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The Art of Living (Routledge)
Distraction: A Philosopher's Guide to Being Free
We all know what it is to be distracted—a feeling that our attention is not quite where it should be.
Though it is not a new complaint, at work and at home, in our social lives and in the bedroom, our attention is often torn between one thing and another. What does it mean to be distracted, and why? In this insightful journey through the lives of philosophers, artists and great political thinkers, Damon Young shows how rewarding patient, sensitive and thoughtful attention to the world can be. He suggests that the opposite of a life of distraction is one of genuine freedom.
Though it is not a new complaint, at work and at home, in our social lives and in the bedroom, our attention is often torn between one thing and another. What does it mean to be distracted, and why? In this insightful journey through the lives of philosophers, artists and great political thinkers, Damon Young shows how rewarding patient, sensitive and thoughtful attention to the world can be. He suggests that the opposite of a life of distraction is one of genuine freedom.
248 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2008
9 people are currently reading
265 people want to read
About the author
Damon Young
18 books83 followersI'm a philosopher and writer. I'm the author of several popular nonfiction books, published in Australia and overseas in English and translation into twelve languages.
My books include Distraction (2008), Philosophy in the Garden (2013), How to Think About Exercise (2014), The Art of Reading (2016), and On Getting Off: Philosophy and Sex (2020). I've written for outlets including The Age, The Australian, The Guardian, the ABC and BBC, and I'm a regular radio guest.
I have also published poetry, short fiction and six children’s picture books: My Nanna is a Ninja (2014), My Pop is a Pirate (2015), My Sister is a Superhero (2016), My Brother is a Beast (2017), My Mum is a Magician (2018), My Dad is a Dragon (2019).
You can also find me on Twitter and Instagram as @damonayoung.
My books include Distraction (2008), Philosophy in the Garden (2013), How to Think About Exercise (2014), The Art of Reading (2016), and On Getting Off: Philosophy and Sex (2020). I've written for outlets including The Age, The Australian, The Guardian, the ABC and BBC, and I'm a regular radio guest.
I have also published poetry, short fiction and six children’s picture books: My Nanna is a Ninja (2014), My Pop is a Pirate (2015), My Sister is a Superhero (2016), My Brother is a Beast (2017), My Mum is a Magician (2018), My Dad is a Dragon (2019).
You can also find me on Twitter and Instagram as @damonayoung.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
February 3, 2015
This book is a lot deeper than its title suggests. It is insightful, witty and inspiring. Read it. Here's the appetizer
"To be human is to be finite. Because of this, the good life warrants an ongoing struggle to be clear about what’s important, and to seek it with lucidity and passion; not be distracted by false ambitions or waylaid by dissipated consciousness.
Distraction is ultimately a question of value. ‘Value’ comes from the Latin valere, meaning ‘be strong’, or ‘be worthy’, ‘be valiant’. To obtain what’s valuable is to acquire power, in the finest sense of the word: capacity, capability, energy and enthusiasm. What’s valuable is what gives us the potency to cultivate the best life we can within the circumstances we’ve inherited or created. It enables independence, freedom from coercion and a check against self-deception and delusion. What’s valuable is what enhances our liberty.
To be diverted isn’t simply to have too many stimuli but to be confused about what to attend to and why. Distraction is the very opposite of emancipation: failing to see what is worthwhile in life and lacking the wherewithal to seek it.
As Heidegger suggested, we often spend our daily lives avoiding existential responsibility: speaking in clichés and entertaining ourselves with ‘idle talk’. We frequently defer to this anonymous ‘they’ instead of living our own lives. Distractions are often our way to elude the existential burden: deciding what we are and what to be.
We often seek distraction. One reason for this urge is Heidegger’s ‘fallenness’: the preoccupation affords a reprieve from the anxieties of life, which confront us in moments of repose. “We are afraid that when we are alone and quiet’, wrote Nietzsche, ‘something will be whispered into our ear’. This something is our own conscience and awareness; the lingering, nagging realisation that there are realities to be confronted, choices to be made; the knowledge that opportunities are diminishing with our days. The compulsion to seek respite is as ancient as humanity itself, and it stems from our understandable unwillingness to look our own lives squarely in the face.
‘How we labour at our daily work more ardently and thoughtlessly than is necessary to sustain our life’ wrote Nietzsche in his Untimely Meditations, ‘because it is even more necessary not to have leisure to stop and think. Haste is universal because everyone is in flight from himself’. If we lament the speed and fracturing of life, we can also welcome these as a refuge from the burden of the self; from the responsibility to live. In this state, it’s difficult to identify what’s valuable, and almost impossible to seek it with lucidity and determination. The result is diminished opportunity for liberty.
For many of us, the site of the most frustrating diversions and interruptions is work. The result can be an inability to properly perceive, think and imagine; a dissolution of consciousness, which affects health, peace of mind and close relationships.
Automated technologies have afforded a great many time savings, but they also create an atmosphere of urgency and immediate outputs, instead of patient, engaged attention. They transform the workplace into a site for the harried production of tomorrow’s profit, rather than for today’s professional competency and completion. The pleasure of challenging work for its own sake is deferred and rarely achieved.
We have to work, often for bosses and businesses we don’t hold in high esteem, … we have mouths and mortgages to feed. What this calls for is not desperation or recrimination but judicious compromise – we need to make the best of the limitation the world provides. Sometimes this means working in jobs that are menial or uncreative, but making the best use of our free time as something genuinely free.
With sufficient presence of mind, we can use work as it uses us. While it takes our hours and energies, it also serves as a redemption for many of our idiosyncrasies and proclivities. Even if we’re drawn to work because of loneliness, guilt or a longing for respect, it can provide a site for the commitment of the unruly psyche to something constructive. It’s a crucible in which our passions are transformed into tangible rewards. Work is not a distraction from our finest aspirations but a way of strengthening and deepening our capacity to achieve them.
We are free when we are authoritatively being ourselves and not deferring to the demands or expectations of someone else. Liberty requires a robust and self-sufficient character. We can’t be free until we’ve cultivated an ‘I’ that can resist the demands of others, one that has its own modus operandi. (To Spinoza,) liberty wasn’t something that other individuals or institutions could provide-it was up to the wise man, and him alone to properly cultivate himself. His ideal of freedom was a life without distraction.
In Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Nietzsche wrote of the ‘three metamorphoses of the spirit’. The spirit becomes a camel, the camel a lion and the lion a child. In the modern workplace, these three metamorphoses remain a challenge for us all: the endure busywork and its distractions, to fiercely say No to subjugation, and to claim the leisurely freedom of the child.
Henry James’ solitary impulse was perfectly, consolingly human. And his struggles against indifference or flight involved the very same stakes we confront today: the achievement of a tangible, worldly freedom, through enduring sympathetic attention to others.
A distracted mind is a clumsy, fumbling guide. The disappointment this breeds can compel us to flee more zealously, to seek asylum in false consolation, delusion or ubiquitous noise. The opposite of distraction is a life of liberty – one spent not in seeking refuge from ourselves and the world but in sincerely taking up the challenge of existence; of ‘being’ something rather than anything. This endeavour requires an honest, sometimes courageous recognition of what is life-affirming or inspiring, and the vigilance to safeguard this vision from corruption or misunderstanding. An undistracted life requires gratitude, not to a patron or a saviour but for the simple fact of existence itself. If we cannot choose our birth, or vault the impermeable barriers of place and time, we can still warm to the existential endeavour; we can smile at the opportunity to live, instead of flinching or closing our eyes. Of course this will entail pain and loss, sacrifice and compromise. And there will be time for games and idleness. But at its most profound, this is a simple primal “Yes” to the attempt, the aspiration, the lurch towards freedom. To seek emancipation from distraction is to accept this ambivalent liberty – an unspoken, unrepentant “Thank you” for the adventure of being."
"To be human is to be finite. Because of this, the good life warrants an ongoing struggle to be clear about what’s important, and to seek it with lucidity and passion; not be distracted by false ambitions or waylaid by dissipated consciousness.
Distraction is ultimately a question of value. ‘Value’ comes from the Latin valere, meaning ‘be strong’, or ‘be worthy’, ‘be valiant’. To obtain what’s valuable is to acquire power, in the finest sense of the word: capacity, capability, energy and enthusiasm. What’s valuable is what gives us the potency to cultivate the best life we can within the circumstances we’ve inherited or created. It enables independence, freedom from coercion and a check against self-deception and delusion. What’s valuable is what enhances our liberty.
To be diverted isn’t simply to have too many stimuli but to be confused about what to attend to and why. Distraction is the very opposite of emancipation: failing to see what is worthwhile in life and lacking the wherewithal to seek it.
As Heidegger suggested, we often spend our daily lives avoiding existential responsibility: speaking in clichés and entertaining ourselves with ‘idle talk’. We frequently defer to this anonymous ‘they’ instead of living our own lives. Distractions are often our way to elude the existential burden: deciding what we are and what to be.
We often seek distraction. One reason for this urge is Heidegger’s ‘fallenness’: the preoccupation affords a reprieve from the anxieties of life, which confront us in moments of repose. “We are afraid that when we are alone and quiet’, wrote Nietzsche, ‘something will be whispered into our ear’. This something is our own conscience and awareness; the lingering, nagging realisation that there are realities to be confronted, choices to be made; the knowledge that opportunities are diminishing with our days. The compulsion to seek respite is as ancient as humanity itself, and it stems from our understandable unwillingness to look our own lives squarely in the face.
‘How we labour at our daily work more ardently and thoughtlessly than is necessary to sustain our life’ wrote Nietzsche in his Untimely Meditations, ‘because it is even more necessary not to have leisure to stop and think. Haste is universal because everyone is in flight from himself’. If we lament the speed and fracturing of life, we can also welcome these as a refuge from the burden of the self; from the responsibility to live. In this state, it’s difficult to identify what’s valuable, and almost impossible to seek it with lucidity and determination. The result is diminished opportunity for liberty.
For many of us, the site of the most frustrating diversions and interruptions is work. The result can be an inability to properly perceive, think and imagine; a dissolution of consciousness, which affects health, peace of mind and close relationships.
Automated technologies have afforded a great many time savings, but they also create an atmosphere of urgency and immediate outputs, instead of patient, engaged attention. They transform the workplace into a site for the harried production of tomorrow’s profit, rather than for today’s professional competency and completion. The pleasure of challenging work for its own sake is deferred and rarely achieved.
We have to work, often for bosses and businesses we don’t hold in high esteem, … we have mouths and mortgages to feed. What this calls for is not desperation or recrimination but judicious compromise – we need to make the best of the limitation the world provides. Sometimes this means working in jobs that are menial or uncreative, but making the best use of our free time as something genuinely free.
With sufficient presence of mind, we can use work as it uses us. While it takes our hours and energies, it also serves as a redemption for many of our idiosyncrasies and proclivities. Even if we’re drawn to work because of loneliness, guilt or a longing for respect, it can provide a site for the commitment of the unruly psyche to something constructive. It’s a crucible in which our passions are transformed into tangible rewards. Work is not a distraction from our finest aspirations but a way of strengthening and deepening our capacity to achieve them.
We are free when we are authoritatively being ourselves and not deferring to the demands or expectations of someone else. Liberty requires a robust and self-sufficient character. We can’t be free until we’ve cultivated an ‘I’ that can resist the demands of others, one that has its own modus operandi. (To Spinoza,) liberty wasn’t something that other individuals or institutions could provide-it was up to the wise man, and him alone to properly cultivate himself. His ideal of freedom was a life without distraction.
In Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Nietzsche wrote of the ‘three metamorphoses of the spirit’. The spirit becomes a camel, the camel a lion and the lion a child. In the modern workplace, these three metamorphoses remain a challenge for us all: the endure busywork and its distractions, to fiercely say No to subjugation, and to claim the leisurely freedom of the child.
Henry James’ solitary impulse was perfectly, consolingly human. And his struggles against indifference or flight involved the very same stakes we confront today: the achievement of a tangible, worldly freedom, through enduring sympathetic attention to others.
A distracted mind is a clumsy, fumbling guide. The disappointment this breeds can compel us to flee more zealously, to seek asylum in false consolation, delusion or ubiquitous noise. The opposite of distraction is a life of liberty – one spent not in seeking refuge from ourselves and the world but in sincerely taking up the challenge of existence; of ‘being’ something rather than anything. This endeavour requires an honest, sometimes courageous recognition of what is life-affirming or inspiring, and the vigilance to safeguard this vision from corruption or misunderstanding. An undistracted life requires gratitude, not to a patron or a saviour but for the simple fact of existence itself. If we cannot choose our birth, or vault the impermeable barriers of place and time, we can still warm to the existential endeavour; we can smile at the opportunity to live, instead of flinching or closing our eyes. Of course this will entail pain and loss, sacrifice and compromise. And there will be time for games and idleness. But at its most profound, this is a simple primal “Yes” to the attempt, the aspiration, the lurch towards freedom. To seek emancipation from distraction is to accept this ambivalent liberty – an unspoken, unrepentant “Thank you” for the adventure of being."
February 13, 2009
I was intrigued by the title of this book and I agree that we all live at the age of distraction. Our multitasking, that so much praised at work and at home, so often is a simple lack of concentration and inability to follow one task to the end. But this book turned too ambitious for me to follow. The author uses examples from lives of famous philosophers, politicians and leaders, such as Karl Marx, Spinoza, Pluto, Socratics, and Heidegger. It was very difficult to keep together all their ideas and to understand their philosophies. I liked the part about the distractions at the age of the Internet, mobile phones and social networks. There is an officially recognised addiction to mobile phones. The constant use of Internet, e -mail and mobiles can lower our IQ. The author believes that we, as a culture lacking the presence of mind, self-awareness and therefore are not free. A lot of information for a short book.
June 20, 2017
Dit boek lijdt een beetje aan waar wel meer filosofieboeken aan lijden: veel woorden voor redelijk recht door zee inzichten. Het biedt vooral een overzicht over wat andere denkers dachten over werk, kunst en dergelijke in relatie tot zelfverwerkelijking. Hoofdboodschap: laat je niet afleiden van het pad naar zelfverwerkelijking; door gewoontes, sociale conventies, moderne technologie etc... duhhh
February 21, 2021
In reading through Distraction I have found confirmation that it is a "guide to being free" as stated in the subtitle of the book, but it is also an exploration of the nature of man in his search to explain the world around him. The discussion of distraction, what it is and what it means, leads in interesting and unexpected directions. The nature of and importance of freedom for individuals is explored through discussions of a wide variety of thinkers. These include philosophers from Aristotle to Marcuse, and literary artists including Henry James and Robert Musil. Some of my favorite thinkers are here, like Aristotle and William James, but also those with whom I disagree, like Nietzsche, Marx and Marcuse. Present as well are writers and artists with whose works I have little familiarity like Heidegger, Matisse and Foucault. I look forward to exploring some of their works.
That list of thinkers mentioned above suggests another aspect of Distraction, one which I find appealing, as a jumping off point for further discovery and expansion of knowledge. The final section of the book, a sort of annotated bibliography, called "Balancing the Books", is helpful in this regard. I appreciate authors who share their ideas for further reading with the reader. These brief comments only begin to touch on the wealth of ideas in Distraction, and I may make future comments based on the thoughts that it will have prompted in my reading and thinking. I only know that my search is spurred by reading Distraction as it raises more questions for me than it answers, and that is a very good thing.
That list of thinkers mentioned above suggests another aspect of Distraction, one which I find appealing, as a jumping off point for further discovery and expansion of knowledge. The final section of the book, a sort of annotated bibliography, called "Balancing the Books", is helpful in this regard. I appreciate authors who share their ideas for further reading with the reader. These brief comments only begin to touch on the wealth of ideas in Distraction, and I may make future comments based on the thoughts that it will have prompted in my reading and thinking. I only know that my search is spurred by reading Distraction as it raises more questions for me than it answers, and that is a very good thing.
January 13, 2018
The book does not talk so much about how to get rid of distractions. Instead, it speaks about what distractions are and different ways to handle them. Instead of using his own experiences, Young uses stories and events from historical figures who had a lot going on in their minds.
This book explores distractions in a psychological depth. I recommend this book to those who would like to assess their minds and compare themselves to people in the past.
This book explores distractions in a psychological depth. I recommend this book to those who would like to assess their minds and compare themselves to people in the past.
June 13, 2021
'Distraction' is definitely not the only topic of this accessible book on philosophy and art. In fact, the author is sequentually distracted in a delightful meander from theme to theme, philosopher to author. I learnt a lot, but loved the last chapter the most: a 'what to read next' for every chapter. Perfect entry-level book for those who wish to know a little bit more about great thinkers and artists such as Seneca, Matisse, William and Henry James,Nietzsche, T.S. Eliot, Spinoza and many more.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 1, 2019
A nice distraction from the daily sorrows of life. Damon's insights with the help of different philosophers are not his own but he manages to extract core messages that are woven together using "distraction" as a main theme. Some chapters dit not hit with me but most did: they somehow manage to whisper things I've been struggling with myself. Something to read again now and then.
July 25, 2022
Damon Young schrijft voor een filosoof best goed. Alleen herhaalt hij vooral de ideeën van anderen en vertelt hij weinig nieuws. Prima hoor, want ik kreeg wel het idee dat ik Heidegger wat beter begreep. Alleen daarom al de moeite waard.
May 18, 2023
The best of the art of living books
May 29, 2023
2 stars for “(not all vibrating toys are good for the bedroom)”
February 29, 2024
one of those books that makes me think philosophy for the general reader is an oxymoron.
May 23, 2023
Best one we read! Our man said "I'm gonna actually write a book about freedom and no body can stop me. And then he came at Plato for dumb reasons. And the ratio of content to words was frustratingly low. But still the best one we read!
April 1, 2014
In this book, Damon Young explores various philosophers - their life and their ideas - in relation to freedom. I was attracted to this book by the title - Distraction. The author suggests that an undistracted life is one of liberty and gratitude, and this is explained throughout the book.
I like this book because the author weaves interesting details of various philosophers and their life together with their philosophy. In my opinion, it gives the reader a richer understanding behind their philosophy. This makes the book interesting - and I have to stress that this is an important point for me, as I find myself disinterested after some time reading "philosophical" books.
It's an inspiring book and definitely a thought-provoking one that I highly recommend to anyone thinking about distraction and what it means for our life. I did not give it a full five star review because in my opinion, I feel that certain point of view seems irrelevant to the topic and just barely makes sense to the whole of the book but I guess this is a subjective point of view and a philosophical one.
I like this book because the author weaves interesting details of various philosophers and their life together with their philosophy. In my opinion, it gives the reader a richer understanding behind their philosophy. This makes the book interesting - and I have to stress that this is an important point for me, as I find myself disinterested after some time reading "philosophical" books.
It's an inspiring book and definitely a thought-provoking one that I highly recommend to anyone thinking about distraction and what it means for our life. I did not give it a full five star review because in my opinion, I feel that certain point of view seems irrelevant to the topic and just barely makes sense to the whole of the book but I guess this is a subjective point of view and a philosophical one.
May 18, 2012
This book doesn't really work.
The author is an academic who knows his subject and has tried to emulate Alain de Botton and shown inadvertently what makes de Botton's books work.
It's a mish mash of a little bit of self-help and neuroscience mixed up with a plethora of overviews of various philosophers and the odd pleasant story of the author's travels in Greece.
What makes de Botton's work is their simplicity, distillation and concentration. Young doesn't achieve that.
However, the author should most definitely keep writing. His next book, or the one after that, could well be brilliant.
The author is an academic who knows his subject and has tried to emulate Alain de Botton and shown inadvertently what makes de Botton's books work.
It's a mish mash of a little bit of self-help and neuroscience mixed up with a plethora of overviews of various philosophers and the odd pleasant story of the author's travels in Greece.
What makes de Botton's work is their simplicity, distillation and concentration. Young doesn't achieve that.
However, the author should most definitely keep writing. His next book, or the one after that, could well be brilliant.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 16, 2014
While the idea of the book is very inspiring about the distraction in our day to day life, I found the going in the life of old philosophers and writers and went into details that got me a bit lost. I haven't read in philosophy before and I found the language of the book a bit hard because English is not my mother tongue.
The book shows a very knowledgeable writer who knows about history, literature, art and philosophy of course. It was an interesting read (however, I skipped few pages).
The index at the end of the book where the writer speaks about places to read more about each chapter is a new and nice idea to me.
The book shows a very knowledgeable writer who knows about history, literature, art and philosophy of course. It was an interesting read (however, I skipped few pages).
The index at the end of the book where the writer speaks about places to read more about each chapter is a new and nice idea to me.
February 18, 2012
This book did excellent work in motivating me to 'seize the day' and do something creative. My favourite part was probably the appendix going through all the books read by the author that informed/inspired the rest of it - I am tempted to write a similar appendix of my own (sans book) with lots of writers I've made up.
Alas, I feel the author is too embedded in a rather shallow culture to truly guide us to freedom. But that is probably just me. Everyone should hold at least one wildly unpopular opinion and I couldn't find any in this book.
But I will probably read it again.
Alas, I feel the author is too embedded in a rather shallow culture to truly guide us to freedom. But that is probably just me. Everyone should hold at least one wildly unpopular opinion and I couldn't find any in this book.
But I will probably read it again.
November 12, 2012
This is more than the main title suggests. It's really a gorgeously written little meander into what you can learn from philosophy for living a good a life. It's like an intelligent person's self help book - or self reflection book. I will return to it for sure. Thoroughly enjoyed it and learnt a lot too.
P.S. The section on Marx is not bad but a little simplistic for a Marxist to read. But I'll forgive that.
P.S. The section on Marx is not bad but a little simplistic for a Marxist to read. But I'll forgive that.
December 31, 2012
Very well-written. Seamlessly weaves lives of eminent people and philosophers together.
April 7, 2013
a joy to read, a nice distraction, and more
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews