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Reviews
Smarter Than You Think: How Technology is Changing Our Minds for the Better by Clive Thompson
jessica13zapata's review against another edition
hopeful
informative
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
3.0
ladytiara's review against another edition
4.0
A fascinating book, and it made me feel a little better about my overuse of technology.
sparrowlight's review against another edition
4.0
Smarter Than You Think is entertaining and informative, refreshing in the face of all the doom-and-gloom tech hatred. I've followed Clive Thompson on Twitter for a while (@pomeranian99) and always enjoyed reading his take, especially when he did a neat collaboration with the short-lived ebook app Readmill. I found myself scribbling a lot of notes as I read. Highly recommended.
neveroutofbooks's review against another edition
4.0
This has some very interesting ideas. I particularly liked the chapter on how much more we write because of tech. Good stuff!
lindseysparks's review against another edition
3.0
It was nice reading something about technology that focused on the positive aspects without worshipping it. Thompson writes about how technology has made us smarter and how every time there's a massive tech shift people freak out about how we're getting dumber as a result, including when print books took off. This was written a couple of years ago and I would be interested to see if his opinions have changed at all based on this election cycle. He argues that social media has exposed us to more viewpoints and to discussions about topics we don't normally discuss. I didn't necessarily agree with him on a lot of things, but this book provided a lot of info on interesting studies on how we think and process information. One of the areas where I did agree with me is that we need to teach people how to better evaluate and search for info. This is even more relevant now with all of the fake news sites and misinformation and the crazy number of people who share articles without even reading it. A friend recently said we have a headline culture, which is so true. People just yell thing they see in headlines and can't say anything past that. And they think they are informed! And now we're ending up with Google and Facebook trying to control information, which is just going to make things worse. People need critical thinking and analytical skills so they can parse info themselves, not rely on someone else to do it for them.
cakemouse's review
3.0
I choose to read this for grad school. We were given a list of books, and this was one that I remembered seeing at the first library I worked at.
I liked how the author presents both positive, and negative, aspects of modern technology, while generally remaining upbeat about it. He points out that we've been at a lot of these crossroads before, and we've had naysayers and cheerleaders for similar leaps in technology.
My biggest problem is that there's so much presented between the pages that you have to read it slow. I often had to stop and think about what I had just read (not a bad thing). The author knows his stuff. Which is awesome. But bringing so many ideas together in a few pages really makes it a dense read.
I liked how the author presents both positive, and negative, aspects of modern technology, while generally remaining upbeat about it. He points out that we've been at a lot of these crossroads before, and we've had naysayers and cheerleaders for similar leaps in technology.
My biggest problem is that there's so much presented between the pages that you have to read it slow. I often had to stop and think about what I had just read (not a bad thing). The author knows his stuff. Which is awesome. But bringing so many ideas together in a few pages really makes it a dense read.
balletbookworm's review against another edition
4.0
Very interesting survey of how new technology - specifically increased computing and internet tools - have impacted our everyday lives. And our brains. Makes a lot of great points about the pitfalls of nostalgia and that the critics perhaps are just a bit scared. Good coverage of international events and how technology was used.
I would have liked some charts or pictures, particularly when describing trends or data (or maybe what the set-up looks like for the guy who wears the camera on his glasses).
I would have liked some charts or pictures, particularly when describing trends or data (or maybe what the set-up looks like for the guy who wears the camera on his glasses).
rjstreet's review against another edition
3.0
Starts strong, but meanders into more basic social networking speculation that you have probably already read elsewhere.
serinde4books's review against another edition
4.0
This is a nonfiction book discussing how technology boots our cognitive thinking. I found it extremely well written and informative. It made me re-think some ideas I had about how technology was dumbing down society. That actually it might be doing the opposite, by changing our way of thinking.
For additional reviews please see my blog at www.adventuresofabibliophile.blogspot.com
For additional reviews please see my blog at www.adventuresofabibliophile.blogspot.com