"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. As he describes how human thought has
been shaped through the centuries by "tools of the mind"-from the
alphabet to maps, to the printing press, the clock, and the
computer-Carr interweaves a fascinating account of recent
discoveries in neuroscience by such pioneers as Michael Merzenich
and Eric Kandel. Our brains, the historical and scientific evidence
reveals, change in response to our experiences. The technologies we
use to find, store, and share information can literally reroute our
neural pathways. Building on the insights of thinkers from Plato to
McLuhan, Carr makes a convincing case that every information
technology carries an intellectual ethic-a set of assumptions about
the nature of knowledge and intelligence. He explains how the
printed book served to focus our attention, promoting deep and
creative thought. In stark contrast, the Internet encourages the
rapid, distracted sampling of small bits of information from many
sources. Its ethic is that of the industrialist, an ethic of speed
and efficiency, of optimized production and consumption-and now the
Net is remaking us in its own image. We are becoming ever more
adept at scanning and skimming, but what we are losing is our
capacity for concentration, contemplation, and reflection. Part
intellectual history, part popular science, and part cultural
criticism, The Shallows sparkles with memorable vignettes-Friedrich
Nietzsche wrestling with a typewriter, Sigmund Freud dissecting the
brains of sea creatures, Nathaniel Hawthorne contemplating the
thunderous approach of a steam locomotive-even as it plumbs
profound questions about the state of our modern psyche. This is a
book that will forever alter the way we think about media and our
minds.
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