All reading was done in the early years out loud, there was no such thing as silent reading because you had to read out loud in order to figure out you know, where was a word ending and where is the word beginning.

The only thing going on is the progression of words and sentences across page after page and so suddenly we see this immersive kind of very attentive thinking, whether you are paying attention to a story or to an argument, or whatever. And what we know about the brain is the brain adapts to these types of tools.

In the long run, though, the greatest IT risk facing most companies is more prosaic than a catastrophe. It is, simply, overspending. IT may be a commodity, and its costs may fall rapidly enough to ensure that any new capabilities are quickly shared, but the very fact that it is entwined with so many business functions means that it will continue to consume a large portion of corporate spending.

Once I was a scuba diver in the sea of words. Now I zip along the surface like a guy on a Jet Ski.

I think what the book did in addition to its practical uses, is it gave us a more attentive way of thinking.

A lot of your mental energy goes to figuring out where does one word end and the next begin.

What the book does as a technology is shield us from distraction.