Being Digital

It may seem odd that the founding director of MIT's Media Lab and frontline cheerleader for the information revolution chose to write Being Digital; why not a CD-ROM or collection of on-line hypertext? One reason, as Negroponte points out in his introduction to this volume of essays, some of which were expanded and adapted from his regular column in Wired magazine, is that the new media haven't yet reached most of the ''executives, politicians, and parents'' who could really benefit from his guided tour to the bit-savvy future. If he's talking about you, then you might raise your cyberquotient a notch or two by reading this low-jargon, straightforward exploration of the development of digital media. It will fill you in on the future of your TV, your phone, your computer, your job, and even your kids. B+