Stanford University historian Thomas S. Mullaney will discuss his new book, “How We Disappear: A Personal History of Information,” at Toadstool Bookshop on Wednesday, June 24, at 6 p.m.
In the book, Mullaney challenges the common belief that digital information is permanent, arguing that photographs, documents, websites and databases survive only through ongoing maintenance and preservation efforts.
The work grew out of Mullaney’s experience sorting through family records after the death of his father, prompting questions about what remains of a person’s life after death and how memory is preserved across generations.
Mullaney is a professor of history at Stanford and a leading scholar of technology and information. A Guggenheim Fellow and former Kluge Chair in Technology and Society at the Library of Congress, he is the author of “The Chinese Typewriter” and “The Chinese Computer: A Global History of the Information Age.”
The event will take place at Toadstool Bookshop, 12 Depot Square. Mullaney will discuss themes including digital preservation, artificial intelligence, archives and the future of historical memory.