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Every book Venkatesh Rao recommended on podcasts
Venkatesh Rao appeared on EconTalk to discuss various themes surrounding technology, information overload, and modern media consumption. During the conversation, Rao brought up Henry David Thoreau's classic work Walden to explain the origin of the term "Waldenponding," a concept that describes the deliberate choice to retreat from technology and social media, drawing a parallel to Thoreau's famous experiment in simple living. Furthermore, Rao referenced Nicholas Carr's book The Shallows to examine how contemporary critics of digital technology often repeat older historical arguments about how new media supposedly ruins the human brain. To trace the lengthy public discourse regarding the efficiency and intelligence of crowds, Rao mentioned James Surowiecki's The Wisdom of Crowds, noting that society has been debating these ideas for at least a couple of decades. Additionally, Rao referenced Cal Newport's book Deep Work while contextualizing the ongoing public conversation and literature surrounding digital distraction, information fatigue, and productivity in a hyper-connected age. Through these various literary references, Rao highlighted how contemporary concerns about technology are deeply rooted in historical debates spanning many years, involving numerous thinkers who have attempted to grapple with the psychological and societal impacts of modern digital media and the constant influx of information on everyday human life.
Books recommended by Venkatesh Rao
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Deep Work
Deep Work by Cal Newport is a productivity guide that outlines rules for achieving focused success in a distracted world.
Discussed“so the reason I'm bringing that up is if you look at this conversation we've been having it for about 15-20 years then I'm Nick Carr Cal Newport on deep work all that stuff but it got particularly acute in the last three or four years for a couple of unrelated reasons”
Where to get it
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The Shallows
The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains by Nicholas Carr is an influential examination of how digital technology and constant connectivity alter human cognition, diminish attention spans, and degrade the capacity for deep reading.
Discussed“Nick Carr who I think inaugurated this particular trend when he wrote the shallows almost a decade ago he actually quotes Plato and Phaedra's sense as right still this time it's different Google is making us stupid”
Where to get it
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The Wisdom of Crowds
The Wisdom of Crowds by James Surowiecki is an influential examination of how large groups of diverse individuals can collectively possess greater intelligence and problem-solving capacity than individual experts.
Discussed“I mean you had sort of Ricky with his wisdom of crowds book I think that was 2002 so we've been having this conversation for at least a couple of decades and we now know a lot more”
Where to get it
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Walden
Walden by Henry David Thoreau is a classic transcendentalist masterwork detailing the author's experiences living in a cabin near Concord, Massachusetts, while reflecting on nature, solitude, and self-reliance.
Discussed“so the basic idea is you've got this friend of people advocating some sort of retreat from digital media and of course the Walden funding is a reference tool toros Walden so the idea of not necessarily literally retreating to a log cabin in the woods to meditate though a lot of people actually do some literal version of that”
Where to get it
Appearances
| Episode | Podcast | Date | Books |
|---|---|---|---|
| Venkatesh Rao on Waldenponding | EconTalk | 2019-11-04 | 4 |