The Shallows: How the Internet Is Changing the Way We Think, Read and Remember

Description

In this ground-breaking and compelling book, Nicholas Carr argues that not since Gutenberg invented printing has humanity been exposed to such a mind-altering technology. The Shallows draws on the latest research to show that the Net is literally re-wiring our brains inducing only superficial understanding. As a consequence there are profound changes in the way we live and communicate, remember and socialise - even in our very conception of ourselves. By moving from the depths of thought to the shallows of distraction, the web, it seems, is actually fostering ignorance. Shallows is not a manifesto for luddites, nor does it seek to turn back the clock. Rather it is a revelatory reminder of how far the Internet has become enmeshed in our daily existence and is affecting the way we think. This landmark book compels us all to look anew at our dependence on this all-pervasive technology.

Nicholas Carr is the author of The Big Switch: Rewiring the World, from Edison to Google. He is a contributor to the New York Times, Guardian, Financial Times and Wired and was formerly the executive editor of the Harvard Business Review. Nick blogs at www.roughtype.com.

A boldly reactionary book... Its thesis is simple and persuasive. The things that we do have a physical effect on our brains... What looks like feast, Carr argues, may be closer to famine.. The internet is a distraction machine. -- Sam Leith * Sunday Times * Unhurried... even-handed... Carr constantly emphasises the fact that screen technologies are neither evil nor miraculous in their effects on the human mind... What is certain, however, is that our minds will change... A worthy illustration that books do indeed enable deep reflection. -- Susan Greenfield * Literary Review * The most readable overview of the science and history of human cognition to date... Carr draws some chilling inferences. * The Economist * An elegantly written cry of anguish... Hair-raising. -- John Harris * The Times *