The novel was written in 1997 and described then then cutting-edge technology of AOL, dial up connections, cars equipped with cellular phones, and laptop computers. If someone on the run has to make a phone call, she steps into a phone booth. At the end the heroine is given a cheque for $2M and told that she is set for life. (That’s BILLION, Doctor Evil..).

When I began law school (this will date me) I asked a prof what book I might read to prepare me for my future career. “Future Shock,” he told me. I read the book and learned nothing from it , though I did learn something about the prof. Those who took people such as Alvin Toffler or Thomas Kuhn seriously proclaimed their shallowness.

How much has technology changed. And how little have people changed.

In one small Texas town I shall stay at the grandly named John Bell Hood suite, in a hotel that resembles the one in the film No Country for Old Men.

“The Gallant Hood of Texas/ Fit Hell in Tennessee.”

And, thank God, they didn’t catch me lying drunk on the sidewalk.

That was someone else…