We tend to view brain states (right/left, reason/emotion) as warring factions, but neuroscientist and magazine editor Lehrer presents a refreshing case that these either/or propositions actually work together to give our consciousness the best representation of our environment, our most prized ability in our hunter/gatherer days.

The key is quality. Most digitally printed books were presented on cheap paper with amateurish graphics that simply couldn’t compete with those from an experienced publisher. Today you can put a digital book beside a traditionally printed one and be hard pressed to see the difference.

Countless writers have thoroughly dissected the dangers of instant gratification of everything from sexual desire to self-expression on the human condition. Siegel goes one further, asserting that our whole lives become a 24/7 economic transaction as we drift through the digital world producing and consuming.