Book Review Series: Finding the surplus in our lives and doing something constructive with it

Cognitive Surplus began by challenging my lifestyle.

I used to take pride in how little television I watched, until the first chapter shocked me enough to challenge my thinking.

I don’t need it at all, it is not my ‘part-time job’ and there are greater things I can do with my life.

Cognitive Surplus begins by highlighting research showing that the three most time consuming activities in our lives are sleep, work and watching TV.

‘Someone born in 1960’s has already watched fifty thousand hours of television’.

We have entered an age where you can create change in the world and being an amateur can actually be a good thing (amateur derives from love – to do something for the love of it).

Passionate amateurs have created change beyond what would have been possible 20 years ago in both scale and timeframe. An example of this is PatientsLikeMe a US website where people can share their experience of living with medical conditions.

People share their stories of illness and support each other. However the site also delivers some unplanned benefits. On PatientsLikeMe People discuss current clinical trials and others reading these threads uncover experimental and potentially life saving treatments they may otherwise have never discovered. In the past it would have been incredibly challenging to get enough patients to sign up to a clinical trial for rare medical conditions but now the word spreads quickly due to the considerable number of people on the site enabling more accurate findings on treatment effectiveness.

Essentially social media and open source technology can save lives.

Clay Shirky’s book uses many case studies to talk about how collaboration online can help the whole knowledge of humanity become more valuable than the sum of its parts. As well as drawing upon well-known examples such as Wikipedia it touches on other less well know sites. Ushahidi, a project created in Kenya overtook short wave radio as a way to track outbreaks of violence as by collating reports online and via text message to create an accurate alert system.

In an era of depressing and violent media stories this book left me feeling hopeful for the future of humanity. Well worth a read.

Thanks so much as always Pauline.  I will be back next week, and in the meantime, feel free to get in contact with any suggestions for new book reviews.

Tammy Tansley Consulting - Change and Culture

About Pauline Tarrant:

 

Pauline has a passion for people performance and spent her entire working life helping organisations, teams and individuals perform at their best. Her expertise in the HR technology space enables Pauline Tarrant Consulting to operate as a trusted partner to the HR team to explore how to get the best from existing technology and explore new solutions that offer best-fit improvements to their business.

Have you got questions, or would like to take the next step? Simply get in touch for a friendly, obligation-free chat, and/or :

Book an introductory pre coaching information session by clicking here.

Sign up to my free mini course :
– Be A Better Boss In 7 Days

Check out my year-long accountability program:
– Permission To Achieve Your Dreams

Read my books:
– Enterprise Agreements – Made Easy
– Do What You Say You’ll Do

Want more?

If you’d like to receive my musings on all things leadership and culture related and beyond, pop your email address in below. To say thank you for sharing, you’ll immediately receive a free chapter from my book, and a free infographic on the ten tools of leadership.

1 Step 1
keyboard_arrow_leftPrevious
Nextkeyboard_arrow_right
FormCraft – WordPress form builder

TTC acknowledges the traditional custodians throughout Western Australia and their continuing connection to the beautiful land, waters and community on which we work and live. We pay our respects to all members of Aboriginal communities and their cultures, and acknowledge the wisdom of Elders both past, present and emerging.