The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains

by Nicholas Carr

Book Overview

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...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0393339750
• ISBN13: 9780393339758
• Release Date: June 2011
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Length: 280 Pages
• Weight: 0.59 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.4" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Very applicable to modern life

If you can work through the first 40 pages, which are needed to lay a lot of the groundwork for Carr's bigger ideas, there are a lot of rewarding conclusions and insightful discoveries. I was impressed by the simplicity that Carr broke down decades of research and literature into digestible paragraphs. His work helps us understand how our thoughts behave within the online space and the effect this "immediacy" has on our memory. The book touches on the difference between "working memory" and long term memory - and the history of how society and technology have encouraged different styles of thinking. There was a lot more history about other forms of technology than I expected, but it helped to contextualize the computer relative to other technology types which also provided great change (clock, printing press, calculator, phones, etc). Overall he did a great job of showcasing some of the caveats of the internet, while also touching on the benefits it can provide. Even though this book is almost 15 years old as of 2024, it's still very relevant. As someone who works on a computer everyday, this book was a breath of fresh air. It gratified a lot of the things I've felt, but couldn't exactly put words to.