The Shallows by Nicholas Carr, Atlantic, $32.99.
A fascinating book about the way computers and the internet are changing the way we read and absorb information.
The basic premise is this: after centuries of linear, literary thinking, book-type thinking, our minds are being rewired into a new kind of mind that operates in short, disjointed, often overlapping bursts, and the quicker it does so the better.
Carr strings together a wealth of personal anecdotes about our attention deficits in this internet age and anchors it to the new science of brain neuro-plasticity — which may sound daunting but he explains it so well.
Your reaction to the book will depend on your own experience. But it’s a genuinely intriguing theory that leaves you wondering what our happy, high-energy surfing is actually doing to our heads.
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