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The shallows : what the Internet is doing to our brains / Nicholas Carr.

By: Carr, Nicholas G, 1959-Material type: TextTextPublisher: New York : W.W. Norton, [2010]Copyright date: ©2010Edition: 1st edDescription: viii, 276 pages ; 25 cmContent type: text Media type: unmediated Carrier type: volumeISBN: 9780393072228; 0393072223Subject(s): Neuropsychology | Internet -- Physiological effect | Internet -- Psychological aspects | Internet -- Social aspects | Brain -- Physiology | IntellectDDC classification: 612.80285 LOC classification: QP360 | .C3667 2010Other classification: 54.32
Contents:
The watchdog and the thief -- Hal and me -- The vital paths -- On what the brain thinks about when it thinks about itself -- Tools of the mind -- The deepening page -- On Lee de Forest and his amazing audion -- A medium of the most general nature -- The very image of a book -- The juggler's brain -- On the buoyancy of IQ scores -- The church of Google -- Search, memory -- On the writing of this book -- A thing like me -- Human elements.
Awards: Finalist for the 2011 Pulitzer Prize in General NonfictionSummary: As we enjoy the Internet's bounties, are we sacrificing our ability to read and think deeply? Carr describes how human thought has been shaped through the centuries by "tools of the mind"--The alphabet to maps, to the printing press, the clock, and the computer--and interweaves recent discoveries in neuroscience. Now, he expands his argument into a compelling exploration of the Internet's intellectual and cultural consequences. Our brains, scientific evidence reveals, change in response to our experiences. Building on insights of thinkers from Plato to McLuhan, Carr makes a case that every information technology carries a set of assumptions about the nature of knowledge and intelligence. The printed book served to focus our attention, promoting deep and creative thought. In contrast, the Internet encourages rapid, distracted sampling of small bits of information. As we become ever more adept at scanning and skimming, are we losing our capacity for concentration, contemplation, and reflection?--From publisher description.
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Item type Current location Call number Status Date due Barcode
Book University of Texas At Tyler
Stacks - 3rd Floor 		QP360 .C3667 2010 (Browse shelf) Available 0000002012458
Browsing University of Texas At Tyler shelves, Shelving location: Stacks - 3rd Floor Close shelf browser
QP303 .M87 2006 Kinesiology : QP355.2 .Y68 2012 Hunger, thirst, sex, and sleep : QP356.4 .B75 2010 The male brain / QP360 .C3667 2010 The shallows : QP360 .F52 2011 Delusions of gender : QP360.5 .P56 1997 How the mind works / QP363.3 .T36 2010 AUTOENCODER NEURAL NETWORKS

Includes bibliographical references (pages 225-256) and index.

The watchdog and the thief -- Hal and me -- The vital paths -- On what the brain thinks about when it thinks about itself -- Tools of the mind -- The deepening page -- On Lee de Forest and his amazing audion -- A medium of the most general nature -- The very image of a book -- The juggler's brain -- On the buoyancy of IQ scores -- The church of Google -- Search, memory -- On the writing of this book -- A thing like me -- Human elements.

As we enjoy the Internet's bounties, are we sacrificing our ability to read and think deeply? Carr describes how human thought has been shaped through the centuries by "tools of the mind"--The alphabet to maps, to the printing press, the clock, and the computer--and interweaves recent discoveries in neuroscience. Now, he expands his argument into a compelling exploration of the Internet's intellectual and cultural consequences. Our brains, scientific evidence reveals, change in response to our experiences. Building on insights of thinkers from Plato to McLuhan, Carr makes a case that every information technology carries a set of assumptions about the nature of knowledge and intelligence. The printed book served to focus our attention, promoting deep and creative thought. In contrast, the Internet encourages rapid, distracted sampling of small bits of information. As we become ever more adept at scanning and skimming, are we losing our capacity for concentration, contemplation, and reflection?--From publisher description.

Finalist for the 2011 Pulitzer Prize in General Nonfiction

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

Expanding on his provocative Atlantic Monthly article, "Is Google Making Us Stupid?," technology writer Carr (The Big Switch) provides a deep, enlightening examination of how the Internet influences the brain and its neural pathways. Computers have altered the way we work; how we organize information, share news and stories, and communicate; and how we search for, read, and absorb information. Carr's analysis incorporates a wealth of neuroscience and other research, as well as philosophy, science, history, and cultural developments. He investigates how the media and tools we use (including libraries) shape the development of our thinking and considers how we relate to and think about our brains. Carr also examines the impact of online searching on memory and explores the overall impact that the tools and media we use have on memory formation. His fantastic investigation of the effect of the Internet on our neurological selves concludes with a very humanistic petition for balancing our human and computer interactions. VERDICT Neuroscience and technology buffs, librarians, and Internet users will find this truly compelling. Highly recommended. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 2/1/10; seven-city tour.]-Candice Kail, Columbia Univ. Libs., New York (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

CHOICE Review

Expanding on his article "Is Google Making Us Stupid?" (The Atlantic, 2008), Carr details his history with computers from the 1970s to his present-day Internet obsession. Realizing that the Internet might be dramatically affecting his brain, he decides to explore the neuroscience behind brain plasticity, which offers clues about how the brain adapts to favor new skills over underutilized ones. The book offers a fascinating history of intellectual tools and their effects on society and ways the human psyche changed with each new development. Indeed, one of human history's greatest advances came from writing, reading, and the book. Carr argues that the inherent intellectual ethic of books, single-minded concentration allowing for deep reading and comprehension, is lost when text is delivered online. He believes the Internet favors the distraction that comes with wading in and out of "the shallows" of information and convincingly argues that the Internet is changing the way people think--not necessarily for the better. The author meanders at times, sometimes purposely, when exploring history's many technological milestones, but never for too long, and often one senses his enthusiasm for appending an interesting, historical, tangential character or anecdote. An entertaining, insightful, thought-provoking book. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All collections. J. A. Bullian Hillsborough Community College

Author notes provided by Syndetics

Nicholas Carr is the author of The Shallows, a Pulitzer Prize finalist, The Glass Cage, and Utopia is Creepy. He has written for the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Atlantic, and Wired. He lives in Massachusetts with his wife.

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