The Shallows
Also known as The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains, The Shallows: How the Internet Is Changing the Way We Think, Read and Remember
Nicholas Carr's 2010 book on how the Internet changes the way we think; a 2011 Pulitzer finalist.
At a glance
Key ideas
Tools change how we think, Twigs and leaves, Neuroplasticity …
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- Carr argues that the Internet may harm cognition by weakening the capacity for concentration and contemplation.
- Using examples from Nietzsche's typewriter to London cab drivers' GPS, he shows how new technologies change the way people think, act and live.
- Hypertext fragments knowledge, so searchers lose the context of what they find.
- Through neuroplasticity, he says, the change reaches the physical structure of the brain.
- He also recognises the Internet's benefits.
Why it matters
- It grew from his widely debated 2008 Atlantic essay "Is Google Making Us Stupid?" and became a New York Times bestseller translated into 17 languages.
Key facts
- Author
- Nicholas G. Carr1
- Published
- 2010, W. W. Norton & Company1
- UK title
- The Shallows: How the Internet Is Changing the Way We Think, Read and Remember1
- Origin
- Expands "Is Google Making Us Stupid?", the cover story of The Atlantic's 2008 Ideas issue2
- Pulitzer Prize
- Finalist, General Nonfiction, 20111
- Reach
- New York Times nonfiction bestseller; translated into 17 languages2
- Influence
- The band I Like Trains released a 2012 concept album, The Shallows, influenced by the book1
Key ideas
-
Tools change how we think2
New technologies, from Nietzsche's typewriter to GPS, change the way people think, act and live.
-
Twigs and leaves2
Hypertext fragments knowledge and strips context: "We don't see the trees. We see twigs and leaves."
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Neuroplasticity2
The change caused by the Internet involves the physical restructuring of the brain.
-
Online reading is shallower1
The book claims research shows online reading yields lower comprehension than reading a printed page.
Connections
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