Stolen Focus

Why You Can't Pay Attention--And How to Think Deeply Again

368 pages

English language

Published Jan. 30, 2022 by Crown Publishing Group, The.

ISBN:
9780593138519

View on OpenLibrary

5 stars (2 reviews)

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 …

4 editions

Really Fantastic, A Must-Read

5 stars

I was expecting Stolen Focus to predominantly focus on digital focus, and the negative impacts big tech companies have on our attention. That’s definitely a good portion of this book, which was incredibly insightful, but there are many more concepts tied to focus I had never considered which were equally amazing to learn about.

Diet, environment, social factors, economy, politics, and more. Stolen Focus ties relations between the focus crisis to the climate crisis, the obesity crisis, the mental health crisis, and much more. These are all interlinked problems which feed on each other in disastrous ways.

This book is not a “how to reclaim your focus” guide, it’s rather a thorough investigation into how and why focus is so important, and what has happened to it. It gives you the context and understanding required to not just fight back personally, but socially.

Writing-wise, I was thoroughly impressed with the …

Review of 'Stolen Focus' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Audiobook. Covers much that I already knew from “the social dilemma” (documentary) and “down the rabbit hole” (NYT podcast).
Powerful first half.
I felt unsure about the second half and reading some reviews here from folk with ADHD I wonder if he simplified too much there.
Enjoyed his voice and pacing, agree with many of his points.
Leaves us with very much of a “what do we do now”? problem though.