As a "child of the digital age," yet someone who love to read, this book was definitely something of a wake up call. Carr talks extensively about the effects of shallow observations we make on content online versus the concentrated deep reading that takes place in those you love to read on the page. If anyone would have told me about Carr's thesis, that the Internet and all that it entails adversely impact focus, concentration, and deep thinking, six months ago, I would have called them progress-fearing Luddites. I loved the internet, and failed to see how it would make me a worse thinker or reader. A few months ago, however, I "ran out of time" to read. I was too busy doing schoolwork, and any time that I didn't spend around school or friends was devoted to the world online. Over winter break, when I finally had time to read, I picked up my first pleasure reading book in 4 months. Unfortunately, I couldn't read it. Not for more than a couple pages at a time, anyway, because I found it extremely difficult to focus. I had to force myself to concentrate on reading both that book and the two that followed it before reading - not skimming, but READING to pick up themes and interpret the action's of characters - came back to me. It was chilling how quickly I had managed to lose a skill that I had previously cultivated for my entire life, even more so because I felt that it had been the Internet and it's instantaneous presentation of pieces of data that was responsible. Reading Carr's book confirmed my feelings. Carr is not an alarmist, nor is he someone who refuses to advocate change and progress. He, like most of us, loves the Internet and uses it often. What his book does is not suggest that we ignore all the benefits that the Internet gives us and go back to the "good old days," but that we take time to realize that the WWW, like all form of technology, have adverse effects. The biggest problem is that the WWW impacts our brains and how we think, process, store, and dispense information, turning our thoughts into fragmented bits of information, reducing our ability to make connections, and confusing and overloading our brains. We become shallow, non-linear, and frenetic thinkers. His thesis is supported with loads of science and research, but the book is also filled with anecdotes and bits of history that make it highly entertaining. An excellent read, this is not a book that pretends to save the world by proposing various solutions. It is merely a book that addresses that key problem that we should all be concerned and asks us to make our own choices and decisions about what we allow technology to replace and where we should draw the line. I highly recommend that everyone read it.

There's really nothing I can say about this book that hasn't already been said. Some people love it, others hates it, and most just think its meh. I was initially in the third group because the first part of the story is frankly, not that interesting. I think it's meant to be that way, because it takes going to prison for the protagonist to become a little more introspective. It's only in Part Two of the book that the character unravels a little more and we really get into the crux of the story. In fact, the most touching chapter is the last one, in which the character finally, well, loses it in front of a chaplain. Up until then, the writing style is very plain and to the point, like a more stringent version of Hemingway, and it's beautiful to see how as the character falls apart, so does the rigidity of the writing. The Stranger is one of those books that grows on you. And it isn't until the entire book is done that everything falls in place to allow you to appreciate it. Reading it the second time was really valuable and allowed me to appreciate the nuances of the main character and all the things both said and unsaid (the latter of which is just as important as the former). The Stranger is philosophical, but not in a cold, dry way, with flashes of dark humour and irony dispersed throughout the book. It's a highly recommended classic.

I'm usually not someone who likes books that have been forced on me by a class, but I actually really liked this book. The premise of the book seems light enough - people who revere the English language live on the island of Nollop, named after the man who wrote the sentence "the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." This sentence, which uses all 26 letters of the English language, is put up in the town square with individual tiles for each letters. As time passes, however, the tiles begin to fall off their plaque and the town decided to take this as a sign that Nollop wants them to stop using these letters. Ella Minnow Pea, written in letters, documents this change as the townspeople writing to each other are unable to use these letters in their writing. This book was a satirical and whimsical look at how totalitarianism slowly creeps upon a nation. More than that, it was an entertaining look at the importance of language to communicate with people. Through Ella Minnow Pea, we learn that every letter, even Z, X, and Q, is invaluable - we use them far more often than we think we do. It's a slightly challenging read for two reasons: 1) The language-lovers of Nollop sometime use obscure SAT-like vocabulary (while they are still able to) and 2) Letters just keep on falling off the plaque and, consequently, out of the book. However, it's not too difficult and worth the trouble.