We shape our tools, and thereafter they shape us.
—John Culkin

How many printed books have you read over the last year? How about the year before that? If I think about it, I can say with certainty that I read a lot less than I used to in my teens and on into university. It takes me longer to read them now, too. And, when I attempt to sell copies of MetalMagic at conventions or signings, I often hear that people don’t have time to read anymore (side note: that could be a quick brush-off, but let’s pretend for a moment that it’s not). I would bet those people are spending a good deal of time doing what Nicholas Carr describes as non-linear reading, or in layman’s terms, surfing the ‘Net. So, what’s the problem, you might ask. After all, reading is reading isn’t it?

Not according to Carr, author of What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains: The Shallows—or from the conclusions of a good amount of scholarly and scientific research that has made its way into the pages of his book. The basic premise is that, while computers and related technology have greatly increased the amount of information available to us and the ease with which we have access to it, they are fundamentally changing the way we think. And, according to the sources he cites, the majority of these changes are not positive.

The Shallows opens with a discussion of the plasticity of our brains, or their ability to ‘rewire’ themselves according to the tasks that we undertake. Previously, Carr says, it was thought that adult brains had little or no plasticity, that they lost that characteristic through the transition from childhood to adulthood. He presents recent arguments that refute this earlier belief. It turns out, the research shows, that throughout our lives, our brains are constantly working and reworking themselves to mirror the formats in which we use them. In a nutshell, this means, “Through what we do and how we do it—moment by moment, day by day, consciously or unconsciously—we alter … and change our brains.”

Proponents of technology might say this is inevitable and good, that we’ve been changing our minds since humankind first invented tools to make our lives easier. Carr suggests, while it is true that our brains have adapted themselves to think more in line with our technologies, earlier changes were mostly for the better. Socrates, he states, feared that a society founded on reading and writing would, “[A]lter a person’s mind, and not for the better. By substituting outer symbols for inner memories, writing threatens to make us shallower thinkers ….” Though Socrates was wary of the switch from an oral culture to a literary society and we can state with some certainty that humankind has greatly benefitted from this transition, Carr reasons that the same argument does not hold true for the information technologies we currently depend on. Having access to an unimaginable store of information which we can increasingly skim as we hop from page to page and link to link is effectively making us less able to concentrate for sustained periods of time or contemplate in a deep and reflective manner.

Carr’s book is dedicated to explaining the thinking behind seeing our minds as machines, constructs that benefit from computers and the internet, and how the act of unquestioningly embracing this idea can have—and is already having—long-lasting and adverse effects on us as individuals and a society. Much like the content and nature of this controversial subject, I am of two minds about it. On one hand, I know I have to struggle to read a book as quickly as I used to and avoid distractions while I do it. I will also admit that I don’t read printed books as often as I once did. On the other, I wouldn’t want to give up all of the neat little applications and programs that allow me to be a functioning member of this information age. What I’m convinced of, though, is that it takes a book like this to make me sit down and think about the situation (as I’m tempted to check my email).