51 pages • 1 hour read
The Empathy Diaries: A Memoir
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Book Brief
384
Autobiography / Memoir • Nonfiction
Boston, Massachusetts • 1950s
2021
Adult
18+ years
Super Short Summary
The Empathy Diaries by Sherry Turkle is a memoir intertwining her personal and academic journey, focusing on family secrets, her father's unsanctioned experiments on her, and her mother's silence to hide the truth. Turkle chronicles her career, exploring the nexus between technology and human emotion while developing her belief in empathy as a distinctive human quality at risk from unfeeling AI.
Contemplative
Informative
Emotional
Nostalgic
Melancholic
Reviews & Readership
1,874 ratings
Loved it
Mixed feelings
Not a fan
Review Roundup
The Empathy Diaries by Sherry Turkle has received praise for its insightful intertwining of personal memoir and intellectual exploration, highlighting the importance of empathy in technology and relationships. Reviewers commend Turkle's candid storytelling and thought-provoking content, although some note the narrative occasionally meanders. Overall, it’s a compelling read.
Who Should Read The Empathy Diaries?
Readers who enjoy blending technology, psychology, and memoir will appreciate Sherry Turkle's The Empathy Diaries. Comparable to Oliver Sacks' An Anthropologist on Mars and Rebecca Solnit's A Field Guide to Getting Lost, this book delves into the human aspects of technological interactions.
1,874 ratings
Loved it
Mixed feelings
Not a fan
Jacques Lacan
Jacques Lacan
A French psychoanalyst known for his innovative teachings on Freudian theory, whose lectures and controversial ideas on psychoanalysis influence Turkle's thinking about the plurality of identities.
Seymour Papert
Seymour Papert
An influential mathematician and learning theorist, co-creator of the children's programming language Logo, who worked closely with Turkle on constructivist theories of learning during their marriage and academic collaboration.
Marvin Minsky
Marvin Minsky
A pioneering computer scientist and artificial intelligence expert at MIT, representing a technologically driven culture with an approach to human relationships and empathy that Turkle critiques in her work.
384
Autobiography / Memoir • Nonfiction
Boston, Massachusetts • 1950s
2021
Adult
18+ years
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