Do first-person shooters make you smarter?
UPDATE: More good news. Gaming promotes civic virtue, too, according to this new study from the Pew Internet and American Life Project.
Remix: Making Art and Commerce Thrive in the Hybrid Economy by Lawrence Lessig
Professor Lessig's arguments should be familiar to Wired readers (he's a longtime contributor), but they still need to be made more familiar to everyone else. How many times does he have to explain the fact that technology has changed the rules, that antiquated copyright laws (or worse, draconian new copyright laws) are stifling creativity and holding back cultural and economic progress? This is essential reading for policy makers.
Crowdsourcing: Why the Power of the Crowd Is Driving the Future of Busi- ness by Jeff Howe
What started as a piece in Wired last year is about to be the big business book of the Fall. Watch for it at the end of August.
Sun in a Bottle: The Strange History of Fusion and the Science of Wishful Thinking by Charles Seife
Seife is one of our favorite science writers (he also wrote Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea and Decoding the Universe). He's back in October with a hugely entertaining history of the follies and frauds surrounding the century-long search for cold fusion.There's a talk with Seife in issue 16.10.
Anathem by Neal Stephenson
Stephenson's first novel since The Baroque Cycle hits stores September 9th. He's one of the few people ever to grace Wired's cover twice, and he's written for us too. I've just started this 900-page doorstop, and I'm definitely in for the long haul. Steven Levy profiles Neal in the 16.9 issue of Wired.
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hi
Posted by: jodgfgjghuitf | March 19, 2009 at 01:11 PM
My wife teaches children who have been excluded from the mainstream system because of their extremely violent, antisocial behaviour. Most cannot read and show no interest in learning. Many of these poor kids come from abusive, disfunctional homes. One of the few things that motivates them to turn up to school is being allowed to play Age of Empires on the PC. They have learned to read the ingame text and enjoy the challenges of resource management. Strange but true.
Posted by: Andrew Morriss | September 22, 2008 at 05:00 AM