Barbarius reviewed Bored and Brilliant by Manoush Zomorodi
Good, but a bit long. The neuroscience was quite interesting!
4 stars
I appreciate the irony of stating that a sub-200-page book is long, but what I mean by that is that it felt a bit like there was a page number that was required to be reached; there is a lot of unnecessary repetition, or drawing out of a point that could have been achieved with half as many paragraphs.
That being said, I did enjoy reading the book. I remember listening about the original challenge in the author's podcast, and thinking it was interesting then. What was good about the book, however, is the interviews she made with academics and researchers about what technology is doing to us on a social and (more interestingly) neurological level. It was far more interesting to me to read about the quantifiable evidence gathered from research and experimentation, rather than the anecdotal stories.
Ultimately, the book gets you to think about your relationship with …
I appreciate the irony of stating that a sub-200-page book is long, but what I mean by that is that it felt a bit like there was a page number that was required to be reached; there is a lot of unnecessary repetition, or drawing out of a point that could have been achieved with half as many paragraphs.
That being said, I did enjoy reading the book. I remember listening about the original challenge in the author's podcast, and thinking it was interesting then. What was good about the book, however, is the interviews she made with academics and researchers about what technology is doing to us on a social and (more interestingly) neurological level. It was far more interesting to me to read about the quantifiable evidence gathered from research and experimentation, rather than the anecdotal stories.
Ultimately, the book gets you to think about your relationship with technology, not in a negative or positive way, but in a critical way. What relationship do you want to have with technology, and how does that compare with the relationship you actually have? I've been thinking about this a lot lately, due to the fact I have young kids right now, and the book really gives pause for thought about how and when phones should be used, not just within the home, but more broadly as well.