Today I wanted to share a book with all of you that I came across a few weeks ago that I simply had to pick up. It’s called, “100 Things We’ve Lost to the Internet” by Pamela Paul. This is a nostalgic look at all of the things that have disappeared from our lives — some good, some bad — because of the Internet.

What’s funny is that I’ve actually been thinking about this a lot lately, before the book ever came to my attention. We’re considering downsizing and moving to a condo which means we have to get rid of a lot of the crap we’ve accumulated over the years. Given that I grew up in the pre-Internet days, I’ve come across a lot of stuff that is no longer relevant such as a cordless telephone, a cassette player, a walkman, a paper address book, and empty photo albums. How about an old fax machine? I also stumbled across boxes of blank printer paper that I no longer use. It’s been years since I’ve used my printer except for printing out my Profit and Loss Statement each April for my accountant. Additionally, there’s a drawer full of binder clips, clipboards, paper clips, a paper cutter, and even a box stuffed with empty three-rings binders. It tickled me to see many of these same items mentioned in Pamela’s book.

Overall, if you’re a person of a certain age, you might enjoy this little excursion down memory lane to a time of kitchen telephones, Rolodexes, Filofaxes, handwritten letters, checkbooks, and the TV Guide. Oh, and how can we forget the blind date?

I thought this book was so much fun, and I believe young people will also get a kick out of this fun, light-hearted jaunt down memory lane — though a lot on this list has disappeared only recently. 100 Things We’ve Lost to the Internet is a jarring reminder about how quickly things change and lose their relevance.

While I think there are some things whose loss I regret — such as glossy, paper magazines — there are others that I’m glad are gone (like getting lost, for instance! I love my GPS).

How about you? What things do you miss that the Internet has taken away?