The Shallows

I read The Shallows: How the Internet is doing to our Brains by Nicholas Carr over break.  It was a finalist for the 2011 Pulitzer Prize and it's good.  He goes over all of the brain research to show what the multi-tasking and information overload of the web does to our brain (it basically gets gradually rewired).  What I thought was most interesting was when he talked about longer form reading, like books.  As our brains get rewired from spending time online, it makes it more and more difficult for us to engage in reflective, critical reading.  It's sort of scary.  Jonathan Safran Foer said the book changed his life, so I decided to read it, too. 

• here is the original article he wrote, called "Is Google making us stupid?" for The Atlantic
• watch Carr on The Colbert Report here

A few links

Freebies

• Get a free copy of Yellow Submarine, an interactive ebook, for your ipod, iphone, ipod, iwhatever
• Sign up for World Book Night, an event that aims to give away one million books; it's the first time it will be held in the US.  Register to give books away here.

A few "best of 2011" book lists

• New York Times 10 best books of 2011
• Washington Post top 5 fiction, top 5 non-fiction of 2011
• Amazon's best books of 2011, grouped by genre
• a collection of links to zillions of best of 2011 lists

The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach

Quick Facts
1. Chad Harbach got a $650,000 advance to write his debut novel, The Art of Fielding, which is #33 on the Best Sellers list this week.

2. He worked on the novel for 10 years, earning $20,000-$25,000 per year.

3. His novel constantly references Moby Dick, linking baseball and Melville's novel.  He said, "A baseball team is a lot like a whaling ship: in each case, a group of men who might otherwise have little in common spend an inordinate amount of time in close and not-so-comfortable quarters, excluding the world, in pursuit of a common goal."

NY Times on The Art of Fielding
What makes “The Art of Fielding” so affecting is that it captures these people at that tipping point in their lives when their dreams, seemingly within reach, suddenly lurch out of their grasp (perhaps temporarily, perhaps forever), reminding them of their limitations and the random workings of fate.