Experience on Demand

An in-depth look at virtual reality and how it can be harnessed to improve our everyday lives. Virtual reality is able to effectively blur the line between reality and illusion, pushing the limits of our imagination and granting us access to any experience possible. These experiences, ones that the brain is convinced are real, will soon be available at the click of a button. In Experience on Demand, Jeremy Bailenson draws on two decades spent researching the psychological effects of virtual reality to help readers understand this new medium. He offers expert guidelines for interacting with VR and describes the profound ways this technology can be used to hone our performance, help us recover from trauma, improve our learning and communication abilities, and even enhance our empathic and imaginative capacities so that we treat others, the environment and ourselves better.

“If you want to understand the most immersive new communications medium to come along since cinema… I’d suggest starting with Mr. Bailenson’s [book].” —Wall Street Journal Virtual reality is able to effectively blur the line between reality and illusion, granting us access to any experience imaginable. These experiences, ones that the brain is convinced are real, will soon be available everywhere. In Experience on Demand, Jeremy Bailenson draws upon two decades spent researching the psychological effects of VR to help readers understand its upsides and possible downsides. He offers expert guidelines for interacting with VR, and describes the profound ways this technology can be put to use to hone our performance, help us recover from trauma, improve our learning, and even enhance our empathic and imaginative capacities so that we treat others and ourselves better.