Head in the Cloud, William Poundstone
Head in the Cloud, William Poundstone
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Head in the Cloud
Why Knowing Things Still Matters When Facts Are So Easy to Look Up

Author: William Poundstone

Narrator: Chris Sorensen

Unabridged: 8 hr 45 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Recorded Books

Published: 07/19/2016


Synopsis

The real-world value of knowledge in the mobile-device age. More people know who Khloe Kardashian is than who Rene Descartes was. Most can't find Delaware on a map, correctly spell the word occurrence, or name the largest ocean on the planet. But how important is it to fill our heads with facts? A few keystrokes can summon almost any information in seconds. Why should we bother learning facts at all? Bestselling author William Poundstone confronts that timely question in HEAD IN THE CLOUD. He shows that many areas of knowledge correlate with the quality of our lives-wealth, health, and happiness-and even with politics and behavior. Combining Big Data survey techniques with eye-opening anecdotes, Poundstone examines what Americans know (and don't know) on topics ranging from quantum physics to pop culture. HEAD IN THE CLOUD asks why we're okay with spelling errors on menus but not on resumes; why Fox News viewers don't know which party controls Congress; why people who know "trivia" make more money than those who don't; how individuals can navigate clickbait and media spin to stay informed about what really matters. Hilarious, humbling, and wildly entertaining, HEAD IN THE CLOUD is a must-read for anyone who doesn't know everything.

About William Poundstone

William Poundstone is an author, columnist, and skeptic. His many books include Prisoner's Dilemma, Are You Smart Enough to Work at Google?, and Priceless.


Reviews

How the Dunning-Kruger effect's going to destroy the world as we know it. Global loss of memory vs distributed memory. What's the price of literally keeping one's brain up in the Google search machine? Internet as the new mnemonist (a la Ancient Rome). I loved the tidbit about how people who believed......more

Goodreads review by Casey

I enjoy feeling superior to others. Even as a kid, basking in my own precocity was a favored activity. When I got too old to be considered a prodigy, I coped by developing an encyclopedic knowledge of classic rock acts (discographies, influences, associated acts, etc.; bet you didn't know that Jimmy......more

Some of it was ok, but a lot of it seemed a bit presumptuous. For example, he calls out millennials for not knowing a two pages worth of facts, much of which deals with decades- old pop culture knowledge. Why would a millennial, or anyone else, need to know who wrote the song "Heartbreak Hotel", or......more

Goodreads review by Daniel

First, the author. William Poundstone is a professional author with 15 books in his publication list. They’re mostly about science and the issues surrounding science and the philosophy of science. “Gaming the Vote: Why Elections Aren’t Fair” or “Rock Breaks Scissors: A Practical Guide to Outguessing......more