Assignment 27A- Reading Reflection 3

•  What was the general theme or argument of the book?
• The general theme of the book Cognitive Surplus by Clay Shirky is that we have so much free time today but we don't utilize it properly and instead waste it on pointless and unfulfilling actions. One of the largest ways that Shirky says we "use" this time is by indulging in broadcast media. He then proceeds to offer suggestions on how to retake our free time and use it more productively.
• How did the book, in your opinion, connect with and enhance what you are learning in ENT 3003?  
• I believe one of the main ways this book connects back to what we are learning is the idea of not wasting an opportunity. This book points out that we simply pass up on potential opportunities by wasting our spare time with pointless actions such as watching television. This class helps us to focus on situations where we can exploit opportunities and this book does much of the same. It helps individuals look at their life and figure out where they can improve themselves and their use of their time.  
• If you had to design an exercise for this class, based on the book you read, what would that exercise involve?
• The experiment I would design is to have individuals keep track of their free time and the amount of time doing anything productive. After they have done this I would have them begin to start doing activities or exercises of some kind during their free time instead of what they were originally doing. I would have this go on for a couple weeks and at the end of these couple of weeks I would ask them a set of questions that measure how they feel these changes have affected them. I would also try and gauge how they think their lives have improved after starting to use their free time more productively.
• What was your biggest surprise or 'aha' moment when reading the book? In other words, what did you learn that differed most from your expectations?
• My biggest surprise from this book was the part where it talks about new mindsets. One example of this was the part where Shirky talks about how there are times when we would rather have something done by people other than professionals in that area. I had never stopped to think about how accurate this actually is. One example that is given is restaurant reviews. I would put more stock in a review from a friend than a professional restaurant reviewer. I never stopped to think this over but it is very accurate.