*How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy, Jenny Odell, 2019
Full entry to come… I am about three quarters done, at this point.
While I’ll have a complete (albeit brief) entry by the end of the month, I have to say this was quite a disappointment. I found the book to meander from polemical to anecdotal; nor did it do a good job of staying focused on resisting the ‘Attention Economy.’
I was also bemused by the author’s inclination to delve back into history (quoting Seneca for example), but not — at least not as far as I’ve read — considering that the malaise that she is investigating seems to have been present, at least in the west, for centuries. Perhaps the publisher insisted she tack on the ‘Attention Economy’ bit of the title to up sales; that would explain, at least, why the book appears to meander. To my eye the book is really about mindfulness and focus, and while I actually am in sympathy with many of the ‘lessons,’ I can’t say I learned anything.
[[To be continued]]
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