What kind of world are we building for ourselves? That's the question bestselling author Nicholas Carr tackles in his urgent new book, The Glass Cage, about the human consequences of automation.

Digging behind the headlines about factory robots and self-driving cars, wearable computers and digitized medicine, Carr explores the hidden costs of granting software dominion over our work and our leisure. Even as they bring ease to our lives, computer programs are stealing something essential from us. Drawing on psychological and neurological studies that underscore how tightly people's happiness and satisfaction are tied to performing meaningful work in the real world, Carr reveals something we already suspect: shifting our attention to computer screens can leave us disengaged and discontented.