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Cognitive Surplus: Creativity and Generosity in a Connected Age Hardcover – June 10 2010

by Clay Shirky (Author)
4.2 out of 5 stars 147 ratings
3.8 on Goodreads
5,773 ratings
#1 Most Gifted in Social Aspects
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The author of the breakout hit Here Comes Everybody reveals how new technology is changing us from consumers to collaborators, unleashing a torrent of creative production that will transform our world.

For decades, technology encouraged people to squander their time and intellect as passive consumers. Today, tech has finally caught up with human potential. In Cognitive Surplus, Internet guru Clay Shirky forecasts the thrilling changes we will all enjoy as new digital technology puts our untapped resources of talent and goodwill to use at last.

Since we Americans were suburbanized and educated by the postwar boom, we've had a surfeit of intellect, energy, and time-what Shirky calls a cognitive surplus. But this abundance had little impact on the common good because television consumed the lion's share of it-and we consume TV passively, in isolation from one another. Now, for the first time, people are embracing new media that allow us to pool our efforts at vanishingly low cost. The results of this aggregated effort range from mind expanding-reference tools like Wikipedia-to lifesaving-such as Ushahidi.com, which has allowed Kenyans to sidestep government censorship and report on acts of violence in real time.

Shirky argues persuasively that this cognitive surplus-rather than being some strange new departure from normal behavior-actually returns our society to forms of collaboration that were natural to us up through the early twentieth century. He also charts the vast effects that our cognitive surplus-aided by new technologies-will have on twenty-first-century society, and how we can best exploit those effects. Shirky envisions an era of lower creative quality on average but greater innovation, an increase in transparency in all areas of society, and a dramatic rise in productivity that will transform our civilization.

The potential impact of cognitive surplus is enormous. As Shirky points out, Wikipedia was built out of roughly 1 percent of the man-hours that Americans spend watching TV every year. Wikipedia and other current products of cognitive surplus are only the iceberg's tip. Shirky shows how society and our daily lives will be improved dramatically as we learn to exploit our goodwill and free time like never before.

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  1. Print length
    256 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Penguin Press
  4. Publication date
    June 10 2010
  5. Dimensions
    15.24 x 2.16 x 21.59 cm
  6. ISBN-10
    1594202532
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1594202537
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From the Publisher

About Brand

Penguin Random House Canada, the country’s largest book publisher, aims to nourish a universal passion for reading by connecting authors and their writing with readers everywhere. Our celebrated and widely known imprints include Allen Lane, Anchor Canada, Appetite by Random House, Bond Street Books, Doubleday Canada, Hamish Hamilton Canada, Knopf Canada, McClelland & Stewart, Penguin Canada, Penguin Teen, Puffin Canada, Random House Canada, Signal, Strange Light, Tundra Books, Viking Canada, and Vintage Canada; we also produce the award-winning magazine Hazlitt.

Product description

About the Author

Clay Shirky teaches at the Interactive Telecommunications Program at NYU, where he researches the interrelated effects of our social and technological networks. He has consulted with a variety of Fortune 500 companies working on network design, including Nokia, Lego, the BBC, Newscorp, Microsoft, as well as the Library of Congress, the U.S. Navy, and the Libyan government. 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, and he is a regular keynote speaker at tech conferences. Mr. Shirky lives in Brooklyn.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Penguin Press
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ June 10 2010
  • Edition ‏ : ‎ First Edition
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 256 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1594202532
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1594202537
  • Item weight ‏ : ‎ 386 g
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 15.24 x 2.16 x 21.59 cm
  • Best Sellers Rank: #1,217,767 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.2 out of 5 stars 147 ratings

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Clay Shirky

Clay Shirky

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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(r). 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.

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Top reviews from Canada

  • Jimmy LaFleur
    5.0 out of 5 stars I Did It For The Gram
    Reviewed in Canada on August 24, 2017
    Verified Purchase
    This book is the key to fully understand the growth of social media. How did a change us? Is the medium more important than the message?
    Helpful
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  • Evets Lefurac
    4.0 out of 5 stars A great book on groups psychology
    Reviewed in Canada on October 18, 2015
    Verified Purchase
    A great book on groups psychology, online communities, the new media and making good use of people's available free time and enthousiasm for contributing to something useful or valuable, more or less. Additionnally, this book increases you faith in humanity. There's a lot of young and professional people out which would rather create stuff or solve problems online rather than watch tv, waiting for you to make it possible or easier for them.
    Helpful
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  • NW
    5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing Insight
    Reviewed in Canada on February 11, 2012
    This book has incredible insight into what Shirky calls our "Cognitive Surplus" - this excess of free time being put to good use when we are given a medium that allows us to do so. The internet is the best thing that happened to me; the TV sure as hell wasn't!
    One person found this helpful
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  • Bill L
    3.0 out of 5 stars Always check the Narrator on an audio book.
    Reviewed in Canada on July 6, 2010
    Verified Purchase
    I eagerly purchased this Clay Shirky book based on listening to podcasts of his thoughts on the future of the newspaper business. The man's comments were insightful, he reeked intelligence. While I am sure he still does, it is difficult to tell in this audio effort as he chose to not narrate this book. I found myself drifting through vast sections with no memory of what had been spoken.
    Regrets, as had I bought the hardcover I would have still heard his voice and likely been once again spellbound.
    One person found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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  • cesar carneiro penna
    3.0 out of 5 stars Como a sociedade pode fazer bom uso dos poderes das novas tecnologias?
    Reviewed in Brazil on October 31, 2017
    Verified Purchase
    Este livro deixa a desejar em relação ao "Here comes everybody". Se for ler apenas uma obra do autor, por favor leia a outra.

    Toda a abordagem é construída em cima do conceito de que a incorporação dos avanços tecnológicos criou um "tecido de conectividade" que representa um potencial de benefícios ainda pouco explorado. Pode ser criado mais conhecimento e inovação, podem ser tonadas melhores decisões e prevenidos abusos. Tudo leva tempo e esse processo é detalhado pelo autor. Interessante, mas tímido e morno comparado com o Here Comes Everybody.
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  • Paperback writer
    5.0 out of 5 stars Overwhelming but worth it!
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 15, 2012
    Verified Purchase
    I decided to read this book as it was recommended by a fellow web professional as a must read for people in our field. He was right on as there are so many books available on the subject, it can get confusing.

    It's not a how to guide to social media - more of a philosophy about the digital age. I gained loads of insights and so will you, hence me writing this review so that I am social networking the good word!

    It also made me stop and think about my 'free time' and how I choose to use it.
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  • Miguel Angel Alonso Pulido
    3.0 out of 5 stars Buen libro, aunque no tanto como el primero
    Reviewed in Spain on July 26, 2015
    Verified Purchase
    Cognitive Surplus es un libro de los que te abren los ojos. En este caso, Shirky nos presenta el concepto del excedente cognitivo, que es todas las horas de tiempo libre que tenemos los ciudadanos de las sociedades civilizadas y que, gracias a las tecnologías de la información y la comunicación, ahora podemos poner en común para tareas tan triviales como comentar vídeos de gatitos o tan importantes como combatir el machismo violento en la India. Todo eso y más lo explica Shirky en este libro que, aunque es bueno, no llega en mi opinión a la altura de su primer libro, Here Comes Everybody. Aún así, una lectura muy recomendable para comprender la nueva sociedad hiperconectada en la que vivimos.
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  • 大久保公策
    4.0 out of 5 stars 実例豊富
    Reviewed in Japan on December 5, 2013
    Verified Purchase
    一般的なのかもしれませんが　実例でillustrative につたえようとするのですが
    かえって間延びのかんじもあります。　コンセプトは素晴らしい。
    combinability is a key feature of knowledge とはオリジナル表現か？　いいですね。
    Report
  • Moira Delandes
    5.0 out of 5 stars real time
    Reviewed in Australia on June 28, 2014
    Verified Purchase
    While looking for the mouse
    I was digitally distracted turning pages
    Zero artificial intelligence 100% value
    As you would expect from Shirky: perfect timing
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