Past, Present, and Future
Author: Robert Darnton
Genre: nonfiction, history
Publication info: PublicAffairs, 2009
Pages: 218
It’s been a little tough figuring out what book to read after finishing Les Misérables, so I went with a book about books. I actually just spotted this book on a shelf in the library and picked it up on a whim. The subject of books interests me, especially dealing with the rapid changes that are occurring in how people consume them.
Robert Darnton was, when he wrote this book, the director of the Harvard University Library. The Case for Books is a collection of essays, some written expressly for this book and others previously published. I expected it to be mainly a spirited criticism of the rise of the digital book, but what I got was something quite different. Darnton has actually been something of a champion of digital publishing, spearheading a project called Gutenberg-e to increase the prestige of digital publishing in academia.
His main concern is with Google Books, not because he disagrees with its mission to digitize books from libraries across the world and make them accessible to everyone, but because he doesn’t like the idea of Google controlling it all. He makes a good point. Information should belong to everyone, not be controlled by a single entity. But because Google beat everyone to the punch by aggressively scanning books, the opportunity may have passed to make this information more open and democratic. In Darnton’s view, this type of service should be provided by libraries, whose first priority is the advancement of knowledge rather than profit.
Anyway, that’s not actually what I found most interesting about this book. The subtitle is Past, Present, and Future, and it was the “past” part that intrigued me the most. Darnton is an expert on eighteenth-century France, so in his essays he gives a fascinating look into how the book trade worked back then. One of my favorite parts was an exposition on something called the commonplace book, in which people would compile quotations from books they read and from people they talk to. These commonplace books give historians great insights into how these people viewed the world around them, what they thought was most important. It would be great to bring back the commonplace book, but I guess that’s what people use Pinterest and Facebook for nowadays. Makes you wonder what historians will think about us hundreds of years from now. What will they think we hold most important?
I enjoyed The Case for Books. Robert Darnton is an incisive thinker and skilled writer. It wasn’t particularly life-changing, but it did make me think about some things.
Showing posts with label nonfiction. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nonfiction. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Future Minds
How the Digital Age Is Changing Our Minds, Why This Matters and What We Can Do About It
Author: Richard Watson
Genre: nonfiction
Publication info: Nicholas Brealey, 2010
Pages: 213
I wish everybody would read this book, and I mean everybody. If I had the money to do it, I would buy a copy for everyone I know. Anyone who knows me is welcome to borrow this from me. This is a topic that I care deeply about, especially lately, and I wish everyone would give it some thought.
The subject of the book is clear enough from the subtitle: the omnipresence of digital devices and social media in today's society is fundamentally changing the way we think and interact with other people. I've talked about this before in my review of The Shallows by Nicholas Carr (which Watson references multiple times in this book). Basically, we are so constantly filling up our time with instant information and digital diversions that we leave no time for deep, reflective thinking.
And it is deep, reflective, original, creative thinking that sets us apart as humans. Here is the scary thing that Watson points out. We know that computers are getting smarter. Google and Facebook know who you are. They can identify you in photographs and can figure out where the pictures were taken. But they became that smart only because humans made them that way. As capable as computers are, they are only good at solving predefined problems and processing data that is given to them. But they have no ability for dreaming up new ideas or asking original questions. As Watson puts it, "In the future a computer might be able to recognize a picture and tell you that it was painted in 1643 by Jan Josephsz. van Goyen [actually, it probably already can], but even then, you are unlikely to get an emotional response and even less likely to find that the computer becomes inspired and rushes off to paint something itself." It's the humans' place to do that.
But we are forfeiting our own thinking. We are increasingly relying on computers to do all our thinking and remembering for us, and we are always frantically searching for the next new bit of information. We're pulling out our phones in the middle of conversations, at the dinner table, in every quiet moment that we have. With all this, there is no time for original thinking, and without original thinking, there is nothing to set us apart from machines. Our obsession with the digital world is destroying what makes us who we are.
The point is that we need to scale back our fanaticism with everything digital. That isn't to say, as Watson states, that everything electronic is intrinsically evil, but we shouldn't be so eager to let it replace analogue forms of media and real, physical interaction with people. There needs to be a balance. There is an important role for physical books. Say what you will about how much more convenient ebooks are, you simply will not do the same calm, reflective thinking with those as you will with print media. Your mind is just not in the same state. Call me crazy, but physical books are irreplaceable. Just because something is more convenient doesn't always mean that it's better.
The great thing about this book is that it gives us ideas for what we can do about this crisis. The most important, I think, is that we just give ourselves time and space to think. That means putting away the phone, turning off the computer, and just thinking. When was the last time you just looked out the window in the car (when you're not driving, of course)? When was the last time you went for a walk and did nothing but look at the world around you? When was the last time you just sat and daydreamed? We need more of this as humans, but the trend is that these activities are diminishing.
Watson expresses all this much better than I do (although he does seem to ramble a bit sometimes, and possibly contradict himself), so I will end with another quote from him: "Given the fact that we seem to be capable of inventing more or less anything these days, perhaps a question we should be asking ourselves more frequently in the future is not whether we can invent something but whether we should."
Please, please read this book. And even more important, after you've read it, think about it.
Author: Richard Watson
Genre: nonfiction
Publication info: Nicholas Brealey, 2010
Pages: 213
I wish everybody would read this book, and I mean everybody. If I had the money to do it, I would buy a copy for everyone I know. Anyone who knows me is welcome to borrow this from me. This is a topic that I care deeply about, especially lately, and I wish everyone would give it some thought.
The subject of the book is clear enough from the subtitle: the omnipresence of digital devices and social media in today's society is fundamentally changing the way we think and interact with other people. I've talked about this before in my review of The Shallows by Nicholas Carr (which Watson references multiple times in this book). Basically, we are so constantly filling up our time with instant information and digital diversions that we leave no time for deep, reflective thinking.
And it is deep, reflective, original, creative thinking that sets us apart as humans. Here is the scary thing that Watson points out. We know that computers are getting smarter. Google and Facebook know who you are. They can identify you in photographs and can figure out where the pictures were taken. But they became that smart only because humans made them that way. As capable as computers are, they are only good at solving predefined problems and processing data that is given to them. But they have no ability for dreaming up new ideas or asking original questions. As Watson puts it, "In the future a computer might be able to recognize a picture and tell you that it was painted in 1643 by Jan Josephsz. van Goyen [actually, it probably already can], but even then, you are unlikely to get an emotional response and even less likely to find that the computer becomes inspired and rushes off to paint something itself." It's the humans' place to do that.
But we are forfeiting our own thinking. We are increasingly relying on computers to do all our thinking and remembering for us, and we are always frantically searching for the next new bit of information. We're pulling out our phones in the middle of conversations, at the dinner table, in every quiet moment that we have. With all this, there is no time for original thinking, and without original thinking, there is nothing to set us apart from machines. Our obsession with the digital world is destroying what makes us who we are.
The point is that we need to scale back our fanaticism with everything digital. That isn't to say, as Watson states, that everything electronic is intrinsically evil, but we shouldn't be so eager to let it replace analogue forms of media and real, physical interaction with people. There needs to be a balance. There is an important role for physical books. Say what you will about how much more convenient ebooks are, you simply will not do the same calm, reflective thinking with those as you will with print media. Your mind is just not in the same state. Call me crazy, but physical books are irreplaceable. Just because something is more convenient doesn't always mean that it's better.
The great thing about this book is that it gives us ideas for what we can do about this crisis. The most important, I think, is that we just give ourselves time and space to think. That means putting away the phone, turning off the computer, and just thinking. When was the last time you just looked out the window in the car (when you're not driving, of course)? When was the last time you went for a walk and did nothing but look at the world around you? When was the last time you just sat and daydreamed? We need more of this as humans, but the trend is that these activities are diminishing.
Watson expresses all this much better than I do (although he does seem to ramble a bit sometimes, and possibly contradict himself), so I will end with another quote from him: "Given the fact that we seem to be capable of inventing more or less anything these days, perhaps a question we should be asking ourselves more frequently in the future is not whether we can invent something but whether we should."
Please, please read this book. And even more important, after you've read it, think about it.
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Born to Run
A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen
Author: Christopher McDougall
Genre: nonfiction
Publication info: Alfred A. Knopf, 2010
Pages: 287
I've known about this book for a while, but I never thought I would get around to reading it. In fact, I may even have been avoiding it for a while. Being a runner myself (or at least having been one—my running hasn't been so great lately), books like this frequently catch my eye, but I was hesitant to pick this one up because of what I'd heard about its connection to the barefoot craze. This isn't to say I'm against barefoot running, but the fanaticism that I often see along with it is pretty off-putting.
Well, if just so happens that I came across this book on a vacation recently, so I decided to give it a shot. And guess what. I enjoyed it a lot more than I expected to. Christopher McDougall, it turns out, is a very engaging storyteller. Yes, Born to Run is, more than anything else, a story. It's not just an extended piece of argumentation like I expected.
What is the story? It all starts with the author asking himself, "How come my foot hurts?" He's a casual runner who is really trying to enjoy the sport, but a surging pain in his foot has made that goal a tad difficult to achieve. So he goes to doctor after doctor who all tell him that running is bad for you. Of course, that answer isn't good enough for him.
With his connections as a magazine writer, McDougall finds out about the Tarahumara, a tribe of native Mexicans who live in a place called Copper Canyons, near the U.S. border. Apart from the extreme hostility of the place they live in, what sets these people apart is that they're runners. All of them—young and old, male and female. And they're not just runners; they're dang good ones, regularly going on 60-plus-mile trail races with each other. Above all, they like doing it.
McDougall wants to learn everything he can from them, but to do so, he needs to find a mysterious man known only as Caballo Blanco, an American living among the Tarahumara. Caballo seems to be the only person that really "gets" the Tarahumara. Unfortunately, he is also just as distrustful of outsiders as they are. But he has a plan. A plan to organize the greatest ultramarathon ever, right on the Tarahumara's own turf. And he needs McDougall's help to do it.
That's the basis of the story. Along the way McDougall tells the stories of famous ultrarunners who end up getting involved. And he delves into topics such as barefoot running and the apparent fact that we humans are built to run long distances. But what I enjoyed most about this book was the story. What's really cool about it is that it all really happened (although I'm sure there is some embellishment). If you search around you can find some photos of the first-ever Copper Canyons race.
The characters are quirky and endearing, the story is suspenseful and engaging, the writing style is funny and clever—this book would make a pretty good novel. But I learned some things too. For one, there are a lot of points worth considering when it comes to barefoot running (including the fact that nobody likes a barefoot fanatic). Apparently the classic running shoe has conditioned us to run improperly, and that is why we get injured so often. You can tell that running shoe companies are starting to take these ideas seriously by their more recent products. I also learned that running should, above all, be a joyful experience. That may sound strange to you, and sometimes it does to me, but I think it would be a worthy goal to shoot for: to run just for the pure enjoyment of running.
A quick warning to readers: This book has a fair share of foul language. It's a shame, really. Everything else about the book is a lot of fun. Normally I wouldn't keep reading a book with this much offensive language, but for some reason I did. I hesitate to recommend this book because of the language, but on every other count it's great. Just consider yourself warned.
Author: Christopher McDougall
Genre: nonfiction
Publication info: Alfred A. Knopf, 2010
Pages: 287
I've known about this book for a while, but I never thought I would get around to reading it. In fact, I may even have been avoiding it for a while. Being a runner myself (or at least having been one—my running hasn't been so great lately), books like this frequently catch my eye, but I was hesitant to pick this one up because of what I'd heard about its connection to the barefoot craze. This isn't to say I'm against barefoot running, but the fanaticism that I often see along with it is pretty off-putting.
Well, if just so happens that I came across this book on a vacation recently, so I decided to give it a shot. And guess what. I enjoyed it a lot more than I expected to. Christopher McDougall, it turns out, is a very engaging storyteller. Yes, Born to Run is, more than anything else, a story. It's not just an extended piece of argumentation like I expected.
What is the story? It all starts with the author asking himself, "How come my foot hurts?" He's a casual runner who is really trying to enjoy the sport, but a surging pain in his foot has made that goal a tad difficult to achieve. So he goes to doctor after doctor who all tell him that running is bad for you. Of course, that answer isn't good enough for him.
With his connections as a magazine writer, McDougall finds out about the Tarahumara, a tribe of native Mexicans who live in a place called Copper Canyons, near the U.S. border. Apart from the extreme hostility of the place they live in, what sets these people apart is that they're runners. All of them—young and old, male and female. And they're not just runners; they're dang good ones, regularly going on 60-plus-mile trail races with each other. Above all, they like doing it.
McDougall wants to learn everything he can from them, but to do so, he needs to find a mysterious man known only as Caballo Blanco, an American living among the Tarahumara. Caballo seems to be the only person that really "gets" the Tarahumara. Unfortunately, he is also just as distrustful of outsiders as they are. But he has a plan. A plan to organize the greatest ultramarathon ever, right on the Tarahumara's own turf. And he needs McDougall's help to do it.
That's the basis of the story. Along the way McDougall tells the stories of famous ultrarunners who end up getting involved. And he delves into topics such as barefoot running and the apparent fact that we humans are built to run long distances. But what I enjoyed most about this book was the story. What's really cool about it is that it all really happened (although I'm sure there is some embellishment). If you search around you can find some photos of the first-ever Copper Canyons race.
The characters are quirky and endearing, the story is suspenseful and engaging, the writing style is funny and clever—this book would make a pretty good novel. But I learned some things too. For one, there are a lot of points worth considering when it comes to barefoot running (including the fact that nobody likes a barefoot fanatic). Apparently the classic running shoe has conditioned us to run improperly, and that is why we get injured so often. You can tell that running shoe companies are starting to take these ideas seriously by their more recent products. I also learned that running should, above all, be a joyful experience. That may sound strange to you, and sometimes it does to me, but I think it would be a worthy goal to shoot for: to run just for the pure enjoyment of running.
A quick warning to readers: This book has a fair share of foul language. It's a shame, really. Everything else about the book is a lot of fun. Normally I wouldn't keep reading a book with this much offensive language, but for some reason I did. I hesitate to recommend this book because of the language, but on every other count it's great. Just consider yourself warned.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
The Writer's Journey
Mythic Structure for Writers
Author: Christopher Vogler
Genre: nonfiction, writing instruction
Publication info: Michael Wiese Productions, 2007 (3rd edition)
Pages: 406
It's been a good long while since I last posted to this blog, but that doesn't mean I haven't been reading. Sometimes when life gets crazy, you just can't read as much, or at least as fast. I know that sounds like a contradiction to what I said at the beginning of this blog. I guess I just haven't always been good at following through with my intentions.
I've still been reading a bit, though. The Writer's Journey is one of those books I was always eyeing at the bookstore. I read about it online and always looked out for sales and other excuses to buy it. But I never did—until a dear friend made it possible by giving me a gift card to a bookstore (probably one of the best gifts someone could give me). So I felt like it was finally time to buy this book, and of course read it.
What this book basically does is take myths from many cultures and distill them into a pattern that writers can use for their stories. Referring frequently to the work of mythologist Joseph Campbell, the author describes several of the most important character archetypes—the hero, the mentor, the shadow, the threshold guardian and more. And then he describes the major segments of the Hero's Journey. All along the way he explains how a writer might apply these principles to a story, and he demonstrates them with examples from major films. Questions at the end of each chapter also help apply the principles that are explained.
I liked this book. It was fun to think about stories I've read or movies I've seen and see how they fit into the patterns described in the book (I couldn't help but think of Tron: Legacy most of the time). Now, I must confess I haven't been doing a lot of writing of my own lately. But I haven't completely given up on writing, and when I finally bring myself back to it, I think I will find this book quite useful. Now that I know the structure of the book, it will now be helpful as a handbook when I design and build my own stories.
I especially like the essays at the end of the book, which were added in the third edition. In them Vogler explores some new topics in light of the Hero's Journey: polarity, physicality, catharsis. It's pretty interesting stuff. And finally, he takes the journey, applies it to the life of the writer (whence we get the title of the book), and gives the encouraging advice: "Trust the journey."
I'd recommend this book to anyone who likes to create stories. As Vogler says in the introduction, this isn't about formula but rather about structure and direction. The stories you want to create probably won't fit completely into these patterns, but you probably will find some helpful ideas in this book.
Author: Christopher Vogler
Genre: nonfiction, writing instruction
Publication info: Michael Wiese Productions, 2007 (3rd edition)
Pages: 406
It's been a good long while since I last posted to this blog, but that doesn't mean I haven't been reading. Sometimes when life gets crazy, you just can't read as much, or at least as fast. I know that sounds like a contradiction to what I said at the beginning of this blog. I guess I just haven't always been good at following through with my intentions.
I've still been reading a bit, though. The Writer's Journey is one of those books I was always eyeing at the bookstore. I read about it online and always looked out for sales and other excuses to buy it. But I never did—until a dear friend made it possible by giving me a gift card to a bookstore (probably one of the best gifts someone could give me). So I felt like it was finally time to buy this book, and of course read it.
What this book basically does is take myths from many cultures and distill them into a pattern that writers can use for their stories. Referring frequently to the work of mythologist Joseph Campbell, the author describes several of the most important character archetypes—the hero, the mentor, the shadow, the threshold guardian and more. And then he describes the major segments of the Hero's Journey. All along the way he explains how a writer might apply these principles to a story, and he demonstrates them with examples from major films. Questions at the end of each chapter also help apply the principles that are explained.
I liked this book. It was fun to think about stories I've read or movies I've seen and see how they fit into the patterns described in the book (I couldn't help but think of Tron: Legacy most of the time). Now, I must confess I haven't been doing a lot of writing of my own lately. But I haven't completely given up on writing, and when I finally bring myself back to it, I think I will find this book quite useful. Now that I know the structure of the book, it will now be helpful as a handbook when I design and build my own stories.
I especially like the essays at the end of the book, which were added in the third edition. In them Vogler explores some new topics in light of the Hero's Journey: polarity, physicality, catharsis. It's pretty interesting stuff. And finally, he takes the journey, applies it to the life of the writer (whence we get the title of the book), and gives the encouraging advice: "Trust the journey."
I'd recommend this book to anyone who likes to create stories. As Vogler says in the introduction, this isn't about formula but rather about structure and direction. The stories you want to create probably won't fit completely into these patterns, but you probably will find some helpful ideas in this book.
Friday, October 8, 2010
Man's Search for Meaning
Author: Viktor E. Frankl
Genre: nonfiction, psychology
Publication info: Washington Square Press, 1984 (first published in English in 1959, and it has gone through many editions)
Pages: 221 (including bibliography)
This book makes me want to shout for joy!
Undoubtedly you've heard of this book. I think I first heard about it when I was in fourth or fifth grade, and it wasn't until now that I finally read it. I can see now that I was missing out on something great. If you are one of those people, like I was, who says, "I've heard that's a good book. Maybe I should read it," I say, Yes, you definitely should!
Most people know this book as one man's harrowing account of his experiences in a Nazi concentration camp. It is certainly that, but it is also much more. It is not so much a story of what happened to him and his friends but an explanation of what he learned from those experiences—and how he took what he learned and created a revolutionary school of psychiatry called logotherapy.
Logotherapy is the therapy of meaning. The preface to the edition I read explains logotherapy as a sort of Freudian analysis turned on its head. Whereas Freud and his followers would have you search into your childhood for some kind of trauma—usually sexual in nature—and confront that to solve your problems, Frankl and his school asks you to dig deep for a meaning in your life—a purpose for living. Frankl himself, for example, often thought of his wife while in the camp. In fact, he talked with her, and doing so kept him going even while everything around him was so terrible.
Frankl's utterly realistic approach is refreshing. During my short-lived stint as an English major, I took a couple classes on literary theory, and I quickly grew frustrated with the psychoanalytical technique of finding sexual symbolism in everything. But instead of having us look at our frustrations in base, animal desires, logotherapy has us look at our existential crisis, our search for meaning. We are humans first, animals second.
I suppose one of the greatest lessons to learn from this book is that no matter what our circumstances are, we can choose how we respond to them. It's hard to imagine circumstances more appalling than what Frankl faced. He really had nothing but his own life, and that just barely. But he found a meaning in his life and chose to live for it. All of us can do the same.
The book has two major sections. The first is the story of his time in concentration camps. It is disturbing and heartbreaking, but the way he writes about it will surprisingly give you hope. The second part summarizes the practice of logotherapy. Since that part is more abstract than the first, I thought it would be harder to read, but I actually really enjoyed it. It's grounded in reality as I mentioned, and the way Frankl understands life and people is very reassuring. It was at the end of these more abstract parts that I wanted to shout for joy.
I think everyone would benefit from reading this book. Viktor Frankl was a brilliant man, but I think his real greatness was his warm, caring insight into the nature of human beings. Read this book. Isn't it about time you did?
Genre: nonfiction, psychology
Publication info: Washington Square Press, 1984 (first published in English in 1959, and it has gone through many editions)
Pages: 221 (including bibliography)
This book makes me want to shout for joy!
Undoubtedly you've heard of this book. I think I first heard about it when I was in fourth or fifth grade, and it wasn't until now that I finally read it. I can see now that I was missing out on something great. If you are one of those people, like I was, who says, "I've heard that's a good book. Maybe I should read it," I say, Yes, you definitely should!
Most people know this book as one man's harrowing account of his experiences in a Nazi concentration camp. It is certainly that, but it is also much more. It is not so much a story of what happened to him and his friends but an explanation of what he learned from those experiences—and how he took what he learned and created a revolutionary school of psychiatry called logotherapy.
Logotherapy is the therapy of meaning. The preface to the edition I read explains logotherapy as a sort of Freudian analysis turned on its head. Whereas Freud and his followers would have you search into your childhood for some kind of trauma—usually sexual in nature—and confront that to solve your problems, Frankl and his school asks you to dig deep for a meaning in your life—a purpose for living. Frankl himself, for example, often thought of his wife while in the camp. In fact, he talked with her, and doing so kept him going even while everything around him was so terrible.
Frankl's utterly realistic approach is refreshing. During my short-lived stint as an English major, I took a couple classes on literary theory, and I quickly grew frustrated with the psychoanalytical technique of finding sexual symbolism in everything. But instead of having us look at our frustrations in base, animal desires, logotherapy has us look at our existential crisis, our search for meaning. We are humans first, animals second.
I suppose one of the greatest lessons to learn from this book is that no matter what our circumstances are, we can choose how we respond to them. It's hard to imagine circumstances more appalling than what Frankl faced. He really had nothing but his own life, and that just barely. But he found a meaning in his life and chose to live for it. All of us can do the same.
The book has two major sections. The first is the story of his time in concentration camps. It is disturbing and heartbreaking, but the way he writes about it will surprisingly give you hope. The second part summarizes the practice of logotherapy. Since that part is more abstract than the first, I thought it would be harder to read, but I actually really enjoyed it. It's grounded in reality as I mentioned, and the way Frankl understands life and people is very reassuring. It was at the end of these more abstract parts that I wanted to shout for joy.
I think everyone would benefit from reading this book. Viktor Frankl was a brilliant man, but I think his real greatness was his warm, caring insight into the nature of human beings. Read this book. Isn't it about time you did?
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Lincoln's Melancholy
How Depression Challenged a President and Fueled His Greatness
Author: Joshua Wolf Shenk
Genre: nonfiction, biography
Publication info: Houghton Mifflin, 2005
Pages: 350 (including notes, bibliography, and index)
Have you heard? Abraham Lincoln was an amazing man. And he was also seriously depressed.
I hesitate to call this book a biography, because it doesn't discuss the events of Lincoln's life as a biography normally would. You don't really get a complete picture of his life from this book alone. But you do get a close look at one aspect of his life that until recently has been either ignored or outright denied by other biographers: Lincoln's depression. It is Shenk's goal in this book to show that Lincoln was in fact depressed, to show how he responded to his "melancholy" and what he did with it.
The research behind this book is impressive. Shenk goes straight to primary sources, using letters from Lincoln and interviews with people who knew him personally. All this evidence makes clear that Lincoln dealt with serious depression long before the condition was a recognizable illness. Along the way, Shenk gives us a picture of what depression in general is like, and I appreciate his doing so. I believe he's had personal experience in that area, so he knows what he is talking about. And what he says rings true for me.
But the remarkable part about Lincoln in this book is not the extent to which he suffered but rather what he was able to make out of his agony, his melancholy. Shenk emphasizes that Lincoln didn't passively endure his depression; he drew power from it somehow and used it to achieve the great things he did. Many times Lincoln expressed the desire to commit suicide, but he didn't do it, because he felt that he had a calling in life, something great to do. We all know now what great things he did, but the fact that he didn't—the fact that he didn't know he would be remembered or even accomplish anything of value—and yet carried on through his agony is one reason (among many) that he was so amazing.
I would recommend this book to just about anybody. If you are interested in the life of Abraham Lincoln (and what American wouldn't be?), you will like this book. If you want an inspiring story about overcoming enormous obstacles, this could be the one you're looking for. And especially if you have had close experience with depression, you will appreciate the insights of this book. You will find a great example of how to live a meaningful life even when your own mind is working against you.
Author: Joshua Wolf Shenk
Genre: nonfiction, biography
Publication info: Houghton Mifflin, 2005
Pages: 350 (including notes, bibliography, and index)
Have you heard? Abraham Lincoln was an amazing man. And he was also seriously depressed.
I hesitate to call this book a biography, because it doesn't discuss the events of Lincoln's life as a biography normally would. You don't really get a complete picture of his life from this book alone. But you do get a close look at one aspect of his life that until recently has been either ignored or outright denied by other biographers: Lincoln's depression. It is Shenk's goal in this book to show that Lincoln was in fact depressed, to show how he responded to his "melancholy" and what he did with it.
The research behind this book is impressive. Shenk goes straight to primary sources, using letters from Lincoln and interviews with people who knew him personally. All this evidence makes clear that Lincoln dealt with serious depression long before the condition was a recognizable illness. Along the way, Shenk gives us a picture of what depression in general is like, and I appreciate his doing so. I believe he's had personal experience in that area, so he knows what he is talking about. And what he says rings true for me.
But the remarkable part about Lincoln in this book is not the extent to which he suffered but rather what he was able to make out of his agony, his melancholy. Shenk emphasizes that Lincoln didn't passively endure his depression; he drew power from it somehow and used it to achieve the great things he did. Many times Lincoln expressed the desire to commit suicide, but he didn't do it, because he felt that he had a calling in life, something great to do. We all know now what great things he did, but the fact that he didn't—the fact that he didn't know he would be remembered or even accomplish anything of value—and yet carried on through his agony is one reason (among many) that he was so amazing.
I would recommend this book to just about anybody. If you are interested in the life of Abraham Lincoln (and what American wouldn't be?), you will like this book. If you want an inspiring story about overcoming enormous obstacles, this could be the one you're looking for. And especially if you have had close experience with depression, you will appreciate the insights of this book. You will find a great example of how to live a meaningful life even when your own mind is working against you.
Monday, July 12, 2010
The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains
Author: Nicholas Carr
Genre: nonfiction, popular science
Publication info: W. W. Norton, 2010
Pages: 276 (including notes and other supplemental material)
I feel like a hypocrite writing about this on a blog, but I need to get the word out. In The Shallows, author Nicholas Carr brings together the history of technology and neurology to explore how the World Wide Web is changing the way we read and write—and think. What he finds is not pretty.
Actually, it's more than not pretty. It's downright disturbing. If you're reading this blog, you're probably a frequent user of the Internet, so let me ask you: When you are reading a book, do you often get distracted and want to do something else after only two pages? Heck, do you even read books anymore? Do you find it difficult to go walking for any substantial length of time without pulling out your phone, even if nobody is calling or texting you? Your Internet use may be to blame. And it probably is.
You see, the Internet is changing the way our brains work. A few decades ago scientists began discovering that the human brain, even in adults, can be "rewired" to accommodate changing behaviors, both physical and mental. Basically, the brain gets better and faster at what it does the most. And since it's more than likely that most of us are using the Internet with increasing frequency, our brains are adjusting themselves to a style of thinking better suited to the Internet.
What style is that? It's fast. It's superficial. It's distracted. If you haven't noticed, Web pages are designed to distract you. They're full of snippets of information here, a navigation bar there, pictures and a video you can play over there. Not to mention your browser's multiple tabs and all the alerts it's set to give you for e-mails, blog posts, or Twitter updates. I'm not accusing Web designers of sinister motives, but the plain fact is that the Web is made for giving you an onslaught of information all at once.
And our brains are burdened with processing all that information. With every link we come across, our brains have to decide whether to follow it. We have to skim pages to get the information we need fast. (My guess is this blog post already looks too long for frequent blog readers.) And since our brains are "plastic," or adaptable, they rewire themselves to be more efficient at this kind of thinking.
What gets sacrificed as a result is our ability to think deeply and creatively. Yes, maybe our brains are faster at processing a lot of information fast, but only at a superficial level. By frequently taking advantage of what the Web has to offer, we are denying ourselves the ability to synthesize the information we receive and produce original thought. Doesn't that sound scary to you? I guess it all depends on what's important to you, but I certainly place a high value on deep and creative thinking.
Everybody please, please read this book. I hate to be an alarmist, but I feel this is very important. Carr does an excellent job describing relevant research and presenting a coherent argument, much better than I've done here. Plus, by reading a book like this, you're doing a brain a favor. Because the good news is that since our brains can adjust to more frequent Internet use, they can also be trained back. With a lot of discipline, we can become free thinkers again.
Genre: nonfiction, popular science
Publication info: W. W. Norton, 2010
Pages: 276 (including notes and other supplemental material)
I feel like a hypocrite writing about this on a blog, but I need to get the word out. In The Shallows, author Nicholas Carr brings together the history of technology and neurology to explore how the World Wide Web is changing the way we read and write—and think. What he finds is not pretty.
Actually, it's more than not pretty. It's downright disturbing. If you're reading this blog, you're probably a frequent user of the Internet, so let me ask you: When you are reading a book, do you often get distracted and want to do something else after only two pages? Heck, do you even read books anymore? Do you find it difficult to go walking for any substantial length of time without pulling out your phone, even if nobody is calling or texting you? Your Internet use may be to blame. And it probably is.
You see, the Internet is changing the way our brains work. A few decades ago scientists began discovering that the human brain, even in adults, can be "rewired" to accommodate changing behaviors, both physical and mental. Basically, the brain gets better and faster at what it does the most. And since it's more than likely that most of us are using the Internet with increasing frequency, our brains are adjusting themselves to a style of thinking better suited to the Internet.
What style is that? It's fast. It's superficial. It's distracted. If you haven't noticed, Web pages are designed to distract you. They're full of snippets of information here, a navigation bar there, pictures and a video you can play over there. Not to mention your browser's multiple tabs and all the alerts it's set to give you for e-mails, blog posts, or Twitter updates. I'm not accusing Web designers of sinister motives, but the plain fact is that the Web is made for giving you an onslaught of information all at once.
And our brains are burdened with processing all that information. With every link we come across, our brains have to decide whether to follow it. We have to skim pages to get the information we need fast. (My guess is this blog post already looks too long for frequent blog readers.) And since our brains are "plastic," or adaptable, they rewire themselves to be more efficient at this kind of thinking.
What gets sacrificed as a result is our ability to think deeply and creatively. Yes, maybe our brains are faster at processing a lot of information fast, but only at a superficial level. By frequently taking advantage of what the Web has to offer, we are denying ourselves the ability to synthesize the information we receive and produce original thought. Doesn't that sound scary to you? I guess it all depends on what's important to you, but I certainly place a high value on deep and creative thinking.
Everybody please, please read this book. I hate to be an alarmist, but I feel this is very important. Carr does an excellent job describing relevant research and presenting a coherent argument, much better than I've done here. Plus, by reading a book like this, you're doing a brain a favor. Because the good news is that since our brains can adjust to more frequent Internet use, they can also be trained back. With a lot of discipline, we can become free thinkers again.
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