I'm thrilled to reveal what I've been cooking up the last couple of weeks: My book, The New Formula for Cool: Science, Technology, and the Popular in the American Imagination (Bielefeld: transcript, 2015), is finally out and will be officially launched on November 16th at 7:00 p.m. at Lane & Merriman's, Spitalgasse 3, 1090 Vienna. Join me for an evening of literary pleasure, live acoustic music and delicious cocktails to celebrate - everybody is welcome!
Read on for a synopsis and more infos on the party!
The New Formula for Cool: Science, Technology, and the Popular in the American Imagination is a study of how science and technology became 'cool' in American culture - from the heroic nerds of recent disaster movies to the chilly aesthetics of CSI's crime lab. Here's a short summary of the blurb:
»Our society has undergone a paradigm shift. In the information age, you and I are the alpha males,« Dr Leonard Hofstadter, experimental physicist and protagonist of the hit sitcom »The Big Bang Theory«, assures himself and his fellow scientists. The success of this and similar formats in American popular culture proves his point: Science has finally discovered the formula for cool.
The New Formula for Cool is now available in stores and online. Click here for a free excerpt.
This interdisciplinary study examines how »cool«, a key aesthetic and affective category in the American imagination, informs contemporary representations of technoscience. Analyzing selected audiovisual productions, Judith Kohlenberger sheds light on current processes of interaction between science and popular culture, two pivotal sources for change in post-industrial America.
Needless to say, this book wouldn't exist without without the help, support, and inspiration of numerous friends, family, colleagues and mentors. The list starts with my professor, supervisor & role model Astrid M. Fellner, whose unfailing belief in my abilities and talents gave me strength from the moment I embarked on this project, and ends with my parents & my sister, whose unconditional love was my protective shield against occasional feelings of insecurity and doubt. Many friends and colleagues provided indispensable material and expert advice along the way, and I could not have asked for a better cheer-leading team than my current co-workers. Special thanks go the Austrian Academy of Sciences for generously awarding a publishing grant which facilitated the birth of this book.
To extend a heartfelt 'thank you' to all of them and many more, I'd love to celebrate the occasion with great music, smooth cocktails and the best mini-burgers in town. Be there or be square!
The GEEK CHIC book launch party is supported by my amazingly talented friends: introduction by Josef Mantl, marketing mastermind & host of the evening, and live acoustic music by Al Axy, the best voice on this planet. Helmut Steiner Photography and Sandrino Weghofer will be there to record our shenanigans. Special thanks go to my office mate Michael Soder for technical assistance and David Gannon, owner at Lane & Merriman's, for his unwavering enthusiasm and the coolest location in all of Vienna.
Please make sure to register at FormulaForCool@gmail.com so I can add you to my V.I.P. guest list. Look forward to a great evening of books, music & booze!
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