Description
By: Heather McCalden
Is anyone ever truly lost in the internet age? A moving, original memoir of a young woman reckoning with her parents’ absence, the virus that took them, and what it means to search for meaning in a hyperconnected world.
“Brilliantly innovative . . . syncing a narrative of profoundly personal emotion with the invention and evolution of today’s cyberspace.”—William Gibson, author of Neuromancer and The Peripheral
In the early 1990s, Heather McCalden lost both her parents to AIDS. She was seven when her father died, ten when she lost her mother. Raised by her grandmother, Nivia, she grew up in Los Angeles, also known as ground zero for the virus and its destruction.
Years later, she begins researching online the history of HIV as a way to deal with her loss, which leads her to the unexpected realization that the AIDS crisis and the internet developed on parallel timelines. By accumulating whatever fragments she could about both phenomena—images, anecdotes, and scientific entries—alongside her own personal history, McCalden forms a synaptic journey of what happened to her family, one that leads to an equally unexpected discovery about who her parents might have been.
Entwining this personal search with a wider cultural narrative of what the virus and virality mean in our times—interrogating what it means to “go viral” in an era of explosive biochemical and virtual contagion—The Observable Universe is at once a history of our viral culture and a prismatic account of grief in the internet age.
Is anyone ever truly lost in the internet age? A moving, original memoir of a young woman reckoning with her parents’ absence, the virus that took them, and what it means to search for meaning in a hyperconnected world.
“Brilliantly innovative . . . syncing a narrative of profoundly personal emotion with the invention and evolution of today’s cyberspace.”—William Gibson, author of Neuromancer and The Peripheral
In the early 1990s, Heather McCalden lost both her parents to AIDS. She was seven when her father died, ten when she lost her mother. Raised by her grandmother, Nivia, she grew up in Los Angeles, also known as ground zero for the virus and its destruction.
Years later, she begins researching online the history of HIV as a way to deal with her loss, which leads her to the unexpected realization that the AIDS crisis and the internet developed on parallel timelines. By accumulating whatever fragments she could about both phenomena—images, anecdotes, and scientific entries—alongside her own personal history, McCalden forms a synaptic journey of what happened to her family, one that leads to an equally unexpected discovery about who her parents might have been.
Entwining this personal search with a wider cultural narrative of what the virus and virality mean in our times—interrogating what it means to “go viral” in an era of explosive biochemical and virtual contagion—The Observable Universe is at once a history of our viral culture and a prismatic account of grief in the internet age.
You may also like
熱銷中 Top Trending
![Zog and the Flying Doctors (Julia Donaldson)(Axel Scheffler) Scholastic UK](http://buybookbook.com/cdn/shop/files/Zog-and-the-Flying-Doctors-Julia-DonaldsonAxel-Scheffler-1-Scholastic-UK_{width}x.webp?v=1724360745)
Zog and the Flying Doctors (Julia Donaldson)(Axel Scheffler)
Sale priceHK$64.00
Regular priceHK$104.00
In stock![Friends #01 Real Friends (Shannon Hale) (LeUyen Pham) First Second](http://buybookbook.com/cdn/shop/files/Friends-01-Real-Friends-Shannon-Hale-LeUyen-Pham-1-First-Second_{width}x.webp?v=1724355096)
![Friends #01 Real Friends (Shannon Hale) (LeUyen Pham) First Second](http://buybookbook.com/cdn/shop/files/Friends-01-Real-Friends-Shannon-Hale-LeUyen-Pham-2-First-Second_{width}x.webp?v=1724355101)
Friends #01 Real Friends (Shannon Hale) (LeUyen Pham)
Sale priceHK$75.00
Regular priceHK$124.00
In stock![Amazing Facts Every 7 Year Old Needs to Know (Catherine Brereton)-Nonfiction: 科學科技 Science & Technology-買書書 BuyBookBook](http://buybookbook.com/cdn/shop/files/AmazingFactsEvery7YearOldNeedstoKnow_1_{width}x.jpg?v=1723911769)
![Amazing Facts Every 7 Year Old Needs to Know (Catherine Brereton)-Nonfiction: 科學科技 Science & Technology-買書書 BuyBookBook](http://buybookbook.com/cdn/shop/files/AmazingFactsEvery7YearOldNeedstoKnow_2_{width}x.jpg?v=1723911770)
Amazing Facts Every 7 Year Old Needs to Know (Catherine Brereton)
Sale priceHK$39.00
Regular priceHK$65.00
In stock![Colour Monster, The: The Feelings Doctor and the Emotions Toolkit (Anna Llenas)-Fiction: 兒童繪本 Picture Books-買書書 BuyBookBook](http://buybookbook.com/cdn/shop/files/ColourMonster_TheTheFeelingsDoctorandtheEmotionsToolkit_1_{width}x.webp?v=1712739862)
![Colour Monster, The: The Feelings Doctor and the Emotions Toolkit (Anna Llenas)-Fiction: 兒童繪本 Picture Books-買書書 BuyBookBook](http://buybookbook.com/cdn/shop/files/ColourMonster_TheTheFeelingsDoctorandtheEmotionsToolkit_2_{width}x.webp?v=1712744555)
Colour Monster, The: The Feelings Doctor and the Emotions Toolkit (Anna Llenas)
Sale priceHK$65.00
Regular priceHK$104.00
In stock![Press Start! #15 Mega Mole Girl Digs Deep! (Branches)-Fiction: 歷險科幻 Adventure & Science Fiction-買書書 BuyBookBook](http://buybookbook.com/cdn/shop/files/PressStart_15MegaMoleGirlDigsDeep_Branches_{width}x.webp?v=1723696583)
Press Start! #15 Mega Mole Girl Digs Deep! (Branches)
Sale priceHK$47.00
Regular priceHK$98.00
In stock![Legends of Lotus Island #01 The Guardian Test (Christina Soontornvat)-Fiction: 奇幻魔法 Fantasy & Magical-買書書 BuyBookBook](http://buybookbook.com/cdn/shop/files/9781339041032_{width}x.webp?v=1723792483)
Legends of Lotus Island #01 The Guardian Test (Christina Soontornvat)
Sale priceFrom HK$67.00
Regular priceHK$112.00
In stock![The Hogwarts Library Box Set Collection (3 Books) (Harry Potter) (J.K. Rowling) Bloomsbury](http://buybookbook.com/cdn/shop/files/The-Hogwarts-Library-Box-Set-Collection-3-Books-Harry-Potter-J_K_-Rowling-1-Bloomsbury_{width}x.webp?v=1724345000)
![The Hogwarts Library Box Set Collection (3 Books) (Harry Potter) (J.K. Rowling) Bloomsbury](http://buybookbook.com/cdn/shop/files/The-Hogwarts-Library-Box-Set-Collection-3-Books-Harry-Potter-J_K_-Rowling-2-Bloomsbury_{width}x.webp?v=1724345004)
The Hogwarts Library Box Set Collection (3 Books) (Harry Potter) (J.K. Rowling)
Sale priceHK$185.00
Regular priceHK$273.00
In stock![Land of Stories, The (正版) Complete Collection (6 Book) (Chris Colfer) Hachette US](http://buybookbook.com/cdn/shop/products/The_Land_of_Stories_Complete_Collection_6_Book_06_{width}x.jpg?v=1615406936)
Land of Stories, The #6 World Collide (Chris Colfer)
Sale priceHK$75.00
Regular priceHK$100.00
In stock