The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains Paperback
Author: Visit Amazon's Nicholas Carr Page - ISBN: 0393339750 - Language: English - Format: PDF, EPUB
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From Bookmarks Magazine
One of the major issues dividing the critics was whether Carr's claim that the Internet has shortchanged our brain power is, essentially, correct. Many bought into his argument about the neurological effects of the Internet, but the more expert among them (Jonah Lehrer, for one) cited scientific evidence that such technologies actually benefit the mind. Still, as Lehrer, in the New York Times Book Review, points out, Carr is no Luddite, and he fully recognizes the usefulness of the Internet. Other criticism was more trivial, such as the value of Carr's historical and cultural digressions--from Plato to HAL. In the end, Carr offers a thought-provoking investigation into our relationship with technology--even if he offers no easy answers.
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
From Booklist
Carr—author of The Big Switch (2007) and the much-discussed Atlantic Monthly story “Is Google Making Us Stupid?”—is an astute critic of the information technology revolution. Here he looks to neurological science to gauge the organic impact of computers, citing fascinating experiments that contrast the neural pathways built by reading books versus those forged by surfing the hypnotic Internet, where portals lead us on from one text, image, or video to another while we’re being bombarded by messages, alerts, and feeds. This glimmering realm of interruption and distraction impedes the sort of comprehension and retention “deep reading” engenders, Carr explains. And not only are we reconfiguring our brains, we are also forging a “new intellectual ethic,” an arresting observation Carr expands on while discussing Google’s gargantuan book digitization project. What are the consequences of new habits of mind that abandon sustained immersion and concentration for darting about, snagging bits of information? What is gained and what is lost? Carr’s fresh, lucid, and engaging assessment of our infatuation with the Web is provocative and revelatory. --Donna Seaman
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
See all Editorial Reviews
DETAILS
- Paperback: 280 pages
- Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; Reprint edition (June 6, 2011)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0393339750
- ISBN-13: 978-0393339758
- Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
- Shipping Weight: 9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
- Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,921 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1 in Books > Computers & Technology > Computer Science > Human-Computer Interaction
- #3 in Books > Textbooks > Medicine & Health Sciences > Medicine > Basic Sciences > Neuroscience
- #3 in Books > Textbooks > Social Sciences > Psychology > Neuropsychology
REVIEWS
eBook Paperback The subtitle of Nicholas Carr s The Shallows What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains SHALLOWS Paperback What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains SHALLOWS Paperback or download a FREE Kindle Nicholas Carr is an acclaimed writer on technology and culture His most recent book The Shallows What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains was a finalist for the What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains Paperback Publisher W W Run a Quick Search on The Shallows What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains by This Paperback is Not Available The subtitle of Nicholas Carr s The Shallows What the Internet is Doing to Our What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains Download books Leaving The Shallows Paperback for free payment shipping rates What The Internet is Doing to Our Brains in New York Journal of Books The Shallows What The Internet is Doing to Our Brains Author s What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains Back Order Download Format The Shallows What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains was added to our The Shallows What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains published in the United Kingdom as The Shallows Download as PDF Printable version Languages Espa ol maga What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains Nicholas Carr Carr Download Ebooks for Free or The Shallows What the Internet Is Doing to Our
In this short but informative, thought-provoking book, Nicholas Carr presents an argument I've long felt to be true on a humanist level, but supports it with considerable scientific research. In fact, he speaks as a longtime computer enthusiast, one who's come to question what he once wholeheartedly embraced ... and even now, he takes care to distinguish between the beneficial & detrimental aspects of the Internet.
The argument in question?
- Greater access to knowledge is not the same as greater knowledge.
- An ever-increasing plethora of facts & data is not the same as wisdom.
- Breadth of knowledge is not the same as depth of knowledge.
- Multitasking is not the same as complexity.
The studies that Carr presents are troubling, to say the least. From what has been gleaned to date, it's clear that the brain retains a certain amount of plasticity throughout life -- that is, it can be reshaped, and the way that we think can be reshaped, for good or for ill. Thus, if the brain is trained to respond to & take pleasure in the faster pace of the digital world, it is reshaped to favor that approach to experiencing the world as a whole. More, it comes to crave that experience, as the body increasingly craves more of anything it's trained to respond to pleasurably & positively. The more you use a drug, the more you need to sustain even the basic rush.
And where does that leave the mind shaped by deep reading? The mind that immerses itself in the universe of a book, rather than simply looking for a few key phrases & paragraphs? The mind that develops through slow, quiet contemplation, mulling over ideas in their entirety, and growing as a result?
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