They Can Change The World
by Jane McGonigal

Jane McGonigal is a powerful player in the world of game theory and development. She has created award-winning games (specializing in games that tackle real-world problems), delivered a TED talk, and contributed to The Economist, New York Times, Wired, MTV, CNN and NPR.

And as a fan of her ideas generally, I anticipated her first book like an avid gamer awaiting the release of the newest Call of Duty or Halo.

Written for gamers and non-gamers alike, Reality is Broken argues that games are not merely time-wasting distractions.

"Computer and video games are fulfilling genuine human needs that the real world is currently unable to satisfy," McGonigal writes. "They are teaching and inspiring and engaging us in ways that reality is not. They are bringing us together in ways that reality is not."

As the sexy, witty and hip evangelist of the power of games and gamers to reinvent industry, education and even human civilization, McGonigal would easily convince her core audience. I, however, left this book questioning the newness of McGonigal's vision and the crispness of her argument. But for those who want to understand where game-based technologies are heading, Reality is Broken will prove engaging and informative. - Dr. Klay Dyer

Dr. Klay Dyer is the director of Applied Research and Scholarship at novaNAIT. He is also a speaker who inspires organizations to add value through a renewed emphasis on creativity, responsible leadership and innovation.

Contest

This contest is now closed. Congratulations to Kelvin Bassett, Renita Olson, Natalya Brettle-Seghers and Roland Grombach.

Thanks to all who entered.