The book provides the most compelling examination of the cultural and intellectual impact of the Internet. After describing how human thought has been shaped over the centuries by the "tools of the mind" - from the alphabet to maps, the printing press, the clock and the computer - Carr provides an impressive list of recent advances in neuroscience. As historical and scientific evidence shows, our brains are changed by experience, and the technologies we use to find, store and share information literally change the routes of our neural connections. Drawing on the ideas of thinkers from Plato to McLuhan, Carr argues that any information technology carries with it a certain intellectual ethics - a set of assumptions about the nature of knowledge and intelligence. He shows how the printed book has helped focus our attention, promoting deeper and more creative thinking. The Internet, on the other hand, encourages us to consume quick, disconnected pieces of information from a variety of sources. This is the ethic of the industrial age, the ethic of speed and efficiency, optimized production and consumption - and now the Net is reshaping us in its image. We become adepts at quick and superficial scanning, but we lose the ability to concentrate, think and reflect. Part intellectual history, part popular science and cultural criticism, the book is full of wonderful stories: Friedrich Nietzsche fighting the typewriter, Sigmund Freud dissecting the brains of sea creatures, Nathaniel Hawthorne reflecting on the thunderous arrival of a steam locomotive. This is a book that will forever change how and what we think about our brains.