“. . . the simple truth is that the Web, the Internet, does one thing. It speeds up the retrieval and dissemination of information, partially eliminating such chores as going outdoors to the mailbox or the adult bookstore, or having to pick up the phone to get hold of your stockbroker or some buddies to shoot the breeze with. That one thing the Internet does, and only that. All the rest is Digibabble.”

– Tom Wolfe,
from Digibabble, Fairy Dust, and the Human Anthill
in Hooking Up (published in 2000)

Wolfe, I would argue is the greatest writer and social critic of the last 50 years. His three novels are all astonishing works of great literature, and his essays are light years ahead of his contemporaries in their identification, documentation, and critique of social trends.

His books are worth reading and re-reading.