false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255797869m/6262510.jpg 6262510 7 <B>Winifred Gallagher revolutionizes our understanding of attention and the creation of the interested life</B><BR><BR> In <I>Rapt</I>, 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.<BR><BR> 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 <I>Rapt</I>, 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—<I>Rapt</I> yields fresh insights into the nature of reality and what it means to be fully alive. 6445747 16 4 2009 Rapt: Attention and the Focused Life total:117|5:21|4:34|3:42|2:15|1:5| 117 402 431 49 4 1 false false Mon Oct 12 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Oct 12 14:51:32 -0700 2009 Mon Oct 12 14:51:32 -0700 2009 Rapt: Attention and the Focused Life readily merits its readers’ sustained attention. Gallagher persuasively shows how whatever we focus on is—quite literally—how we spend our lives. Our attention, in other words, is like currency. So the ways we choose to spend it deter...more...]]> 2 0 false false Fri Sep 25 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Oct 11 19:13:18 -0700 2009 Sun Oct 11 19:23:22 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Mon Jul 13 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Jul 13 03:52:07 -0700 2009 Mon Jul 13 03:52:07 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 2 false false Mon May 25 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue May 26 07:16:29 -0700 2009 Tue May 26 07:17:46 -0700 2009 Rapt provides a survey of a wide breadth of research on attention, yet manages to obfuscate more than it reveals. In one chapter, attention and conscious experience are synonymous; in another, implicit learning is the apogee of well-directed attention. The author broaches claims with no substantiv...more...]]> 0 0 false false Sat May 09 09:17:54 -0700 2009 Sat May 09 09:20:29 -0700 2009 from a blog i follow:

"'Rapt’ Gains Attention from NYT

Are library buyers multitasking too much to keep track of Winifred Gallagher’s new book, Rapt: Attention and the Focused Life? It’s jumped to #26 on Amazon.com after a New York Times “Scienceâ...more...]]> 5 1 false false Tue May 26 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Jun 14 22:21:59 -0700 2009 Sun Jun 14 22:32:24 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Mon Jun 01 07:23:57 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 01 08:09:34 -0700 2009 Gallagher's fascinating book, which analyzes the latest research in psychology and neuroscience, easily translates difficult concepts into layman's terms. She includes contemporary and historical examples of men and women, including Mozart and Tiger Woods, whose ability to concentrate led to their s...

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Winifred Gallagher was a mother of two young girls when she was diagnosed with a cancer that had a great chance of ending her life. Understandably, her mind was full of dread and terror that she would leave her girls motherless. Since she might be livin...more...]]> 2 0 false false Wed Jul 29 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Jul 24 15:20:05 -0700 2009 Sun Aug 09 11:09:51 -0700 2009 In Rapt: Attention and the Focused Life the author, Winifred Gallagher, does an excellent job of covering the relevant neurological and psychological knowledge of how attention works. But I was hoping for more "attention" to the "Focused Life" part of the book's subtitle. Still...

more...]]> 5 1 false false Wed Jun 24 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Jun 09 10:44:45 -0700 2009 Wed Jun 24 13:20:21 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Wed May 20 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Apr 29 08:53:56 -0700 2009 Wed May 27 22:51:39 -0700 2009 Rapt, I came to the book prehooked. I've never been much of an ace at focus – I was a poor student all the way through college, when I not so much snapped suddenly to attention as graduated to a curriculum based more on a few large tests than endless worksheets to be tur...more...]]> 3 0 false false Sun Aug 02 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Aug 04 05:45:53 -0700 2009 Tue Aug 04 05:52:52 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Wed Aug 19 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon May 11 12:12:13 -0700 2009 Wed Aug 19 17:00:26 -0700 2009
"The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another." (quote from ...more...]]> 3 0 false false Thu Oct 29 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Oct 24 23:09:19 -0700 2009 Thu Oct 29 13:40:40 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Jul 11 12:30:51 -0700 2009 Sat Jul 11 12:38:56 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu Jun 25 17:20:44 -0700 2009 Thu Jun 25 17:31:56 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Jun 06 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Jun 07 18:56:25 -0700 2009 Sun Jun 07 18:59:36 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sat Aug 22 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Aug 19 15:45:17 -0700 2009 Sat Aug 22 10:54:05 -0700 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=6262510