Bill McKibben has written a humorous and easy to read book while also leveling a very intelligent and important critique of modern life. The premise of the book is an experiment which contrasts two days. On one day, he videotaped and later viewed more than one thousand hours of television programming that came across his local cable system from morning until night. The other day was spent camping, hiking, listening, and thinking not far from his home. As McKibben writes, "This book is about the results of that experiment- about the information each day imparted." TV provides an ever growing supply and a relentless stream of information. It feeds on our fear of being uninformed and our desire to be "in the know." But how does this explosion of information contribute to helping us live fully and responsibly as human creatures on this earth? What lessons do we learn from television about things such as time and community?

This book is not just about television. More importantly, it is a critique of how we have become divorced from our physical environment. By embracing television and other technologies we have become estranged from our real communities. Amid this so-called "information age", McKibben skillfully asks - what vital information may we be missing by allowing TV to supply our view of the world? How might our lives be reshaped and enriched by unplugging and considering older (almost forgotten) questions such as "Who are we?" and "Where do we live?"