Stolen Focus: Why You Can't Pay Attention

Description

THE SUNDAY TIMES AND NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A SPECTATOR AND FINANCIAL TIMES BEST BOOK OF 2022 'If you read just one book about how the modern world is driving us crazy, read this one' TELEGRAPH 'This book is exactly what the world needs right now' OPRAH WINFREY 'A beautifully researched and argued exploration of the breakdown of humankind's ability to pay attention' STEPHEN FRY 'A really important book . . . Everyone should read it' PHILIPPA PERRY Why have we lost our ability to focus? What are the causes? And, most importantly, how do we get it back? For Stolen Focus, internationally bestselling author Johann Hari went on a three-year journey to uncover the reasons behind our shortening attention spans. He interviewed the leading experts in the world on attention, and learned that everything we think about this subject is wrong. We think our inability to focus is a personal failing - a flaw in each one of us. It is not. This has been done to all of us by powerful external forces. Our focus has been stolen. Johann discovered there are twelve deep causes of this crisis, all of which have robbed some of our attention. He shows us how in a thrilling journey that ranges from Silicon Valley dissidents, to a favela in Rio where attention vanished, to an office in New Zealand that found a remarkable way to restore our attention. Crucially, he learned how - as individuals, and as a society - we can get our focus back, if we are determined to fight for it.

Johann Hari is a writer and journalist. He has written for the New York Times, Le Monde, the Guardian and other newspapers. His TED talks have been viewed over 70 million times, and his work has been praised by a broad range of people, from Oprah to Noam Chomsky to Joe Rogan. He lives in London. @johannhari101

A brilliant book about one of the most important topics of our time -- Dr Rangan Chatterjee This mind-blowing book explains everything. Read it and be free -- Simon Amstell There's so much in this book . . . Unbelievable, juicy dynamite that you have to read -- Chris Evans I think this book is exactly what the world needs right now . . . I hope everybody buys the book. I promise you it will be worth your time and certainly worth your focus -- Oprah Winfrey Johann Hari writes like a dream. He's both lyricist and storyteller - but also an indefatigable investigator of one of the world's greatest problems: the systematic destruction of our attention. Read this book to save your mind -- Susan Cain I don't know anyone thinking more deeply, or more holistically, about the crisis of our collective attention than Johann Hari. And this is a crisis that we must address if we are to meet any of the other pressing emergencies we face as a species, whether ecological or social. Which means that this book could not be more vital. Please sit with it, and focus -- Naomi Klein A story that so many of us have felt needs to be told, but whose cause and consequences are hard to capture and articulate without guesswork, prejudice or ideology. Hari not only achieves this and more, but he does so it with the pace, sparkle and energy of the best kind of thriller writer. I can't remember reading a book which made me shout out "yes! That's it!" quite so many times -- Stephen Fry A highly original and wide-ranging investigation into the causes of our epidemic of flagging attention. Written with Hari's trademark incisive prose, indefatigable search for scientific evidence vividly presented, and illustrated with telling anecdotes, Stolen Focus is a bracing and necessary wake-up call to us all -- Gabor Mate M.D. A fascinating journey into the mind and how it is being manipulated with devastating effects. Hari's subject is something that is affecting us all and this seminal work will be one of the defining books of our era . . . Get off social media, switch off the TV, put down your smart phone and do one thing - read this book' -- Dr Max Pemberton Stop whatever you're doing and read this book. A deeply researched, disturbing, and yet ultimately hopeful exploration of the primal crisis of our time: our diminishing ability to focus on what really matters -- Rutger Bregman, author of HUMANKIND If you want to get your attention and focus back, you need to read this remarkable book . . . [Hari] has cracked the code of why we're in this crisis, and how to get out of it. We all need to hear this message -- Arianna Huffington, Founder & CEO, Thrive Global An unbelievable storyteller . . . It might just change your life -- Steven Bartlett Thanks to this brilliant book, I have got to know myself and my fellow humans better. It educates and entertains you - the stories will suck any reader in, and then slowly change your mind. Everyone should read it. It has changed my habits - way beyond just putting away my phone more. Stolen Focus is a really important book -- Philippa Perry In his unique voice, Johann Hari tackles the profound dangers facing humanity from information technology and rings the alarm bell for what all of us must do to protect ourselves, our children and our democracies -- Hillary Clinton, former US Secretary of State An entirely necessary book, a miracle of clarity and depth, a resonant, deeply researched warning followed by a truly inspiring clarion-call to action. Read it and weep, then dry your eyes and join in -- Emma Thompson A visionary, systemic, revolutionary and practical guide for creating the new world. Through tireless research and genius insight Johann Hari certainly snapped me to attention. A life changing book -- V, author of THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES Provided a staggering insight into the misery occasioned by our addiction to the idiocies of the web. If you have kids please read it * Spectator * This is a book for those of us (all of us?), who feel we are spending too much time staring at our phones - and are losing the capacity to concentrate * Financial Times *