Smarter Than You Think: How Technology is Changing Our Minds for the Better

‘Eye-opening and optimistic’ Economist, Books of the Year

‘Judicious and insightful ... Thompson avoids both the hype and the hand-wringing so common among digital age pontificators’ Walter Isaacson, New York Times

‘Almost without noticing it, the internet has become our intellectual exoskeleton. Rather than just observing this evolution, Clive Thompson takes us to the people, places and technologies driving it, bringing deep reporting, storytelling and analysis to one of the most profound shifts in human history’ Chris Anderson

‘[An] enjoyable study of the digital world ... both fascinating and thought-provoking ... [Thompson] remains admirably sober about the limits of technology’s’ edifying influence on us: technology, he reminds us, is only ever as smart as the person using it’ Sunday Times

‘Thompson is a talented storyteller ... The world outside ... is, on balance, much weirder than you think’ The Times

‘We should be grateful to have such a clear-eyed and lucid interpreter of our changing technological culture as Clive Thompson. Smarter Than You Think is an important, insightful book about who we are, and who we are becoming’
Joshua Foer, New York Times bestselling author of Moonwalking with Einstein

From the ‘Wired’ and ‘New York Times Magazine’ contributor, a brilliant examination into how the internet is profoundly changing the way we think.

In this groundbreaking book, Clive Thompson argues that the internet is boosting our brainpower, encouraging new ways of thinking, and making us more – not less – intelligent as is so often claimed.

Our lives have been changed irrevocably by the rise of the internet. But as we rely more and more on machines to help us think, our thinking is becoming richer and more complex. We learn more, retain it longer, write in curious new forms, and even think entirely new types of thoughts.

‘Smarter Than You Think’ is filled with stories of people who are using technology to boost their brains. Meet the ageing millionaire who is saving a digital copy of everything that happens to him, the leading artificial-intelligence researcher who is creating software that will sense your mood and many other fascinating characters who are reaching new heights with digital help.

Lucidly written and argued, ‘Smarter Than You Think’ is a breathtaking original look at our Brave New World.