For today’s class, you read the fourth chapter from Nicholas Carr’s The Shallows. Spend the first ten minutes of class writing your summary of the reading. Remember that you have until before Monday’s class to type and post your summary as a comment to this blog post.
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I have just read chapter ” The Deepening Page” and a digression from Nicholas Carrâs “The Shallows ” and here is the main points: In this chapter Nicholas Carr tells us the history of writing. At first we wrote on whatever we could, But that wasn’t a very effective method . So we kept modifying the medium of writing. First there were clay tablets, then papyrus scrolls, next the wax tablets, and finally, paper. But along with the medium the way of writing had to be developed as well. In past the sentences used to be written without spaces or punctuation, called scriptura continua. Over time, spaces were added, punctuations were created. But reading and writing was still for the elite because of the time and money needed to create books and speeches. Then Gutenberg came to the rescue with his printing press. Books became more available and affordable . Through the book, people were able to immerse into new worlds that they may never experience. But these book had rewired our brain. We were born with the instinct of looking all around us(For food and predators) and not focus on only one thing only. But the book prevented our mind to stop from going here and there. But does it seem like a bad thing? We know nowadays we donât have to keep an eye for predators or hunt for our own food. Carr has also stated that the new invented Internet is making us distracted, unable to concentrate for long on one thing. As books took our all our distractions , So the Internet is giving all the distractions back. We are being rewired again!
In the end Nicholas Carr mentions about Lee de Forest. He created the Audion. The Audion amplifies electric signals, like the radio wave. But de Forest believed that one day, with his device, there would be ways to monitor brain waves and pick apart thoughts and dump information into brains. Author Nicholas Carr is scared of that !
The Deepening Page overall was targeted mainly on the history of reading and writing. Nicholas Carr converse about the topics of reading which has created us to have a deep concentration. He means that we started to develop thinking and interpreting words into meaning. Many writing devices such as clay tablets, scrolls and wax tablets were all tendentious but eventually a Roman artisan created the primarily initial book. This was formed by sheets of parchment sewn onto a set of stiff rectangular leather.This was useful, but difficult because this had to be done by hand. The writing techniques back then were also unknown by having no spaces or punctuation. As for readers, this helped them become more attentive and reading silently required âmental discipline.â We use to try to focus hard enough to understand our reading in which we do today. The way printed books were made helped readers comprehend what the author is stating due to spacing and being available to more people who canât afford them. Writers started practicing revision and editing drastically as well as diction.
According to Chapter 4 and a digression in âThe shallowsâ by Nicholas Carr, which beings with the history of how writing started. Writing before in history there were different kinds of ways. Humans used to use before they werent has reliable to the things we have today.Before humans really had advanced writing they wrote on anything and everywhere. When people first began to write they used their creativity and started writing on smooth rocks, and woods. Anything such as clay tablets.We are all familiar with the famous scroll.H clay tablets was used to write on. Writing & reading back then was on tablets,scrolls,and early codices.They were expensive and easy to write on. Humans before use to not know nothing about grammar. They used to use scriptura continua. Within this form of writing there was no space, no punctuations, and no grammar whatsoever. This was called scriptura continua.
Rahat Ahmed
Professor Ellis
English 1101
11/22/15
The Shallows
In this particular chapter of âThe Shallowsâ Nicholas Carr talks about the evolution of the written word, starting in Mesopotamia. According to Nicholas Carr âThe natural state of the human brain âŠis one of the distractedness. Our predisposition is to shift our gaze, and hence our attention, from one object to another, to be aware of as much going on around us as possibleâ what Nicholas Carr meant by this is that its very natural and easy for the human brain to shift its focus from one object to another very quickly. Nicholas Carr parallels his review of this cultural shift with the subsequent effect it had on our minds. I personally found this particular chapter very interesting because of how much information I gained just from reading it. Ever since I read this particular chapter I have been searching for a similar situation where we find it very difficult to remain focused on an activity where it requires a huge amount of attention. Its pretty awesome how the human brain really works because I personally find it really hard to stay focused on one thing at a time because I love to multitask but I will admit that I am not the best at it.
According to Chapter four, The Deepening, people first began using tools such as rocks, woods bone or bark to write with. This was back then when this was a use of technology. Ephemera was the original media for written word. The tools were cheap and the disadvantage was how tiny and irregular the shape was, which easily damaged. The Sumerians were the first to make use of this writing, they would use it for “Government records, business correspondence, commercial receipts tablets”. This explains the start of technology and using tools as a way of keeping notes and Ideas. From before there was technology or even books to read people back then couldn’t focus on one thing at a time like us today. The people back then was so busy doing other things and experiencing things that when books and writing was invented, they couldn’t focus on reading it for too long. It was hard to keep their attention on the book, just like us today, it is hard to sit and read a book now and days. Although this because of the use of technology, we have gotten lazy to search for information in a book, instead we look directly to the computer and find the answer, straightforward. Scriptio continua is continuous writing with no breaks or punctuation mark, there was no such thing back then.
In this chapter âThe Deepening Pageâ of the book The Shallows, Carr talks about how the writing style has developed throughout history. Carr stated that âwhen people first began writing things down, theyâd scratch their marks on anything that happened to be lying around smooth-faced rocks, scraps of wood, strips of barksâ. People didnât have any items they could use to write on. Anything they had in front of them they would write on it, but the items they used were not so reliable. The first writing invention took place which was Clay Tablets made by Sumerians, then Papyrus scrolls invented by Egyptian, and finally papers which made by an anonymous roman artisan. Throughout history the way sentences are written have also changed. There were no punctuations or spaces, and that writing is known as scriptura continua. Scriptura continua was also hard for readers to read, there were no punctuations and straight lines of words in which readers got lost easily and they had to reread many times. Silent reading was largely uncommon until the Roman empire collapsed. As the middle ages progressed, the demands for books have increased. People started to read more privately. Readers became more attentive. Developing such ability wasnât easy. It was hard to acquire ability of being concentrate for long because our brain were used to paying attention to multiple things. According to Carr âas the book came to be primary means of exchanging knowledge and insight, its intellectual ethic became the foundationâ. The books have not just provide us with knowledge, also changed the way human brain thinks now.
In chapter 4 Nicholas Carr explained about how the writing started. He stated that there were not much reliable sources to record the events or history but humans came up with writing that they use to record history or events. One of those writing type is Cuneiform that was used in Sumerians basically Egyptians. They basically use stone to write on walls. They use words and diagrams to record the events. After that they came up with another way to writ was writing on clay then they began to write on but it wasnât that helpful because wax can be melted by heat. Then Romans came up with scrolls, which were really expensive and hard to records because of his cost. Then they came up with printing that they use alphabets made of steel and use ink to make copies of it that change the society and spread writing throughout the world that caught many people attention. Then the new era started.
The deepening page chapter explains how human writing had progressed through out the years. I tells us that we write how we speak, for example talking doesnât have spacing in between each word, a person doesnât say I then pauses for a moment then says love, they say I love. The romans used write with out any spaces so to the untrained mind youâd think you were looking at an abstract painting of straight lines. Another example of us writing how we speak is a child who was just able to learn how to write. As a child I know my hand writing was ones horrifying because I would ignore the spaces or just out very little spacing, I only did that because it was how I though writing would be since it is almost like talking.
It seems that in chapter four of Nicholas’ Carr’s book on how the internet is affecting our lives, he first describes to us the use of old tools that we know today as rock, wood, bones, etc. This was waaay back in the past before the existence of technology ever exist of course. Back in the day compared to how we now write with pens and pencils on pieces of paper, the humanoids in the past used ot carve their history in rocks and stone tablets as well as clay to preserve their knowledge, even in papyrus scrolls but those methods had many many compelling issues. Eventually, as the techno age came out, they started to develop their own type of writing which we know today as the letters we use to write messages like the ones you’re reading right now. Basically, society changed a lot over time.
In the fourth chapter of Nicholas Carr’s “The Shallows”, he explains the history of humans and writing – namely our advancements in that field. At first, humans wrote with and on stones, then leaves, and finally paper. All the while, new additions to writing style itself were also added, such as spaces, punctuation, capitalization, and other things which made reading overall easier for the reader. With these changes, the human brain also changed, because it had to adapt to this new and sudden overhaul in the way it gathers knowledge.
Chapter four continues talking about technologies use but, focuses mainly on writing. Writing includes utensils, and the way how writing was done back then tracing to modern times. Tablets made of clay were inscribed on with characters. âGovernment Records, business correspondence etc. were all written on the durable tablets. It traces all the way back to the Sumerians. More materials were also stated that dated a good distance in time. 2500 BC, the Egyptians with their scrolls made from papyrus plants (wax tablets, and the codex was also mentioned). As writing technologies grew, so did verbal speech. âThe legacy of the oral world continued to shape the ways words on paper were written and read.â As writing advanced, so did reading devices. âAs the middle age advanced, the number of literate people grew steadily, and the availability of books advanced.â Eventually this lead to information overload. Not enough time to read it all.
In “The Shallows”, Chapter 4 tells us about the history of writing and how writing has transformed over time. Before, there use to be no grammar, so instead our ancestors use to write or draw out scriptures, which would basically give out a meaning. These scriptures use to be written or drawn out on rocks, and stone tablets. Over time written would be done on paper, and now we do most of our writing on tablets and computers. Grammar is also an example of our knowledge advancing. Before we use to draw out a story, whereas now we would write and tell stories. It is kind of like a little kid that doesnt know how to read, but when it looks at a picture, it can sort of tell what is happening, and understand whatever is going on.
Chapter four was basically about writing. He was showing us that over the year how the way we writes has changes. The book before there was no punctuation ,only endless sentences. To read from that book our brain had to work extra hard to makes sense of the other word even before reading it. Now we have sentences , Even if we don’t understand something we have the internet to help us with that without having to work our brain that much. I think this chapter once again proves his point quite good.
In Nicholas Carr âThe Shallowsâ, chapter four discusses how the written language has evolved and gotten more complex. He talks about the history of writing and how different civilization have made advances, for instance he states, âthe sumerians were the first to use a specialized medium for writingâ. Then he talks about how oral is a language itself, âeven as the technology of the book sped ahead, the legacy of oral world continued to shape the way words on pages were written and readâ. Over he wants the reader to be aware of how even the written and oral language have changed humans and have become more complex over time.
When people began to first write they scratch their marks on anything. They etched their cuneiform into carefully prepared tablets made of clay, and abundant resource in Mesopotamia. Government records business correspondences, commercial receipts, and legal agreements were all written on the durable tablets as well as religious stories and account of contemporary events. Other writing tools were scrolls from the papyrus plants. However, it was expensive. As writing increase the demand grew for a cheaper option. Therefore, way tablet were created. A blunt end for scraping the way clean. Also, bond tablets. With writing tools comes with the actual writing. Scriptura Continua are words ran together without and breaks across every line on every page. However, reading become less of an act of personal instructor and improvement. This led to the phonetic Alphabet. The placing of spaces between words alleviated cognitive strain involved in deciphering text. Reading wasnt used to clear the mind but however to full or replenish it. To Nicholas Carr, the advance in book technology changed the personal experience of reading and writing.
In chapter four of The Shallows by Nicholas Carr, Carr speaks about the evolution of people writing. He speaks about linguistics. Linguistics being the field of study that focuses on the development of language. People went from simply drawing pictures to represent words and sometimes even tell stories, to writing anywhere they could, to today writing pages and pages of stories, The advancement of people writing has been so large that looking back to what people used to use would be a shock to the people today. People used to write on rock, or in better terms tablets. And not the kind that they use today. They would chisel all the information that they have need to get through onto the tablet of rock and it would be passed through that. Because rock was no light thing to carry around people were trying to find an easier and more portable way to getting this information around. Having continuosly trying to find a way the people started to use papyrus paper and ink. This slowly all evolved to people binding books together and then the invention of the printing press by Johann Gutenberg. Gutenberg made it possible for a larger majority of people to get printed copies of books instead of having to get them handwritten. Having this printing press made it easier and inexpensive to the people. This advancement of reading and writing has come a long way and to Nicholas Carr it has personally changed the way we read and write today.
Chapter 4 of the Shallows By Nicholas Carr, starts with introducing the history of how writing started. The first people wrote on stone tablets, then he talks about how the Romans used to write how they speak not using spaces between words.