- Hardcover: 288 pages
- Publisher: Penguin Press (HC) (April 21 2009)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1594202109
- ISBN-13: 978-1594202100
- Product Dimensions: 23.1 x 15.2 x 2.3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 476 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #124,997 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
Book Description
Winifred Gallagher revolutionizes our understanding of attention and the creation of the interested life
In Rapt, acclaimed behavioral science writer Winifred Gallagher makes the radical argument that the quality of your life largely depends on what you choose to pay attention to and how you choose to do it. Gallagher grapples with provocative questions-Can we train our focus? What's different about the way creative people pay attention? Why do we often zero in on the wrong factors when making big decisions, like where to move?-driving us to reconsider what we think we know about attention.
Gallagher looks beyond sound bites on our proliferating BlackBerries and the increased incidence of ADD in children to the discoveries of neuroscience and psychology and the wisdom of home truths, profoundly altering and expanding the contemporary conversation on attention and its power. Science's major contribution to the study of attention has been the discovery that its basic mechanism is an either/or process of selection. That we focus may be a biological necessity-research now proves we can process only a little information at a time, or about 173 billion bits over an average life-but the good news is that we have much more control over our focus than we think, which gives us a remarkable yet underappreciated capacity to influence our experience. As suggested by the expression "pay attention," this cognitive currency is a finite resource that we must learn to spend wisely. In Rapt, Gallagher introduces us to a diverse cast of characters-artists and ranchers, birders and scientists-who have learned to do just that and whose stories are profound lessons in the art of living the interested life. No matter what your quotient of wealth, looks, brains, or fame, increasing your satisfaction means focusing more on what really interests you and less on what doesn't. In asserting its groundbreaking thesis-the wise investment of your attention is the single most important thing you can do to improve your well-being-Rapt yields fresh insights into the nature of reality and what it means to be fully alive.
About the Author
Winifred Gallagher's books include House Thinking, Just the Way You Are (a New York Times Notable Book), Working on God, and The Power of Place. She has written for numerous publications, such as Atlantic Monthly, Rolling Stone, and the New York Times. She lives in Manhattan, and Dubois, Wyoming.
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Deserves your full attention,
By
This review is from: Rapt.new (Hardcover)
Gallagher set out on a personal project to understand attention more deeply following a significant medical crisis in her own life. In doing so, she brought to bear her substantial capacity to synthesize complex subject matter that would be otherwise inaccessible to most of us and pass on to others what she has learned in a way which is readily understandable. In doing so, she has provided a valuable service.Included in her coverage are the substantial recent advancements in a wide range of literature addressing creativity, mindfulness, neuroscience and decision-making. She explains the relevance of this new understanding for ADD, work, relationships, health and even the quest for our life's meaning. Gallagher contrasts the top down attention that focuses on what is the most obvious direction we might focus our attention, a passive response, with the bottom-up attention that addresses whatever subject matter that we consciously choose as the object of our concentration. Drawing extensively from the work of Csikszentmihalyi (author of Flow and other significant books), she discusses how choosing "activities that push us so close to the edge of our competence that they demand our absolute focus", and are able to determine the quality of our lives. If you need a reason to exchange the flotsam and jetsam of a typical evening of TV programming for the focused life by learning a new language or engaging in "deliberate practice" to acquire the skills listed in the job posting for that job you've been dreaming about, I don't know a better place to begin. Gallagher has provided a readable but thorough summary that is a "must read" for anyone looking to make a serious commitment to personal growth, however defined.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
kept MY attention,
By
This review is from: Rapt.new (Hardcover)
Interesting read with a thorough explanation of how and why we pay attention and with advise on how to improve your 'raptness'. Not overly scientific but has interesting stories about how the ability to pay rapt attention to a job/technique can allow a person to become successful at any life skill, be it music, sports or whatever. Inspiring, the book reveals much about our own ability to focus while giving anecdotes about those who excel in their fields as a result of practicing with intense attention.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Rapt,
This review is from: Rapt.new (Hardcover)
I liked this book as a guide to outline what happens in one's own personal dialogue. Thought patterns addressed objectively by a thoughtful author. The ability to narrow down subjects, to focus, to daydream are all things we live with but seldom seek to understand. I found this valuable in the sense of becoming task oriented when required and validating the seemingly aimlessness of daydreaming. A good read to understand basic drives.
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