Andreas Bernard

Until fairly recently, only serial killers and lunatics had profiles. Yet today, almost everyone is profiled through social media, mobile phones, and a multitude of other methods. But where does the idea of profiling come from, how has it changed over time, and what are its implications? In The Triumph of Profiling, Andreas Bernard examines contemporary profiling’s roots in late-nineteenth-century...

This is an ode to the lost golden age of the pinball machine. These vivid, flashing portals of entertainment were mainstays of nearly every bar, pub, and amusement arcade from the 1960s to the 1990s, but today they have all but disappeared. While the films and novels of Fassbinder, Modiano, and Murakami testify to their past ubiquity, they are now...

This is a short book about the most prominent sign of our times. The simple # sign is now used so widely that it is easy to overlook the fundamental effects it has had in the structuring of public debate. With its help, statements are bundled together and discourse is organised and amplified around common buzzwords. This method enables us...