SMARTER THAN YOU THINK How Technology is Changing Our Minds For the Better

Narrator Jeff Cummings's youthful, relaxed enthusiasm gives this audiobook an optimistic tone. That's essential for spreading the author's thesis that new technologies push us towards new behavior--what's known as "the bias of the tool." In other words, technology is altering our cognitive behavior--which is a good thing according to Thompson--by creating chess champions, expanding our memories, improving literacy, creating a series of collective personas (who knew there were over 325 million words of HUNGER GAMES fanfiction?), simplifying the finding of information, and ultimately changing the world (as in Egypt's Arab Spring). Sure, there are few flies in the ointment--even Thompson acknowledges that political changes can easily be undone by non-tech factions--but, in general, this is an optimistic look at the future. R.W.S. © AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine [Published: NOVEMBER 2013]