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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Carr writes that the computer is our servant, but it is simultaneously which of the following?

2. What is Alan Turing best known for creating?

3. What job did Johannes Gutenberg have before inventing the printing press?

4. How many categories does Carr claim our technologies can be divided into in Chapter Three?

5. In Chapter Four, who does Carr claim were the first people to use a specialized medium for writing?

Short Essay Questions

1. What style of reading does author David Levy describe in Chapter Four that Carr thinks is useful for learning?

2. What is the central message from Marshall McLuhan's 1964 book Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man, according to Carr?

3. What does Carr say about the relationship between the so-called "intellectual ethic" of a technology and its inventor (45)?

4. According to Carr, what is one way in which a reader can connect deeply with a book he is reading?

5. How does Carr claim the creation of clocks influenced civilization?

6. In Chapter One, what activity does Carr propose heavy Internet use has diminished human capacity for?

7. How does Carr describe intellectual technologies?

8. In Chapter Three, what does Carr identify as the philosopher Socrates' fear that widespread reading would replace?

9. How does attending Dartmouth College in the 1970s affect Carr's attitudes towards computers?

10. How does Carr describe Friedrich Nietzsche's feelings towards his first typewriter?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Carr writes that "every technology is an expression of human will" (44). Write an essay explaining your interpretation of Carr's meaning with this phrase. How does it relate to his views on computers and the Internet?

Essay Topic 2

According to Carr, why do so many people not only welcome, but seek out, interruptions when they use the Internet? Write an essay explaining your answer, citing specific references to the text to support your arguments.

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay exploring how Carr thinks the rise of eReaders and eBooks will change, or even possibly eliminate, people's experiences of deep reading.

(see the answer keys)

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