Mr. Carr is a thoughtful analyst...We think being 'connected' to one another will produce feelings of connection. Mr. Carr shows again and again that it just ain't so.--Meghan Cox Gurdon "The Wall Street Journal"

[An] eye-opening new book.... We have, Carr concludes, 'been telling ourselves lies about communication--and about ourselves.' It's time we stop.--Sam Keane "American Scholar"

[A] perceptive commentary not merely on contemporary technology but on humans' permanent foibles...Carr's advice calls to mind that of another horticulturally minded observer of our plight, Voltaire.--Robert Bellafiore "National Review"

If you're wondering how we arrived at this pass, Carr is your man.--Martha Bayles "Hedgehog Review"

Incisive.-- "Financial Times"

The case Carr makes is compelling.... It is an inspiring rallying call, and Superbloom shows us what is at stake--but with market forces, peer pressure, and our own instincts ranged against us, this might be easier said than done.--Philip Ball "Los Angeles Review of Books"

[Nicholas] Carr set off an avalanche [with The Shallows].... [He] has a new book, Superbloom, about not only distraction but all the psychological harms of the Internet. We've suffered a 'fragmentation of consciousness, ' Carr writes, our world having been 'rendered incomprehensible by information.--Daniel Immerwahr "The New Yorker"

[A] great new book.... Carr is superb as a writer who retains a strong sense of humanity and who can write about the gradual loss of that humanity as technology makes life faster, more convenient, and less fulfilling.--Jonathan Haidt, author of The Anxious Generation

Carr...extols a 'more material and less virtual existence.'... [F]or now, yes--it's going to take willful acts of sensory deprivation for us to come to our senses.--Jen Szalai "The New York Times"

This book might finally convince you to stay off social media--or at least get the apps off your phone.... Carr promises to bring readers along into the murky waters of our ever-expanding technological landscape.--Brianne Kane "Scientific American"

The 'superbloom' of flowers produced a superbloom of people, trampling the poppies, causing gridlock and creating a public-safety hazard. For Nicholas Carr, a thoughtful critic of technology and its consequences, all this is a metaphor for today's media-saturated world.-- "Economist"

This book is so timely. I say this as an extremely online person who has a deep love for the culture and history of the internet: maybe some of this was a bad idea.--Oliver Scialdone "Literary Hub"

Carr persuasively sounds the alarm about the destructive nature of social media and the corporations that control it.-- "Kirkus Reviews"

Carr considers what we know about human communication and psychology and argues that modern social media is ideally suited to increase intolerance, anxiety, and factionalism. Turns out, more communication isn't automatically better.... As always, Carr's perspective is urgent and bracing, a necessary challenge to idealistic visions of a democratic internet.--Booklist, starred review

At times alarming, Superbloom is a profound reminder of what's at stake if we consume only ultraprocessed communication at the expense of real, embodied community.--Nicholas J. Weyrens "Gospel Coalition"

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Pub date: 2026-05-05

Length: 272 pages