Amanda Hess - Second Life

Join us for an exciting night with Amanda Hess, as she discusses her new book, Second Life, with author Kyle Chayka

This in-person event will be held at Solid State Books on H St. NE. Don't miss out!

The long awaited debut memoir about the convergence of parenthood and technology from the  beloved New York Times critic.

One of Lit Hub's Most Anticipated Books of 2025

The internet's odd right? Don't get me wrong, I know it can helpful, exciting, and joyful place. But throughout it all, it's kind of an odd place right?

No one knows that better than New York Times critic Amanda Hess. Having written about internet culture since 2016, Amanda has a huge following that will be eager to read her debut memoir where she tackles the intersection of parenthood and the rise of AI and tech. Amanda does an incredible job in this book of showing strangeness of being a parent in the digital age, how so much of parenting is now tethered to algorithms and apps, and while they can be helpful in a way a lot of unexpected and perhaps troubling behaviors and impressions emerge.

Readers who gravitate towards writers like Jia Tolentino, Jenny Odell, those who write about who we are in the space we inhabit, I think we readily snap this up. Blurbs and support expected from from luminaries like Mary Karr, Patricia Lockwood, Maggie Nelson, Emily Ratajkowski, and many more.

AMANDA HESS is a critic at large for The New York Times. She writes about internet and pop culture for the Arts section and con­tributes regularly to The New York Times Maga­zine.

KYLE CHAYKA is a staff writer at The New Yorker, where he writes a column on digital technology and the impact of the Internet and social media on culture. He lives in Washington, D.C.