Mood and mobility is a novel effort by Richard Coyne. In this book, the author stresses an important aspect, the mood, and how it applies to the digital world from different perspectives. The book discusses ten key mood propositions across different chapters.

The introductory chapter starts by defining what a mood is and compares it with emotion and affect. Chapter 2 is about mood in a social interaction and cultural context, covering aspects around empathy and anger. The impact of curiosity, the theme of the third chapter, with reference to content, sociability, identity, differences, and absence, is discussed from a digital perspective. The next chapter is on pleasure or positive feelings. Here, the author nicely explains “pleasure” with examples of a “like” in Facebook and compares it to an “appreciation” from a guest for the chef who made a high-quality meal. Different sources and types of pleasure (positive, negative, sadistic, and so on) are examined in detail.

Chapter 5 is on vertigo, which accounts for a range of emotions: confusion, disorientation, and dizziness. The author explains that vertigo involves objects and equipment and also relates to habits, obsessions, dependency, and addiction characterizing human relationship with computers. In the next chapter, the author uses haze as a metaphor for mood and memories. Here, he explains various concepts about the mood of a place, its atmosphere, and the ambiance Chapter 7 is on color, ranging from bright to dark. The author starts with a question, “Does color contribute to the mood?” and shares his thoughts around this. The whole revolution around digital display technologies is analyzed from the perspective of color as a powerful type of mood. Melancholy, an extreme condition of sadness or depression, is the mood for chapter 8. According to the author, the Internet is a melancholy medium comprised of various digital media. He claims that digital social media play a role in helping people forget.

The author, through a variety of examples, many of them from movies, demonstrates that digital media are the media of suspense, the mood in focus for this chapter. Interesting examples about the Facebook update field primed with a question, “What’s on your mind?” and Apple’s Siri amplifying the friendly aspect of the question, and so on, are beautifully explained. Chapter 10 is about ignorance, where the author questions whether it is a mood, a state, or a moral condition. He shares great discussions around false memory, imagination, positive and negative moods, and so on. The hallmark chapter of the book is the last chapter, covering moods aroused by machines or digital devices. The author touches on digital concepts around the Internet of Things, virtual reality, and wearables.

In summary, this book concentrates on a small but important topic, mood. The author has done a commendable job in explaining several concepts useful for engineers, designers, and other professionals of today’s digital Internet of Things world. Abundant examples from history, movies, and the author’s personal life are used to explain various concepts around mood, making this book an interesting, must-read contribution.