The Information Diet

information dieting, government data, and activism.

Books

Behind this book lies scores of others, and I’ve drawn from the research of many others to write this one. If you’d like to pursue studying in this field, I recommend the following:

Ariely, Dan. Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions. Harper Perennial, 2010.

Baumeister, Roy F., and John Tierney. Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength. Penguin Press, 2011.

Brown, Stuart, M.D., and Christopher Vaughan. Play: How It Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul. Avery, 2009.

Carr, Nicholas. The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains. W.W. Norton & Co., 2011.

Hurley, Matthew M., Daniel C. Dennett, Reginald B. Adams Jr. Inside Jokes: Using Humor to Reverse-Engineer the Mind. MIT Press, 2011.

Manjoo, Farhad. True Enough: Learning to Live in a Post-Fact Society. Wiley, 2008.

Medina, John. Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School. Pear Press, 2009.

Pariser, Eli. The Filter Bubble: What the Internet Is Hiding From You. Penguin Press, 2011.

Putnam, Robert. Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community. Touchstone Books, 2001.

Scully, Matthew. Dominion: The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals, and the Call to Mercy. St. Martin’s Griffin, 2003.

Shirky, Clay. Cognitive Surplus: How Technology Makes Consumers into Collaborators. Penguin Press, 2011.

Stoll, Clifford. Silicon Snake Oil: Second Thoughts on the Information Highway. Anchor, 1996.

Tavris, Caroll, and Elliot Aronson. Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me): Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions, and Hurtful Acts. Mariner Books, 2008.

Vaidhyanathan, Siva. The Googlization of Everything (And Why We Should Worry) . University of California Press, 2009.

Blogs

Three blogs kept me informed on the latest developments of science around this field, and their work is really remarkable. I encourage you to be a regular reader of each, if you want to constantly fine-tune your information diet. The debate in the science community over what I’ve discussed in my book is lively, and worth paying attention to.

Deric Bownds’ Mindblog: http://mindblog.dericbownds.net/

Jonah Lehrer’s Frontal Cortex: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/frontal-cortex/

Re:Cognition: http://thebeautifulbrain.com/category/recognition/

About the Author

Clay Johnson is best known as the founder of Blue State Digital, the firm that built and managed Barack Obama's online campaign for the presidency in 2008. After leaving Blue State, Johnson was the director of Sunlight Labs at the Sunlight Foundation, where he built an army of 2000 developers and designers to build open source tools to give people greater access to government data. He was awarded the Google/O'Reilly Open Source Organizer of the year in 2009, was one of Federal Computing Week's Fed 100 in 2010.

The range of Johnson's experience with software development, politics, entrepreneurism, and working with non-profits gives him a unique perspective on media and culture. His life is dedicated to giving people greater access to the truth about what's going on in their communities, their cities, and their governments.

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http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/4.02/jobs.html

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http://www.althealth.co.uk/news/latest-news/diet-study-confusion-will-not-change-habits-analysts/

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http://www.usda.gov/factbook/chapter2.pdf

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http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/eib3/eib3.htm

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Scully, Matthew. Dominion (p. 29). St. Martin’s Griffin: 2003.

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http://longnow.org/seminars/02009/may/05/deep-agriculture/

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http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2009/gaef3242.doc.htm

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http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/agriculture/

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