My reaction to your question might be telling: 1. I dimly remember that The Shallows had something thoughtful to say about the topic; 2. I pull out my kind

My reaction to your question might be telling: 1. I dimly remember that The Shallows had something thoughtful to say about the topic; 2. I pull out my kindle and search the full text of 443 books for "carr kindle"; 3. I wait 3 seconds; 4. I re-read Carr's take and mull it over. Perhaps not fundamentally different from looking it up in the index, but it certainly feels so.