Executive Summary
Critical Book Review of The Cult of Information

This paper reviews and critiques Theodore Roszak’s book The Cult of Information A neo-Luddite treatise on high-tech, artificial intelligence, and the true art of thinking 2^nd Edition, 1994 University of California Press, Berkley and Los Angeles, California (ISBN 0-520-08584-1).

The Cult of Information is a refreshing book in an era of "How-to" books on computing. Rather than describing a new aspect of technology or software, this book takes a high level social look at computers, computing, and the industry that is based on information. Roszak starts the book by quoting "the emperor has no clothes" and maintains a healthy skepticism of computers throughout.

Roszak successfully supports his three objectives in presenting his neo-Luddite treatise:

• To distinguish between information processing and human thought
• To address the haphazard entry of computers into schools under the computer literacy banner
• To address the pitfalls inherent in the influx of Information Technology into politics and libraries.

The following subjects where critiqued as they relate to the Roszak’s three primary objectives:

• The neo-Luddite reaction to information technology
• The distinction between ideas and thought
• Computer Literacy
• Computers and Libraries
• Computers and polling

Mr. Schuler concludes that technologists and neo-Luddites can both learn something valuable by reading Roszak’s book. It is very healthy to look at the social implications of the technology that is driving the Information Age and the parallels to the Industrial Revolution are worth studying during the Information Revolution.