Gerry McGovern's 99th Day: A Warning About Technology available to pre-order now

Irish author and Hot Press columnist Gerry McGovern has announced a new book, 99th Day: A Warning About Technology – out February 2026, and available to pre-order below.

Published by Dagda, the book takes an in-depth look into the dire state of our planet with our current consumerist habits. It is "a stark reminder that doing nothing is not an option. We have to act with a real sense of urgency – or risk the obliteration of the human species," reads a synopsis.

99th Day has been described as “A masterful book, brilliant in its clarity and beguiling in its argument” by Tim Unwin of the University of London, with Ian Williams of the University of Southampton adding that "Big Tech will hate it. That’s why it is such an important book."

The work sees McGovern delve into our cultures of excess, Ireland's environmental shift, the devastating consequences of mining, the damage caused by big tech and more.

“It has been deeply disturbing, over the past year, to see how aggressively the Trump administration in the US has abandoned any pretence at caring about the future of the planet,” Hot Press editor Niall Stokes says. “In fact, they have made it absolutely clear that their only interest is in amassing every single dirty dollar that can be extracted from our natural resources – and damn the consequences. And of course they are not alone in their cynical disregard for anything other than making more money for the oligarch class.

"If you want to know where all of this is heading, 99 Days: A Warning About Technology makes powerful and essential reading. In it Gerry McGovern forensically sets out the horrendous hidden costs of – and the exponential damage being inflicted by – the tech billionaires, the AI messiahs, the mining conglomerates and the blood-sucking alpha males who are driving the Gadarene rush towards climate catastrophe. 99 Days: A Warning About Technology is packed with shocking information, startling revelations and gripping insights into the utterly unscrupulous nature of contemporary profiteering – at our collective expense. Ignore it at your peril."

McGovern’s company Nua, which developed early versions of blogging software and social media platforms, was awarded the Best Overall World Web Achievement Award by the European Union in 1996, the top award in Europe for Internet innovation that year.

His book, World Wide Waste: How digital is killing the planet and what to do about it, was published in 2020. It was one of the first books to identify the negative environmental impacts digital technologies.

Gerry McGovern's 99th Day: A Warning About Technology is now available for pre-order and can be found here.

WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT 99th Day

A MASTERFUL BOOK

“This is a masterful book, brilliant in its clarity and beguiling in its argument. It lays bare the immense harms that those who design, build and sell digital tech are doing to the environment and Nature, and warns of the frightening implications that this has for human society. It needs to be widely read and acted upon.”
Tim Unwin, Emeritus Professor of Geography, Royal Holloway, University of London

COLLAPSE ISN’T A DISTANT THREAT

“99th Day reads like a dispatch from the edge of a collapsing world. Drawing on lived experience inside the tech industry, Gerry McGovern uncovers how our pathological pursuit of growth—now dressed in 'green'—has become a final devouring of our planet's life support systems. This is not a book of hope as much as a book of truth, urging us to face the consequences of our obsessions. Moving between raw memoir, investigative reporting, and Indigenous wisdom, 99th Day reminds us that collapse isn’t a distant threat—it’s already here—and challenges us to become good ancestors before we thrust ourselves into oblivion.”
Joám Evans Pim, Director, Montescola Foundation

A WISE BOOK FROM A WISE MAN

"Gerry McGovern’s book, 99th Day: A Warning About Technology, shines new light on the damage done to society and the environment by greedy Big Tech companies. It is a beautifully written, evidence-based, eye-opening, frightening, page-turner. McGovern explains the damage done when the rich get richer by the destruction of our environment via the “Growth Death Cult”. He makes it painfully clear why society needs degrowth to survive. The book highlights how greed, green colonisation, data colonialism, mining, Bitcoin, AI, data centres and amoral Big Tech behaviours trample all over the Rights of Nature and stomp all over fair-minded citizens, especially Indigenous peoples. McGovern shows us that “slow decision making is wise decision making.” It is a wise book from a wise man. Big Tech will hate it. That’s why it is such an important book.”
Ian Williams, Professor of Applied Environmental Science, University of Southampton

ESSENTIAL READING

“The timing is perfect: just as the public is waking up to the human and environmental toll of big tech and its ballooning infrastructure, along comes this book. In 99th Day: A Warning About Technology, journalist Gerry McGovern takes us around the globe—from Ireland to Spain to Brazil and West Africa and beyond—to share stories of those whose lives have been upended by mining, chemical dumping, and corporate land grabs. Deeply researched and written with heart, 99th Day is essential reading as we grapple with what a “green transition” really means.”
Judith Schwartz, author of The Reindeer Chronicles

AN INSPIRING BOOK

“99th Day is essential reading for anyone who cares about our planet. Prepare to be disturbed, enlightened and inspired.”
Justine McCarthy, The Irish Times

PRIDE OF PLACE ON THE BOOKSHELF

“With the publication of 99th Day Gerry McGovern has shattered the multi-billion dollar myth created by the ‘Green’ industry; a few pages in, and it becomes clear that all is neither ‘clean, green nor sustainable’ in the IT sector. The real social and environmental cost of every wind and solar farm, laptop and smartphone we use is laid bare with forensic clarity. As we face into an ever more precarious future this is a book everyone should read at least once and then place in pride of place on their bookshelf as an essential reference.”
Derry Chambers, spokesperson, Cork Environmental Alliance