Out of the Shallows: A book review of Nicola Carr's The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains

            A Book Review of The Shallows, What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains by Nicolas Carr. By Donna Samudio

            No one really needs to tell us that we live in a shallow world. From television shows urging us to root for strangers in competition with each other to changing fashions in hair, clothing, and makeup that make no lasting difference to our lives, the world seems built on shallow interactions and superficial presentations. Nicolas Carr in The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains argues that we are being led into increasingly shallow thinking by the very nature of how we access the world through technology. While the book is secular, its message has relevance for us believers living in a technological world.

            Carr’s central argument is this: the way we get our information and interact through technology actually hinders our ability to make deep connections between ideas and to contemplate complex issues. He explores his ideas by looking at television, word processing, brain plasticity, and how we read on the internet. His tone is concerned, but I wouldn’t call him alarmist. I have experienced some of the things he talks about, like getting lost in a sea of pages by being lured by hyperlinks (the blue or underlined words in an article on the internet that take you to another page when you click on them).

            According to Carr, our experiences with data can easily become a matter of breadth rather than depth with each new page competing for space in our memories. Likewise, all the clutter of pop-up ads and animated gifs disrupt our brain’s natural process of moving things from working memory into storage memory. Have you ever had trouble remembering things you have read on the internet even when you tried to pay attention? It could be that you suffered from memory disruption.

            Google, Bing, Wikipedia, and other information gatherers would argue that access to endless information and multitasking through multiple windows is beneficial. Carr argues that in the long run our memory and neuron formation is programmed to be hyperactive by the increasing demands on our eyes and attention. Just like a diet too high in sugar will affect our body’s chemistry by reprogramming the release of insulin, a mental diet too full of these visual distractions and shallow interactions will hamper our ability to concentrate and think deeply. The internet screams at us to click anywhere and instantly get new visual information without ever stopping to ponder what we might be learning.

            I believe that the issue of contemplation versus stimulation has the most relevance for us in terms of our walk of faith. Ephesians 6:18 says, “praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication.” Kyle’s recent message (August 18) dealt with this issue of “all prayer” and “praying in the Spirit.” He said something I am trying to contemplate deeply—that prayer is spiritual because it reminds us of our humanity, that we haven’t got it all together, and that we are vulnerable. Prayer is serious business. We are constantly vulnerable to Satan’s attacks; therefore, we need to be in constant prayer. It takes mindfulness and effort to keep the shallow “hit and run” prayer from being our primary means of talking with God.

            Satan would have us shallow and distracted by whatever means he can. If Carr’s argument is correct, then we need to counter the effects of the internet by shifting our focus and practicing contemplative thinking in the Scriptures and an attitude of constant prayer. Carr’s book has made me aware of how even seemingly good things on the internet can possibly make my mind conform to the world’s shallow ways without even being aware of their influence. 

Book Review: The Year of Leaning Dangerously by Quinn Cummings

Bottom Line: I can recommend this book to anyone involved with homeschooling and to those who wonder just what's up with homeschooling.

Quinn Cummings, Oscar nominee and recurring character actress on the TV show Family, writes with honesty and wit about her trials and tribulations during her adventure with homeschooling her daughter Alice. I came to this book by way of my book club, made up of mostly home school moms. Hang on, I'm going to brag about my group for a moment. Unlike some other home school groups, notably the ones Cummings reports in her book, we are kind of a fringe group in that we don't all attend the same kind of churches or have the same kind of leisure activities. We have ex-lawyers, ex-college professors, people with masters and PhD degrees, people who never finished college, people who dance, drum, play bass in country bands, sing, and quilt. Some of us work full time and home school still. We also have women whose children are done with the school journey and who now are working on their own educations and independent entrepreneurial careers.

 I tell you all this to show that we are a group who are uniquely qualified to review the "truth" of Cummings book, and let me tell you, the recount of her experiences is dead on, especially in that no two homeschooling families will have the same things happen because no two family dynamics are just the same. When Cummings locks herself in the laundry room and breathes into a bag, I am sure several other women nodded in sympathy for feeling the same way at times. As Cummings moves through her search to find her "tribe," I know exactly what it feels like to be an outsider and want connection, but because I am already a bit unorthodox it can be a struggle to find other independent people who want to have a group interaction.

Readers who are not part of the home school world will get a glimpse into the some of the reasons why so many parents are choosing this option for their children. Cummings impressed me by her research and her argumentation skills in considering deeply all sides of the issue.  She is also very funny. I don't want to spoil any of the LOL moments in the book, but I was reading this in a doctor's waiting room and got some pretty curious looks thrown my way when I got to the section on Radical Unschooling.

I love the scene toward where the storyteller is giving the commencement address at a home school graduation. He says, "As life can be well lived if you find someone who really loves you for who you are, if you find something you love to do and you find someplace that feels like home." That's advice I think any home school parent can agree with and wish for her or his children.

Book Review: Mr. Penumbra's 24-hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan

Bottom Line: A clever, witty book that made me laugh out loud several times.

Amazon kept recommending this book to me, and I gave in and bought it for my Kindle. I  am so happy that I did. Sloan does a great job of marrying old-school table-top adventure gaming with Google, modern culture, and ancient secret societies.

The plot centers around unemployed graphic artist Clay Jannon who finds a job in a strange 24-hour bookstore that doesn't seem to sell books. Instead an interesting assortment of people come in a check out books from a three-story stack of strange tomes named for people. Clay's job is to keep a log book of each borrowing that includes details about the person's appearance and behavior. While Clay is wondering what's going on, he is simultaneously living with his roommate Mat's growing art project and his own interest in a woman named Kat Potente who works for Google.

The book is part mystery, part allegory for role playing games, part lesson in teamwork, and part examination of contemporary culture. If that sounds ponderous, don't worry. Sloan's writing is joyous to read. The book is lighthearted with lots of really funny moments in Clay's internal monologue. In one instance, Clay tries to boost sales in the shop by putting out a Google ad. When the mysterious Kat Potente appears in response to the ad, Clay almost blows the moment by hyper-responding. He thinks, "Google's astonishing advertising algorithms have delivered to me a supercute girl, and I have no idea what to do with her." Alliterative heaven right there.

Sloan's characters all come together for an adventure of their own, mirroring the world of D&D or Dragon Age. During the first half of the book I wanted to live in Clay's world and by the end, I realized that I already did. Even if these particular characters and conflicts are fictional, the lessons learned by Clay and company are the same that we all have to learn.

This is no Harry Potter with real wizards and quidditch. Instead it is a related story with many of the same themes of friendship, teamwork, bravery, and good choices. It is also a rare book that I and my 21-year-old son can both enjoy.

Book Review: Dandy Gilver and A Bothersome Number of Corpses by Catriona McPherson

Bottom Line: This, the seventh book featuring Dandy Gilver by Catriona McPherson, is one of the strongest in the series with beautiful characterization and enough complication to make it fun to read.

I ran across the first Dandy Gilver book in my local library when I was on the hunt for a work by another author. Set in post-WWI Scotland, it featured what was left of the landed gentry, dressing for dinner, and servants. Since I was in a Downton Abbey mood, I tried it and have stuck with the series because I find McPherson's writing to be interesting.

For a cozy series, and let's not kid anyone because that's what these books are, they cover lots of ground. The title character is Dandy, short for Dandelion, who is married to Hugh, a solid gentleman with enough land to be somewhat of consequence. Dandy is persuaded to start investigating mysterious happenings, at first by a close friend, and then later in response to more distance acquaintances and word-of-mouth advertisements. In this most recent book, McPherson takes the readers into Dandy's memories of a youthful idyllic summer spent with friends before bringing things back up to speed in Dandy's adult life with murders, mysterious school mistresses, and a charming Italian.

One thing McPherson does well is create diverse characters with their own voices. The schoolgirls sound different from each other, the mistress have their own energy, and the transition of one of the characters from youthful blithe spirit into something else entirely has its own reality in this fictional world. McPherson also has fun playing with Dandy's relationship to her rather stodgy husband who tolerates her detecting because of the money it brings in and her sons, one of whom is turning out to be much less talented scholastically than hoped for. Dandy's close working companion, Alec Osborne, excites all kinds of comments and rumors from people on the periphery, but unlike other crime detecting duos (Castle and Beckett come to mind) there is no steamy undercurrent of desire. They work as a duo, without much sexism, and it seems to be staying that way.

I find these books perfect for when I want some light reading featuring a strong female lead and charming Scottish folk set in rugged countryside.

Book Review: How to Succeed at Aging Without Really Dying by Lyla Blake Ward

Bottom Line: Ward is not nearly as curmudgeonly as Andy Rooney. She actually knows how to use a computer and shop online, and she writes with clarity and wit.

I picked this book up on one of those super Amazon Kindle sale. I liked the title and am dealing with aging relatives. I have been working on creating a notebook for myself that includes all sorts of useful advice to myself for when I eventually grow old. I encourage myself to get a minimum amount of exercise and to write things down, among other such stellar wisdom.  I thought I might glean a thing or two from Lyla Ward's book.

This collection of essays has its share of old-person grumbling about how things used to be simpler, and she's right. I remember when you turned on the TV without a remote and had only a few channels to turn access via the tuner dial. (I know that qualifies me as old in some people's eyes.) Now, I have to have at least two remotes or a computer to watch my shows because I stream so much of my visual entertainment. But besides the complaining, Ward includes some lovely snapshots of her life through the years.

I really enjoyed two of her essays. One was about trying to fit in with the sports/country club set. Ward is not a sportswoman, but through the judicious use of proper "outfitting," she was able to create the illusion that she either had just come from playing a sport or was about to join in a match, game, or set at any moment. Her other essay I really liked was about flower arranging. She uses satire nicely to skewer strange, artistic "individual" centerpieces for dinner parties or other occasions.

This book is easy to read and mostly fun. Ward has an intriguing mind. I enjoy essayists who present a clear voice in their work. I plan to look up more of Ward's writing.

Product Review: Paleo Bread by The Julian Bakery

I'm always on the search for good Gluten-free or Wheat-free bakery goods. When I came across Paleo Bread, I was intrigued and hopeful that I had found something that I could eat as a person allergic to wheat and that my brother, who eats no carbs, could also enjoy.

I ordered the coconut bread with 40 calories a slice. 5 grams of protein and 5 grams of fiber, combined with 6 total carbs yields a net carb value of 1. The Julian Bakery website is easy to navigate and contains two different bread varieties and some recipe ideas.

My bread was shipped  two-day air because it has no preservatives. The fiber in the bread comes from psyllium, the gritty husk of a plant, touted for its colon cleansing benefits.

Taking the bread out of the package, I noticed that it is a dense bread with kind of a spongy texture. It also smells kind of weird. I have had gluten-free things smell weird out of the package but be fine once they are cooked.

I toasted a slice of the bread. One bite and I decided maybe a little butter would help. Another bite and I opted for cinnamon and sugar to maybe help with the taste. Nothing was going to conquer the still spongy texture even after toasting.  Two more bites and even the cinnamon and sugar couldn't make me finish the piece.

I think the best way to sum up my view of Paleo Bread is to try to recreate the sound I made when I bit it, even after the cinnamon and sugar treatment:  Uhhhahhhbluuuggghhyeecchchchchchchahdjhuggjaldmg.....

* * * * * * * * * * * *

That translates to "Horrible, icky, spongy, smelly, I never want to eat this again, and it ranks up there in the top three worst gluten-free bakery goods I have ever tried."

Book Review: Call the Midwife by Jennifer Worth

Bottom Line: If you like your memoirs jampacked with graphic details of the physical act of giving birth, then this memoir is just for you.

It doesn't take the reader long to figure out that Ms. Worth is going to treat us to an immersive experience of her years as a midwife in the East End of London in the late 1950s and the 1960s. But, that's not necessarily a bad thing. She doesn't throw details around just to shock or gross us out. The anecdotes are all in purpose of demonstrating a few important key idea.

First, midwives and birthing professionals are important to women and their babies. In the case of some of these East End women, living in condemned buildings but having no other place to go, the midwives were their main and only access to pre and post natal assistance. And some of these women had a baby almost every year. Diseases were spotted and treated, abuse reported, and lives saved because of the work of these midwives. I think the opening chapter serves to show the difficulty of birthing a baby. The chapters on handling breech birth and premature babies reinforce the fact that without the midwives' assistance, both mother and baby might have died.

Second, life is hard, and bringing new life into the world is a very difficult part of it. Worth recounts the conditions under which many of these women and their young children live: poverty, abuse, decrepit and uncared for building that sometimes don't even keep out the rain. She recounts how for many of the women she visits, the only water is cold water piped into the kitchen. If there is a toilet in the apartment, it is also in the kitchen because that's where the pipes are. In America, the 50s and 60s are seen as kind of a Golden Age--think of the glamor of a TV show like Mad Men. In contrast, the East End of London was a place of brothels and bombed-out properties. Many of the large buildings were condemned and therefore not kept up with regular city services, such as garbage removal. They are written off, but at the same time, fully occupied because there was just no place else for the people to go. They couldn't afford the other parts of London.

Spoiler / warning: There is a chapter near the middle of the book where Worth recounts the story of Kate, a young Irish woman who finds herself trapped in prostitution. Worth tells in graphic sexual terms what Kate witnesses at the brothel. It is a small part of the book, but could be disturbing to younger female readers and titillating to male readers.

I liked the book and am glad to have read it, especially now that one of my friends is a Doula. I feel like I understand more about the process of prenatal care, labor, birth, and postnatal needs.