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Reviews tagging 'Drug use'
Stolen Focus: Why You Can't Pay Attention—and How to Think Deeply Again by Johann Hari
1 review
jourdanicus's review against another edition
challenging
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
4.5
This book came to me at just the right time. I was in a reading slump and spending a lot of time scrolling social media, and amount of time that made me feel pretty bad. So it's no surprise this book hooked me right away.
Overall, I found it to be a great read, and one that I would say may even be essential. This would be a 5 star read for me except that there were some instances of what I would call fatphobia in some of the analogies. Ultimately I'm not sure the comparison of attention/social media use to weight/diet is a strong one, so I wish that would have been reexamined. I also disagree with the author that highly processed food isn't "real" food. It's food, and it may not be the best choice when it comes to what to eat, but some people don't have much choice if all that is available to them is fast food/lower quality supermarkets due to economic issues.
Other than that, I found this to be a strong book. Maybe a little of the author's bias came through but I can forgive that since the book appeared so well-researched. There was plenty of nuance which I think is something that gets lost a lot in some journalistic or persuasive endeavors. What really won me over were the conclusions that the causes of the issues outlined are attributed to structural problems, and individuals are not to blame. Unfortunately individual blame/shame was not handled as carefully when it came to the examples of weight/diet, so that did damage my regard of the writing slightly.
I would absolutely recommend this book to anyone who uses social media. That is the part of my life that feels most strongly influenced by having read this.
Overall, I found it to be a great read, and one that I would say may even be essential. This would be a 5 star read for me except that there were some instances of what I would call fatphobia in some of the analogies. Ultimately I'm not sure the comparison of attention/social media use to weight/diet is a strong one, so I wish that would have been reexamined. I also disagree with the author that highly processed food isn't "real" food. It's food, and it may not be the best choice when it comes to what to eat, but some people don't have much choice if all that is available to them is fast food/lower quality supermarkets due to economic issues.
Other than that, I found this to be a strong book. Maybe a little of the author's bias came through but I can forgive that since the book appeared so well-researched. There was plenty of nuance which I think is something that gets lost a lot in some journalistic or persuasive endeavors. What really won me over were the conclusions that the causes of the issues outlined are attributed to structural problems, and individuals are not to blame. Unfortunately individual blame/shame was not handled as carefully when it came to the examples of weight/diet, so that did damage my regard of the writing slightly.
I would absolutely recommend this book to anyone who uses social media. That is the part of my life that feels most strongly influenced by having read this.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Fatphobia
Minor: Addiction, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, and Pandemic/Epidemic
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