In the afterword of The Shallows, Nicholas Carr says he was finishing the book up in 2009. I was surprised, because I assume that means he had been working on it for at least a little while before 2009. I was thinking about how much technology must have changed while he was writing it, considering it has changed in the two years since it was published (2010.) I thought back to what I talked about in my last post–his skepticism about the Kindle and how I assumed he felt that way because of when he wrote the book. I wondered if, as time went on, he went back and updated certain parts about technology. The majority of the book is a history lesson, but he does include some opinion on current-day technology.
I loved the second to last paragraph of the afterword:
“In the months since I completed The Shallows, Facebook membership has doubled from 300 million to 600 million; the number of text messages processed every month by the typical American teen has jumeped from 2,300 to 3,300; sales of e-readers, tables, and smartphones have skyrocketed; app stores have proliferated; elementary schools have rushed to put iPads in their students’ hands; and the time we spend in front of screens has continued its seemingly inexorable rise.”
He validates almost everything I have talked about in my blog and that we talk about in the program! Amazing coincidence……?
He also answered my previous question. He didn’t continually update the book as time went on; he included an afterword to cover those bases. I’m torn about whether I feel this was the best idea or not. On one hand, the changes in technology are not really what the book is about; it’s more about how technology has affected us over time socially. It also seems to demonstrate how technology really does change. On the other hand, I think it would have been more effective for him to continually update the book, at least until he sent it to his publisher, because–why wouldn’t he?
hjstone 