Now You See It: How the Brain Science of Attention Will Transform the Way We Live, Work, and Learn - Hardcover

Davidson, Cathy N.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0670022829 ISBN 13: 9780670022823

Publisher: Viking Pr, 2011

Synopsis

A digital innovator shows how we can thrive in the new technological age.

When Cathy Davidson and Duke University gave free iPods to the freshman class in 2003, critics said they were wasting their money. Yet when students in practically every discipline invented academic uses for their music players, suddenly the idea could be seen in a new light-as an innovative way to turn learning on its head.

This radical experiment is at the heart of Davidson's inspiring new book. Using cutting-edge research on the brain, she shows how "attention blindness" has produced one of our society's greatest challenges: while we've all acknowledged the great changes of the digital age, most of us still toil in schools and workplaces designed for the last century. Davidson introduces us to visionaries whose groundbreaking ideas-from schools with curriculums built around video games to companies that train workers using virtual environments-will open the doors to new ways of working and learning. A lively hybrid of Thomas Friedman and Norman Doidge, Now You See It is a refreshingly optimistic argument for a bold embrace of our connected, collaborative future.

About this title

Review:

"Davidson isn't the first to point out [our] anxieties about texting tots ... But her work is the most powerful yet to insist that we can and should manage the impact of these changes in our lives."
-"Fast Company"
"Cathy Davidson has one of the most interesting and wide ranging minds in contemporary scholarship, a mind that ranges comfortably over literary arts, literacy, psychology, and brain science. Her ambitious and timely book is certain to attract a lot of attention and to catalyze many discussions."
-Howard Gardner, Hobbs Professor of Cognition and Education, Harvard University, author of "Five Minds for the Future"
""Now You See It" is a stunning work, one that we have all been waiting for and that I endorse wholeheartedly. Only Cathy Davidson could pull off such a sweeping book. It's a true 'wow wow.'"
-John Seely Brown, formerly Chief Scientist of Xerox Corporation and Director of Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), and co-author of "The Social

"In her galvanic new book, "Now You See It," Ms. Davidson asks, and ingeniously answers, that question. One of the nation's great digital minds, she has written an immensely enjoyable omni-manifesto that's officially about the brain science of attention. But the book also challenges nearly every assumption about American education ... As scholarly as "Now You See It" is - as rooted in field experience, as well as rigorous history, philosophy and science - this book about education happens to double as an optimistic, even thrilling, summer read. It supplies reasons for hope about the future."
-"The New York Times"
"In a chatty, enthusiastic style, the author takes us on a journey through contemporary classrooms and offices to describe how they are changing-or, according to her, should change. Among much else, we need to build schools and workplaces that match the demands of our multitasking brains. That means emphasizing 'nonlinear thinking, ' 'social networks' and 'crowds

"Her book "Now You See It" celebrates the brain as a lean, mean, adaptive multitasking machine that - with proper care and feeding - can do much more than our hidebound institutions demand of it. The first step is transforming schools, which are out of touch with the radical new realities of the Internet era ... Davidson is such a good storyteller, and her characters are so well drawn ..."
-"The New York Times Book Review"
"In her galvanic new book, "Now You See It," Ms. Davidson asks, and ingeniously answers, that question. One of the nation's great digital minds, she has written an immensely enjoyable omni-manifesto that's officially about the brain science of attention. But the book also challenges nearly every assumption about American education ... As scholarly as "Now You See It" is - as rooted in field experience, as well as rigorous history, philosophy and science - this book about education happens to double as an optimistic, even thrilling, summer read. It suppl

"As Ms. Davidson puts it: 'Pundits may be asking if the Internet is bad for our children's mental development, but the better question is whether the form of learning and knowledge-making we are instilling in our children is useful to their future.' In her galvanic new book, "Now You See It," Ms. Davidson asks, and ingeniously answers, that question. One of the nation's great digital minds, she has written an immensely enjoyable omni-manifesto that's officially about the brain science of attention. But the book also challenges nearly every assumption about American education. Rooted in field experience, as well as rigorous history, philosophy and science -- this book about education happens to double as an optimistic, even thrilling, summer read. It supplies reasons for hope about the future. Take it to the beach. That much hope, plus that much scholarship, amounts to a distinctly unguilty pleasure." --Virginia Hefferman, New York Times

"A remarkable new book, Now You See It . . . offers a fresh and reassuring perspective on how to manage anxieties about the bewildering pace of technological change. . . . Her work is the most powerful yet to insist that we can and should manage the impact of these changes in our lives."--Anya Kamenetz, Fast Company

"In a chatty, enthusiastic style, the author takes us on a journey through contemporary classrooms and offices to describe how they are changing--or, according to her, should change. Among much else, we need to build schools and workplaces that match the demands of our multitasking brains. That means emphasizing "nonlinear thinking," "social networks" and "crowdsourcing." ..Now You See It is filled with instructive anecdotes and genuine insights." --Mark Changizi, Wall Street Journal

"Davidson takes the technological bull by the horns and argues that concentration hasn't gone downhill with the internet: we're just operating with an outdated notion of attention, in the workplace and at home. ... Davidson's claim that mono-tasking (the idea that a person can focus on one single task at hand) is an unrealistic model of how the brain works, seems strikingly persuasive. Davidson also calls for a reform in education, suggesting ways in which technology can be incorporated into the classroom and help kids become multitasking, problem-solving thinkers." --Sophie Duvernoy, LA Weekly

"There is an emerging consensus that higher education has to change significantly, and Davidson makes a compelling case for the ways in which digital technology, allied with neuroscience, will play a leading role in that change."--William Pannapacker, Chronicle of Higher Education

"Now You See It is humorous, poignant, entertaining, endearing, touching and challenging. It is a book I would happily recommend to anyone engaged in teaching at any level, because it aims both to comfort and to disrupt; it is devised to convince readers that the human mind is ready for the next quantum advance into our collective future, whatever that may be. It is certainly all-embracing in its scope, demonstrating how a sound knowledge of the many ways we can learn in new, media-rich environments might provide a better understanding of how individuals can attain their optimum potential."--Steve Wheeler, Book of the Week, Times Higher Education

"The self-reprogramming capacity of the human mind, together with the way our communication technologies influence our thinking, are combining to reprogram our attention. One cutting edge of educational practice is participatory learning -- giving students a more active, exploratory role based on critical inquiry -- and one frontier of brain research is what is happening to our attention in the always-on era. Cathy Davidson is a natural to bring together these neuroscientific and educational themes."

--Howard Rheingold, author of"Smart Mobs" and "Net Smart"

About the Author:

Cathy N. Davidson served as the first vice provost fro interdisciplinary studies at Duke University from 1998 until 2006, where she helped create the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience. She currently codirects the annual HASTAC/MacArthur Foundation Digital Media and Learning competitions. She has published more than a dozen books, including Closing: The Life and Death of an American Factory and The Future of Thinking. She lives in Durham, North Carolina.

About this edition

• Publisher: Viking Pr
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0670022829
• ISBN 13: 9780670022823
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 342