With some colleagues, Bolter and Grusin have developed the term“remediation” and written a book that is at once a survey, atutorial, a research report, and even a textbook on the subject. Itoffers a genealogy of new media.

The book is divided into three main sections, with 18 chapters, aglossary, a set of references, and an index. The first section,containing 3 chapters, sets the theoretical foundation for remediation.The second section, consisting of 11 chapters, gives examples of theelements of remediation. The third section, with 4 chapters, discussesan example of the use of remediation.

The book introduces new terminology, at least terminology that wasnew to me. Examples are hypermediacy, remediation, and transparentimmediacy. Hypermediacy is a style of visual representation whose goalis to remind the viewer of the medium. Transparent immediacy is a styleof visual representation whose goal is to make the viewer forget thepresence of the medium and believe that he or she is in the presence ofthe objects being represented. Remediation is the formal logic by whichnew media refashions prior media forms. Transparent immediacy,hypermediacy, and remediation are the three traits of the authors’genealogy of new media.

The section on self is interesting. I found the ideas of possibleinfluences of new media on the determination and understanding of selfparticularly seminal. People may find some new perspective and basis forunderstanding and accepting the realizations of self, influenced by thenew media.

The best features of the book are its scholarly tone; itspurposeful linking of examples to its theoretical foundations by an iconand a reference page; its seminal ideas; its effort to put new media inperspective; its presentation of a history of remediation; and itsimpartiality. In some ways, these are also its worst features. It doesnot take sides, it is not judgmental, it does not provide answers to themoral and other dilemmas that new media present, and it is notpolitical. Those with political views of the new media will not findmany ways to debate within the book. The audience for the book,nevertheless, should include scholars, technology lawyers, andlegislators, as well as engineers and artists in the fields of newmedia. There is a good set of references. The index is adequate, butcould have been more useful. For instance, an indexed trail of, say,transparent immediacy would have been helpful.

The book does meet its purpose. It provides a theory of andperspectives on hypermediacy in the first section. Itillustrates the process of remediation in about a dozen types ofcontemporary media. The second section addresses boundaries andcombinations of media. In the third section, the book pursues thereflexive relationship between user and medium by examining someconsequences of the remediating power of digital media for a modernculture’s definitions of self. Although the book’s purpose is not to bea textbook, it could be used as a basis for investigation and scholarlydiscussion in courses of study where an instructor would have to makeassignments.