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Smarter Than You Think: How Technology Is Changing Our Minds For The Better (2013)

by Clive Thompson(Favorite Author)

3.99 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

1594204454 (ISBN13: 9781594204456)

languge

English

genre

Nonfiction

publisher

Penguin Press HC, The

review 1: Smarter Than You Think is a fascinating scientific look at the way human thought is evolving alongside technological advancements. Having the ability to externalize some thought and memory allows us to liberate brain space for processing rather than raw storage. And this is only the beginning. This book is definitely worth the read to anyone who has heard the argument that technology is making us less intelligent/competent. Thompson makes a very convincing argument that while technology may change the way we think, it will not negatively impact our ways of thinking. Essentially, to make thinking more efficient is not to make thinking worse.
review 2: Well-crafted, refreshing (but not blindly devoted) view of technology in a cynical world. Perhaps with my backg... moreround in education and future grad school venture in information science I'm bound to love this sort of endeavor, but it could easily have been a lot of pointless fluff. Instead, Thompson moved fluidly between history (printing press, photo journalism), studies/experiments (we more easily recall which folder a fact is stored in than the fact itself), and analysis. He shows how our digital lives are giving us a new literacy; a new forum for political change; a new and sometimes philanthropic vehicle for puzzle-solving; and a new challenge: to know and monitor the weaknesses of ourselves and of the internet. A little of this harkened back to How Creativity Works, expounding upon the digital arm of it. The part about modern education had me thinking back to Funnels & Buckets, Sim City, Mario's Missing, and Jumpstart Kindergarten... Anyway, I learned about tummeling and gained some insight into blogging, mood-tracking, question-answering sites. Thompson asked questions like "What will be the video equivalent of a post-it note?" Gah, how can one not love a book like this?!? (Only rated it 4 stars because he got a little carried away with the social revolution examples, as if the title were "Smarter Than You Think: How Technology is Changing our LIVES for the Better. My only gripe.) less

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