Hard Cover books

“So many books-so much confusion!

All around us an ocean of print

And most of it covered in froth.”

-All Citizens are Soldiers by Christain Lope de Vega pg.71

Throughout Carr’s book, he has an interesting way of grabbing the reader’s attention. He makes many references to writings of old philosophers like Plato and Nietzsche. These references draw in the attention and support the opinions he makes with evidence from not only recently but also long ago. He has an interesting way of tying the reader into these comparisons and insights into the past present and future and the technologies in each time period. These have all increased into more and more complex things over the years.

            Hard cover books are something Carr talks about a lot throughout The Shallows. They are an important part in history and I think many people would agree that they were probably one of the biggest influences in history on us as humans. They give us information that some of us wouldn’t know, they provide us with past documented events and stories. They also give us a for of entertainment. For me I like reading books, certain categories of books interest me more than others but I think that sometimes you can get caught up in a book or series for fun. They improve our reading skills and I think they improve our intelligence. Books are something that have been around for centuries and always have provided us with that information even from the time that the Romans controlled much of the earth they used wax tablets and sticks to carve words and create stories eventually leading to books. Books continued to evlove anv evolve and then eventually you lead to a creation like the computer. Both of these equally having affect over our minds and power.

            Most of the time I think that many people choose to not read books simply because they are not interested. When people find books they like or are easily engaged in they will read them. I don’t think that it is a fact of weather or not the internet plays more of a significant in someone’s role than another and that’s some why people are able to read books and some are not. On page 44 of The Shallows Carr says that’s “Every technology is an expression of human will. Through our tools we seek to expand our power and control over our circumstances.” This includes books as well. Books are a tool that was created from human will. They were invented to teach us to expand our power and control over certain things just like the Internet was created to do as well.  While Carr half the time explains how the internet both does and does not expand our power, every tool we have created as humans expand our power in a certain way. The way we decide to use the different technologies we create determines how much power it give us and how it affects us.

-Salena Zona