These new humans beings are our children--thumbelina (petite poucette) and tom thumb (petit poucet)--but technologies have been changing so fast that parents scarcely know their children. Serres documents this cultural revolution, arguing that there have been several similar revolutions in the past: from oral cultures to cultures focused on reading and writing; the advent of the printing press; and now the complex changes brought about by the new information technologies--changes that are taking place at an accelerated pace and that affect us all.