On my most recent flight I had the pleasure of spending an hour in Terminal Two at SFO. Bookstore, wine bar, spa, gift shop - my paradise. I spent my precious moments browsing the latest non-fiction at Compass Books and sampling a flight of New World reds at Vino Vola.
I came home with "What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains" by Nicholas Carr and readers of this blog can expect several reports as I work through this incredible book. I migrated to this paperback because lately I find myself actually "scrolling" in my dreams. Hard to describe, but if you have done it you know what I mean.
The first passage I underlined in this book: Our writing equipment takes part in forming our thoughts. The thought is attributed to Friedrich Nietzsche, and it strongly resonates for me as the PC has completely transformed my writing from creative prose to pithy, poignant and purposeful.
When I take the time to scribe, I try to quickly convey a point of view to keep up with the speed of my fingers, something I never did when I wrote long hand. (Yes, I used to do that!) And when blogging on a platform such as Typepad, I am constantly thinking in potential hyperlinks.
If you are wondering how PCs and the Internet are changing your brain, pick up the book and read along with me. Yes, read...don't skim!
