Cognitive Surplus Author:Clay Shirky In the last century, a host of factors forced us to grapple with something we've never had to deal with on a national scale before: free time. And for much of the second half of the century, we spent billions of hours watching TV. Is this the best we can do with our time? As Clay Shirky's groundbreaking new book shows, things are changin... more »g. Free time creates what Shirky terms a 'cognitive surplus'. And now we are starting to use it in different ways. For the first time in the history of the medium, young people are watching less TV than their elders, turning away from passive consumption towards active participation. In Cognitive Surplus, Shirky documents this shift through a mixture of telling examples, analysis and social theory, and explores the human motivations that lie behind it. The television industry has been shocked to see alternative use3s of free time, especially among young people, because it believed that watching TV was society's official Best Use of Free Time. This view of society though, misunderstands how people actually make choices. Cognitive Surplus will show you how we do.« less