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| The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains |  | Author: Nicholas Carr
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Category: eBooks
This item is no longer available
Rating:  47 reviews
Sales Rank: 1017
Format: Kindle Book
Media: Kindle Edition
Pages: 276
Number Of Items: 1
Dewey Decimal Number: 612.80285
ASIN: B003R7L90I
Publication Date: June 7, 2010
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Product Description
-Is Google making us stupid?- When Nicholas Carr posed that question in a celebrated Atlantic Monthly cover story, he tapped into a well of anxiety about how the Internet is changing us. He also crystallized one of the most important debates of our time: As we enjoy the Net-s bounties, are we sacrificing our ability to read and think deeply? Now Carr expands his argument into the most compelling exploration of the Internet-s intellectual and cultural consequences yet published. Weaving insights from philosophy, neuroscience, and history into a rich narrative, The Shallows explains how the Net is rerouting our neural pathways, replacing the subtle mind of the book reader with the distracted mind of the screen watcher. A gripping story of human transformation played out against a backdrop of technological upheaval, The Shallows will forever alter the way we think about media and our minds.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 47
 Huh? September 3, 2010
L. Boyd (Richmond, VA United States)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Apply an old thesis to a new medium (the "deep") and then use that new medium to search for a random assortment of interesting but briefly explained examples (the shallows) to prove it. I don't think it is possible to write an article or a book arguing that the internet is rewiring our brains without at least including some wiring diagrams! There are no diagrams showing the wiring of preliterate brains, literate brains, television brains, or internet brains... Just words describing vague feelings of restlessness and boredom... an inability to concentrate... a lack of stimulus or speed. It appears that the author is not getting enough exercise.
 Aristotle was right September 2, 2010
jeanne_heicher
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I glanced at my watch, then back at my work. What time was it? I
couldn't remember. Why not? My brand new watch, my first digital
watch, was right there on my wrist, but glancing at it did not produce
the same knowing I got with my old watch, the one with the clock face
and hands. Or, perhaps I forgot what the numbers were so quickly
that I had to concentrate as I looked at them so I could get the time
to register in my head. Could it be that my brain did not translate
the digital clock's numbers directly as a time of day, like it did
automatically for the angle formed by the hands of my old watch? I
glanced at the clock on the wall, and the comfort of knowing- and
remembering- that it was almost lunchtime confirmed my suspicion.
Even then, forty years ago, I suspected that technology was shaping
our brains. It's been a sneaking suspicion. All this surfing and
texting and digital activity surely is changing us- personally and as
a species. Our Internet connections are getting faster, and the
always-on world of wireless and bluetooth and teeny tiny keyboards
provide a convenient place to store data- dangerously more convenient
than storing it in our own brains.
Fast forward to 1990. I am struggling at my desk to comprehend a
filing system that I cannot see. It lies hidden in the computer box on
my desk, and the file I would like to work on is in there- somewhere.
I tell myself there is absolutely nothing wrong with my memory, but I
have trouble locating the file. I long for a printed table of
contents. I finally find my file, and the words appear on the screen
before me. Well, some of the words, as I wrote too much for it all to
show at one time. Why do I have trouble remembering the parts that do
not show? I page up and page down, and finally print the document, and
relax into the comfort of editing with a pen before typing in the
changes.
Five years later I am learning about the Internet. I am being shown
the World Wide Web by a friend. The changing screen in front of my
eyes as my friend clicks and scrolls soon makes me physically dizzy
and nauseated. I have to stop. My eyes and my brain have to adapt to
adjust to this new kind of input. My brain adjusts remarkably
quickly, and I now spend much of my day successfully interacting with
a computer.
In his new book, The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to our
Brains, Nicholas Carr elaborates on the way technology is shaping our
brains, and the way we think and perceive information. Startlingly,
and quite correctly, he begins by detailing how the printed word
changed our brains when it replaced oral tradition. Aristotle decried
the written word, as he prophesied that it would ruin the capacity for
human memory. As a species, we humans had to make a quantum leap from
learning by hearing information to learning by seeing information.
Today, while we are still learning by seeing information, that
information is now presented to us in a different way, as it quickly
and erratically pops and scrolls before us on a computer screen,
rather than on a printed page. It is the rate and rhythm of
presentation that is changing, and it is making huge changes in the
way our brains are wired. The biggest change is in our decreasing
ability to focus and concentrate on information for any length of
time. Carr is concerned about the results of this fact.
Frankly, so am I. I think that his book is a wake-up call for all of
us. It is not too late to preserve the powers of our brains that have
served us so well in the past, while developing our new
digitally-related skills alongside the old ones. The solution for a
healthy brain is delightful, as well. Besides surfing the web and
staring at your computer screen, be sure to make time in your day to
meditate for a while, to really listen to a piece of your favorite
music, to have a long conversation with a friend, and, my favorite, to
curl up with a good book. So we return full circle to Aristotle's
admonishments and his wise prescription for "moderation in all
things."
 never delivered September 2, 2010
Poerink, E
0 out of 6 found this review helpful
I would have loved to write a review for The Whallows,
however, due to unknown reasons, the book was never delivered...
(although I did pay the bill)
so, I am still waiting
Ewoud
`Everywhere you look, you see signs of the Net's hegemony over the packaging and flow of information.' September 2, 2010
J. Cameron-Smith (ACT, Australia)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Is our constant exposure to electronic stimuli good for us? Can we transform the data we receive into the knowledge we need? Are we swapping deep understanding for shallow distractions?
In this book, Nicholas Carr argues that our constant exposure to multiple and faster data streams is changing the way our brains are wired. This change, which is due to the inherent plasticity of the brain, tends to reduce our capacity to absorb and retain what we read. Mr Carr cites a number of different studies to support his views, and the book makes for interesting reading.
Mr Carr acknowledges that the digital world brings both advantage and disadvantage: `Every tool imposes limitations even as it opens possibilities.' The Internet is a wonderful tool for finding information, but value usually requires some analysis, and often requires a context which is not always immediately obvious. How do we find a balance between those aspects of life that require self-awareness, time and careful consideration, and those aspects of life where an automatic (or semi automatic) response is more appropriate and perhaps even required? Do we understand what choices we have, or are we responding in line with the immediacy of the medium we are using? Are we consumers of data or evaluators of information? Does it matter? I think it does: `The more distracted we become, the less able we are to experience the subtlest, most distinctly human forms of empathy, compassion, and emotion.'
The most valuable aspect of this book, to me, was thinking about the short and long term consequences of the Internet. Those of us who grew to adulthood before the Internet shaped the way we work and communicate have (to varying degrees) embraced the benefits and new possibilities afforded.
A return to the past is neither possible nor desirable - but conscious choice is both.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
"Food for Thought" August 27, 2010
Sunny Seaside
At times lengthy explanations. End results fascinating. Changes how we think and how it changes entire culture.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 47
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