Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Book 55: The Shallows

Maybe this book should be subtitled: What Everything is Doing to Our Brains.

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The first part of the book went into great detail about neuroplasticity and how every new technology (including something as basic as a writing system or a hammer) affects the brain. Long ago, Socrates was worried that writing ideas down would have negative effects on thinking and ideas. And yes, writing things down and being able to read them did change the brain, but I don't think most of us would consider that a problem. (Like Socrates, I prefer to sing hymns from memory, rather than reading from a hymnbook.)

I really enjoyed the book, even as a digital immigrant. Even my little analog brain is affected by the division of attention and the constant input of the web. The effects will be even greater for digital natives like my kidlets.

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