The conversations are vulgar at times, but then they throw us unexpectedly into the sublime. With his sharp wit and Googlesque knowledge of the Web, Gladstone lays bare the ways viral communication has become the infrastructure of our economic and cultural identity. Even Jeeves, the defunct valet for Ask.com, comes to life in the form of an ex-librarian turned psychic who hangs out in Central Park answering questions for five bucks. Millions who have communicated in the safety of anonymity are now forced into the streets, bringing their Reddit and 4chan bazaars with them. Addicted to those cat memes? So are the people who now go around catching cats and making them perform. Gladstone plays out all the funny and terrifying ways the demise of the Web would change our lives. Instead, the only thing that’s crashed here is the Internet. Martin’s, $23.99) deprives readers of those distracting action scenes. Apocalyptic stories usually keep us battling zombies, deadly viruses and environmental disasters, but Wayne Gladstone’s Notes from the Internet Apocalypse (Thomas Dunne/St.
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