Cognitive Surplus - Softcover

Clay Shirkey

3.83 out of 5 stars

5,770 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1846142180 ISBN 13: 9781846142185

Publisher: Allen Lane, 2010

View all copies of this ISBN edition

4 Used

From US$ 40.36

0 New

In the last century, a host of factors forced us to grapple with something we've never had to deal with on a national scale before: free time. And for much of the second half of the century, we spent billions of hours watching TV. Is this the best we can do with our time? As Clay Shirky's groundbreaking new book shows, things are changing. Free time creates what Shirky terms a 'cognitive surplus'. And now we are starting to use it in different ways. For the first time in the history of the medium, young people are watching less TV than their elders, turning away from passive consumption towards active participation. In Cognitive Surplus, Shirky documents this shift through a mixture of telling examples, analysis and social theory, and explores the human motivations that lie behind it. The television industry has been shocked to see alternative use3s of free time, especially among young people, because it believed that watching TV was society's official Best Use of Free Time. This view of society though, misunderstands how people actually make choices. Cognitive Surplus will show you how we do.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

About the Author

Clay Shirky teaches at the Interactive Telecommunications Program at New York University, where he researches the interrelated effects of our social and technological networks. He has consulted with a variety of groups working on network design, including Nokia, the BBC, Newscorp, Microsoft, BP, Global Business Network, the Library of Congress, the U.S. Navy, the Libyan government, and Lego. His writings have appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Times (of London), Harvard Business Review, Business 2.0, and Wired. Kevin Foley has over thirty years' experience in radio and television broadcasting, commercial voice-overs, and audiobook narration. He has recorded over 150 audiobooks, including Storm Rising by Gary Naiman, 100 Ways to Bring Out Your Best by Roger Fritz, The Last Witness by Joel Goldman, and River Thunder by Gary McCarthy, for which he earned a Spur Award for Best Audiobook from the Western Writers of America. He has also won an Earphones Award from AudioFile magazine for his narration of Cognitive Surplus by Clay Shirky.