Cognitive Surplus

From the bestselling author of Here Comes Everybody, Clay Shirky's Cognitive Surplus: Creativity and Generosity in a Connected Age is a fascinating look at how the internet is transforming our culture, providing new outlets for human potential.

In the past, we filled our free time with the tools at our disposal. Television became a kind of universal part-time job, and sitcoms and soap operas sponged up our cognitive surplus: the collective surfeit of time, intellect and energy at our disposal.

Today, tech has finally caught up with human potential. New tools don't just let us consume, but create and share. Clay Shirky's groundbreaking book reveals what is now happening with this previously untapped talent and goodwill. From lolcats to tools for tracking voter fraud and ethnic violence, he shows how we're using our cognitive surplus for the better, and what it means for the future.

'A manifesto for what's next - or what ought to be'

  Independent

'Perhaps the most amazing fact about Shirky's incisive manual for building a better world is this: it's just possible that everything he promises may be true'

  Observer

'Fizzes with great insights ... It's a delight to read and will change how you think about the future'

  Cory Doctorow, Boing Boing

'When Clay Shirky speaks ... people listen. The author of the influential Here Comes Everybody is again driving conversation'

  TIME

'Shirky gives us a ruler by which to measure our contribution to the world. Watching TV will never be the same again'

  Guardian

Clay Shirky teaches at the Interactive Telecommunications Program at NYU, where he researches the interrelated effects of our social and technological networks. His writings have appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Times of London, Harvard Business Review, Business 2.0, and Wired.