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pinklemonade15's review against another edition
challenging
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
5.0
hmclion's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
An essential read covering a vast background of research and opinions relating to our loss of focus as a society.
kahn_johnson's review against another edition
2.0
Once again, Johann Hari takes a good idea, speaks to people who know what they're talking about, and then makes it all about him.
Are our attention levels at an all-time low? Is this a new thing? Can we do anything about it? He has answers to all of these important questions. Eventually.
Why does he feel the need to tell us about the drag bars in the arse-end-of-nowhere town he decides to bugger off to? Why doesn't he see the inherent flaw in trying to combine his iPod Classic with blutooth headphones? Do we really believe that War And Peace was on the top of his 'to read' pile?
The answers to these more burning questions are for the reader to discover.
What I can tell you is that, after you get annoyed by the book pile and the sleazy underbelly of his chosen sleepy town and the headphones thing, skip to the conclusion.
Or – and I can't stress this enough – just read the final chapter and do something more productive with the rest of your time.
Are our attention levels at an all-time low? Is this a new thing? Can we do anything about it? He has answers to all of these important questions. Eventually.
Why does he feel the need to tell us about the drag bars in the arse-end-of-nowhere town he decides to bugger off to? Why doesn't he see the inherent flaw in trying to combine his iPod Classic with blutooth headphones? Do we really believe that War And Peace was on the top of his 'to read' pile?
The answers to these more burning questions are for the reader to discover.
What I can tell you is that, after you get annoyed by the book pile and the sleazy underbelly of his chosen sleepy town and the headphones thing, skip to the conclusion.
Or – and I can't stress this enough – just read the final chapter and do something more productive with the rest of your time.
alkubicek's review against another edition
5.0
As a mental health therapist, Hari's book has convinced me that maybe our "mental health crisis" isn't as bad as we think - we have a tech crisis on our hands.
I really enjoyed this book and thought Hari had a lot of good information on the topic and practical advice to help us on an individual level as well as how to take broader action to work on this as a community. He covers what is a broad and nuanced topic with a lot of care and consideration. For anyone who has noted their attention slipping, this is a powerful resource to help us look at why.
I really enjoyed this book and thought Hari had a lot of good information on the topic and practical advice to help us on an individual level as well as how to take broader action to work on this as a community. He covers what is a broad and nuanced topic with a lot of care and consideration. For anyone who has noted their attention slipping, this is a powerful resource to help us look at why.
quiddity42's review against another edition
3.0
Tl;dr if you are blaming yourself for your lack of focus, don't - it's not you, it's the millions of dollars being spent to get you to keep clicking and surfing and scanning. But still, try to disengage. The information overload is making you dumb and sad.
knitonepurltoo's review against another edition
3.0
The valuable parts of this book are really valuable and important: why it’s worth it to slow down, how our brains are being manipulated by the internet into wasting time online, what we stand to gain by mono tasking. Hari is a smart, interesting writer with a bold claim: can we save the best parts of our lives and ourselves from surveillance capitalism? The rest of the book feels like a distraction (is the cause what we eat, is it pollution, is it ADHD?). Those influences are so broad they deserve discussion on their own, rather than being a chapter in a book that has already decided they’re part of the problem. They might be, but his treatment is not nuanced or detailed enough, particularly when he starts talking about weight gain as a metaphor, as well as how diet and attention relate. That said, parts of this are deeply compelling and concerning. I like Hari and I liked this book. 2.5 stars.