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3.74 AVERAGE
3.74 AVERAGE
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Although it's not the best book you'll ever read (some chapters aren't really going anywhere and outdated on a few points), the message The Shallows is giving is after 15 years probably even more relevant.
Taking the reader through the history of technological changes, the science of neuroplasticity, and the research on how the brain is affected by our current-day technologies, Carr builds a case that the way we use the Internet — which is itself dictated by the way the Internet functions today — is making us better at certain, specific actions and worse at a lot of other things, like deep reflection and complex analysis of ideas.
All of the information that Carr presented was fascinating and compelling in its own right, and I think the way he put it all together was helpful in drawing the reader through the linking of different areas of history and research. Where Carr continually lost me was when he tried to draw sweeping conclusions from what he had shared. I decided I didn't care enough to make a list of all his conclusions I disagreed with, but perhaps the most obvious example is where Carr (writing in 2009-10) attempted to predict the future of books and got it laughably wrong. Ebook readers were still relatively new, and Carr both didn't understand why anyone would use one, and also predicted that once people did start using them, we would no longer read straight text but would only books that had embedded multimedia, where we could hold conversations with other readers on each page, and it would be common to cobble together and publish books made up of passages from other books to create new stories. The irony is that because the Kindle edition of this book had such a long hold list at the library, I ended up reading a hard copy version, and I opted not to read his footnotes because it's too annoying to flip back and forth in a paper book (something he says is so much easier in print than in ebooks!).
The main problem is that Carr did not leave enough room in his philosophy for human diversity. Yes, some people are tied 24/7 to electronics, but we haven't as a species lost our ability to meditate — if anything, there's been a revival in the interest in meditation in the last decade, or so it seems to me. Yes, there is a decline in how many people read books compared to decades ago, but the publishing industry is still going strong and the proliferation of ebooks and audiobooks has made it easier for some people to fit in reading time who otherwise don't have the leisure to sit down with a paperback. (At one point Carr mocks Edward Bellamy for thinking in 1889 that we'd soon be listening to books rather than reading them, while he himself makes no mention of the popularity of audiobooks and instead predicts confidently that we'll soon only read books that are part video.)
I tried not to be too hard on Carr for the fact that he was writing almost a decade ago, but it was interesting to see what trends he couldn't predict and how fast things change even in 8-9 years. He talks about media producers breaking everything in smaller pieces to accommodate our shorter attention spans, but doesn't anticipate that the cultural expectation of immediate gratification would lead to the phenomenon of "bingeing" on media, where producers would start releasing whole seasons of shows and podcasts at once so people could devote hours to them at once. Although the iPhone existed when the book was published, smartphones clearly hadn't become as integrated into daily life as they are now. The iPad didn't even come out until 2010 and gets only a passing mention. It was interesting to think how Carr would update this book for 2018. (Clearly his prediction that authors of ebooks would constantly download updated versions to our devices has not come to pass!)
I think this book is probably worth a read if you're not already familiar with the history of technological changes, particularly the way reading and books changed over time, and if you don't know much about the research being done on brain development today. All the content Carr cites is interesting — I just wouldn't give too much credence to his overly generalized conclusions.
All of the information that Carr presented was fascinating and compelling in its own right, and I think the way he put it all together was helpful in drawing the reader through the linking of different areas of history and research. Where Carr continually lost me was when he tried to draw sweeping conclusions from what he had shared. I decided I didn't care enough to make a list of all his conclusions I disagreed with, but perhaps the most obvious example is where Carr (writing in 2009-10) attempted to predict the future of books and got it laughably wrong. Ebook readers were still relatively new, and Carr both didn't understand why anyone would use one, and also predicted that once people did start using them, we would no longer read straight text but would only books that had embedded multimedia, where we could hold conversations with other readers on each page, and it would be common to cobble together and publish books made up of passages from other books to create new stories. The irony is that because the Kindle edition of this book had such a long hold list at the library, I ended up reading a hard copy version, and I opted not to read his footnotes because it's too annoying to flip back and forth in a paper book (something he says is so much easier in print than in ebooks!).
The main problem is that Carr did not leave enough room in his philosophy for human diversity. Yes, some people are tied 24/7 to electronics, but we haven't as a species lost our ability to meditate — if anything, there's been a revival in the interest in meditation in the last decade, or so it seems to me. Yes, there is a decline in how many people read books compared to decades ago, but the publishing industry is still going strong and the proliferation of ebooks and audiobooks has made it easier for some people to fit in reading time who otherwise don't have the leisure to sit down with a paperback. (At one point Carr mocks Edward Bellamy for thinking in 1889 that we'd soon be listening to books rather than reading them, while he himself makes no mention of the popularity of audiobooks and instead predicts confidently that we'll soon only read books that are part video.)
I tried not to be too hard on Carr for the fact that he was writing almost a decade ago, but it was interesting to see what trends he couldn't predict and how fast things change even in 8-9 years. He talks about media producers breaking everything in smaller pieces to accommodate our shorter attention spans, but doesn't anticipate that the cultural expectation of immediate gratification would lead to the phenomenon of "bingeing" on media, where producers would start releasing whole seasons of shows and podcasts at once so people could devote hours to them at once. Although the iPhone existed when the book was published, smartphones clearly hadn't become as integrated into daily life as they are now. The iPad didn't even come out until 2010 and gets only a passing mention. It was interesting to think how Carr would update this book for 2018. (Clearly his prediction that authors of ebooks would constantly download updated versions to our devices has not come to pass!)
I think this book is probably worth a read if you're not already familiar with the history of technological changes, particularly the way reading and books changed over time, and if you don't know much about the research being done on brain development today. All the content Carr cites is interesting — I just wouldn't give too much credence to his overly generalized conclusions.
Weird book, interesting book, Nicholas makes some good arguments and then some other ones i wasn't expecting that i dint exactly agree with.
Will review later !
Will review later !
challenging
informative
slow-paced
Lots of amazing historical research and information, but still outdated due to the 2011 publication date. Just goes to show how quickly technology changes and changes the world around it!
informative
medium-paced
This book was better as an essay. As it is, the title is misleading - the book is more about how media changes our brains, not just the most recent incarnation of media via the Internet. The rise of books and literature had a profound affect on our brains as well. Too many times the author relies on personal experience and anecdotal evidence from others on the decline of their attention spans - it rings false, and it particularly annoying to those trying to sustain attention to read his book. But still, it was fun to be reminded of Marshall McLuhan's work, here thirty years after his death, still coming to light.
It’s ironic how tough this book was to read. It presented some very complex ideas with lots of history, so it required a great deal of concentration to read it. But it’s so important.
My favorite chapter was the one about when books became more widely accessible and what that meant for humanity. I had seen Gutenberg bibles and knew what they were famous for, but I didn’t really understand the effect this turning point in history had on the world.
This isn’t a book about how to spend less time on your phone, but it will certainly cause you to go looking for that information elsewhere. It was a fascinating and worrisome read.
My favorite chapter was the one about when books became more widely accessible and what that meant for humanity. I had seen Gutenberg bibles and knew what they were famous for, but I didn’t really understand the effect this turning point in history had on the world.
This isn’t a book about how to spend less time on your phone, but it will certainly cause you to go looking for that information elsewhere. It was a fascinating and worrisome read.
informative
reflective
fast-paced
informative
reflective
medium-paced