How Tv Can Make You Smarter

How TV Can Make You Smarter is a lively guide that shows readers the numerous emotional and intellectual benefits of TV. Contrary to conventional wisdom, television can do more than help you veg out, chill, and escape. Author and TV critic Allison Shoemaker rewires our thinking to show readers how to take advantage of our 24/7 access to this ever-evolving medium. • TV is a powerful tool and How TV Can Make You Smarter will teach you how to use it. • Covers a wide selection of diverse genres from scripted comedies, dramas, and classics to reality and beyond • Find acceptance in embracing "bad" TV, and learn to love yourself in the morning. Lessons include learning how to gain empathy (Mad Men), broadening your perspective (Rupaul's Drag Race), and discovering how working within boundaries (Doctor Who) or breaking them apart (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) can be good for you. Part of the HOW series, the accessible and authoritative guides to engaging with the arts the world, and ourselves. • Filled with smart, unintimidating content in a giftable foil-stamped package • Great for TV and movie buffs, Netflix and Hulu subscribers, DVD owners, and anyone who loves to unwind with television • Packed with insightful tips and tricks for making the most out of what you watch • You'll love this book if you love books like Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business by Neil Postman, Everything Bad Is Good for You: How Today's Popular Culture Is Actually Making Us Smarter by Steven Johnson, and I Like to Watch: Arguing My Way Through the TV Revolution by Emily Nussbaum.

From the New York Times bestselling author of How We Got To Now and Farsighted Forget everything you’ve ever read about the age of dumbed-down, instant-gratification culture. In this provocative, unfailingly intelligent, thoroughly researched, and surprisingly convincing big idea book, Steven Johnson draws from fields as diverse as neuroscience, economics, and media theory to argue that the pop culture we soak in every day—from Lord of the Rings to Grand Theft Auto to The Simpsons—has been growing more sophisticated with each passing year, and, far from rotting our brains, is actually posing new cognitive challenges that are actually making our minds measurably sharper. After reading Everything Bad is Good for You, you will never regard the glow of the video game or television screen the same way again. With a new afterword by the author.

Featuring a foreword by David Brooks, This Will Make You Smarter presents brilliant—but accessible—ideas to expand every mind. What scientific concept would improve everybody’s cognitive toolkit? This is the question John Brockman, publisher of Edge.org, posed to the world’s most influential thinkers. Their visionary answers flow from the frontiers of psychology, philosophy, economics, physics, sociology, and more. Surprising and enlightening, these insights will revolutionize the way you think about yourself and the world. Contributors include: Daniel Kahneman on the “focusing illusion” Jonah Lehrer on controlling attention Richard Dawkins on experimentation Aubrey De Grey on conquering our fear of the unknown Martin Seligman on the ingredients of well-being Nicholas Carr on managing “cognitive load” Steven Pinker on win-win negotiating Daniel Goleman on understanding our connection to the natural world Matt Ridley on tapping collective intelligence Lisa Randall on effective theorizing Brian Eno on “ecological vision” J. Craig Venter on the multiple possible origins of life Helen Fisher on temperament Sam Harris on the flow of thought Lawrence Krauss on living with uncertainty

A revelatory and timely look at how technology boosts our cognitive abilities—making us smarter, more productive, and more creative than ever It’s undeniable—technology is changing the way we think. But is it for the better? Amid a chorus of doomsayers, Clive Thompson delivers a resounding “yes.” In Smarter Than You Think, Thompson shows that every technological innovation—from the written word to the printing press to the telegraph—has provoked the very same anxieties that plague us today. We panic that life will never be the same, that our attentions are eroding, that culture is being trivialized. But, as in the past, we adapt—learning to use the new and retaining what is good of the old. Smarter Than You Think embraces and extols this transformation, presenting an exciting vision of the present and the future.

Following the huge success of his blockbuster weight-loss program, McKenna has created a groundbreaking new book-and-CD set that reveals the secrets of getting regular, deep, refreshing sleep--and banishing insomnia for good.

"An extraordinary book which makes a vital contribution to our understanding of the potential power for healing and goodness in 'television entertainment'." Arlie Hochschild, author of The Time Bind (2001) "Despite the light title, this is a serious book about the healing possibilities of television. ! Provocative and enlightening." Beth Montemurro, Penn State University Can television be a positive force in society? Can socially conscious entertainment change the world? Two Aspirins and Comedy arrives at surprising and unconventional answers to these questions. Metta Spencer delves deep into the significance and power of entertainment as a means to influence society. She finds current examples of socially constructive television and demonstrates how mass entertainment can better use its power to positively influence society. In a climate where television is often a culprit for society's woes, Spencer casts a redemptive eye on the medium. She asserts that television, like other fictional landscapes, offers invaluable lessons, emotional bonding and catharsis for a modern society whose members are increasingly isolated.

A new method of estimating what affects IQ shows that life history and choice count toward your level of intelligence. Contrary to the twin studies, your home can be either an advantage or a disadvantage, and the choices you make at any age (what you read) can upgrade your intelligence.