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Rapt: Attention and the Focused Life Kindle Edition
Acclaimed behavioral science writer Winifred Gallagher's Rapt makes the radical argument that much of the quality of your life depends not on fame or fortune, beauty or brains, fate or coincidence, but on what you choose to pay attention to. Rapt introduces a diverse cast of characters, from researchers to artists to ranchers, to illustrate the art of living the interested life. As their stories show, by focusing on the most positive and productive elements of any situation, you can shape your inner experience and expand your world. By learning to focus, you can improve your concentration, broaden your inner horizons, and most important, feel what it means to be fully alive.
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherPenguin Books
- Publication dateMarch 9, 2009
- File size564 KB
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Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
Amazon Exclusive: Winifred Gallagher on Rapt
A wise research psychiatrist once told me that he had identified life's greatest problem: How to balance self and others, or your need for independence with your need for relationship? Since writing Rapt, I've come to believe that we now face a fundamental psychological challenge of a different sort: How to balance your need to know—for the first time in history, fed by a bottomless spring of electronic information, from e-mail to Wikipedia--with your need to be? To think your thoughts, enjoy your companions, and do your work (to say nothing of staring into a fire or gazing dreamily at the sky) without interruption from beeps, vibrations, and flashing lights? Or perhaps worse, from the nagging sense that when you're off the grid, you're somehow missing out?
Science's new understanding of attention can help shape your answers to this question, which pops up all day long in various forms. When you sit at your computer, will you focus on writing that report or aimless web browsing? At the meeting, will you attend to the speaker or to your BlackBerry? Research suggests that your choices are more consequential than you may suspect. When you zero in on a sight or sound, thought or feeling, your brain spotlights and depicts that "target," which then becomes part of the subjective mental construct that you nonetheless confidently call "reality" or "the world." In contrast, things that you ignore don't, at least with anything like the same clarity. As William James succinctly puts it, "My experience is what I agree to attend to."
The realization that your life—indeed, yourself--largely consists of the physical objects and mental subjects that you've focused on, from e-bay bargains to world peace, becomes even more sobering when you consider that, as the expression "pay attention" suggests, like your money, your concentration is a finite resource. How can you get the highest experiential return for this cognitive capital? By focusing on some screen or on playing your guitar? On IM-ing your old friend or joining her for a walk?
Considering the Internet's countless temptations and distractions, deciding how best to invest your time and attention when you're online is particularly challenging. Left to its own devices, your involuntary, "bottom-up" attention system asks, "What's the most obvious, compelling thing to zero in on here? That e-mail prompt? This colorful ad?" Fortunately, evolution has also equipped you with a voluntary, "top-down" attention system that poses a different question: "What do you want to focus on right now? Ordering that new novel, then checking the weather report, then getting back to work, right?" Sometimes, it's fun to just wander around online, allowing your mind to be captured by random, bottom-up distractions. In general, however, it's far more productive to focus on top-down targets you've selected to create the kind of experience you want to invite.
Along with making clear choices about what things merit your precious attention online, there are some other simple ways to protect the quality of your daily life from technological interference. Remember that your electronics are your servants, not your masters, and don't let them choose your focus for you. Abandon vain attempts to "multitask," because when you try to attend to two things at once—phoning while checking e-mail—you're simply switching rapidly between them, which takes longer and generates more errors. When you need to concentrate on an important activity, try to work for 90 minutes without interruptions, because rebooting your brain can take up to 20 minutes.
Most important, as you go about the day, bear in mind that by taking charge of your attention, you improve your experience, increase your concentration, and lift your spirits. Best of all, enjoying the rapt state of being completely absorbed, whether by a website or a sunset, a project or a person, simply makes life worth living. We cannot always be happy, but we can almost always be focused, which is as close as we can get.
From Publishers Weekly
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Bookmarks Magazine
Copyright 2009 Bookmarks Publishing LLC
From Booklist
Review
aSonja Lyubomirsky, author of "The How of Happiness"
"Many will benefit from this thoughtful book. Among other 21st century challenges, the increasing velocity of communication threatens to drive us into a permanent sea- storm of distraction. Thank you, Winifred Gallagher, for bringing our attention back to the essential matter of attention."
aDavid Shenk, author, "Data Smog" and "The Forgetting"
aThis wonderful and inspiring book asks readers to remember something so simple and yet so little appreciatedawhat you focus upon profoundly affects your quality of life. I canat think anyone who wouldnat benefit from the message contained herein. Itas a powerful and much needed prescription for these tumultuous times.a
aSarah Susanka, author of "The Not So Big Life" and "The Not So Big House series"
Review
Sonja Lyubomirsky, author of The How of Happiness
"Many will benefit from this thoughtful book. Among other 21st century challenges, the increasing velocity of communication threatens to drive us into a permanent sea- storm of distraction. Thank you, Winifred Gallagher, for bringing our attention back to the essential matter of attention."
David Shenk, author, Data Smog and The Forgetting
This wonderful and inspiring book asks readers to remember something so simple and yet so little appreciated what you focus upon profoundly affects your quality of life. I can t think anyone who wouldn t benefit from the message contained herein. It s a powerful and much needed prescription for these tumultuous times.
Sarah Susanka, author of The Not So Big Life and The Not So Big House series
About the Author
From The Washington Post
Don't check your e-mail; stop Twittering, browsing, Facebooking, eating, drinking, listening to music and watching the children. Take seriously, if just for a few minutes, what Winifred Gallagher describes as the grand unifying theory of psychology: Your life is the sum of what you focus on. Then consider the main implication of this theory: The skillful management of attention is the key to happiness and fulfillment. Live the focused life.
Gallagher devotes much of this engaging book to reviewing the psychology and neuroscience of attention. A journalist and the author of several books about human psychology, including "House Thinking" (2006) and "The Power of Place" (1993), Gallagher blends the science nicely with examples of people whose disciplined attention has contributed to their success: Tiger Woods is extremely focused on golf; Mozart really grooved on music; and when Bill Clinton felt our pain, he did so with all his heart.
For the rest of us, the connections between attention and the good life are more complex. Happy people have the adaptive trait of focusing on the bright side of life; the depressed do not. These traits emerge early. Gallagher summarizes some elegant research from scientists at the University of Oregon showing that children differ in their capacity to control their attention: Those who are blessed with a tight grip of their mental flashlight find it easier to concentrate on the positive emotions and pull away from anger, fear and frustration. But even if your child lacks these gifts, it's not hopeless -- certain exercises can improve the focusing power of 4-, 5- and 6-year-olds, and Gallagher makes a convincing case that adults also benefit from techniques that discipline our attention, such as cognitive theory and mindfulness meditation.
Such methods might be necessary to combat the pull of technological innovations, many of which sap our capacity for sustained focus. Gallagher notes that young people in America spend over six hours a day tethered to the electronic world, many of them engaged with more than one medium at a time. Spending an hour doing just one thing -- such as reading a book or practicing a musical instrument -- may soon be the equivalent of wearing spats. This would probably be a bad thing. As Gallagher puts it, if you grow up processing information at a superficial level, "when you're finally forced to confront intellectually demanding situations in high school or college, you may find that you've traded depth of knowledge for breadth and stunted your capacity for serious thought."
Like many proponents of unified theories, though, Gallagher tries to do too much. Just about every aspect of human life can be described in the language of attention. Do you give money to charity? You are "attending to the pursuit of virtue." Are you religious? You are "directing your attention to a deeper reality." To conclude, as Gallagher does, that attention is at the root of all good things is to muddle cause and effect. I can focus on golf with powerfully rapt attention for every waking minute; it won't turn me into Tiger Woods.
Also, your life is actually more than the sum of all that you attend to. We can be affected -- or as psychologists say, primed -- by factors that we are unaware of. A large body of psychological research shows that social and physical environments affect thoughts at an unconscious level. People are nicer, for instance, when they are outside a bakery with the smell of fresh bread in the air or after they have just found a dime in the slot of a pay phone. In addition, our happiness is affected by what we do, not just what we think. Successful therapy for depression isn't just a matter of shifting perspectives; it's getting the sufferer to change his or her behavior. Even something as superficial as coaxing a person to smile more can have real, positive effects.
The attentional puritans are right that we usually do best with total focus. But often it's more efficient, and more fun, to do two or more things at 80 percent capacity than one thing at full capacity. I listen to music in the gym, check my e-mail while I'm on hold, and walk and chew gum at the same time. And what's so wrong with any of that? Nobody should doubt the power of rapt attention, but there are benefits to a wandering mind. You can check your e-mail now.
Copyright 2009, The Washington Post. All Rights Reserved.
From AudioFile
Product details
- ASIN : B001V6P12E
- Publisher : Penguin Books (March 9, 2009)
- Publication date : March 9, 2009
- Language : English
- File size : 564 KB
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Not Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Print length : 268 pages
- Best Sellers Rank: #667,596 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #638 in Social Psychology & Interactions
- #735 in Medical Applied Psychology
- #1,751 in Popular Psychology Personality Study
- Customer Reviews:
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Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonCustomers say
Customers find the book insightful and helpful for psychology enthusiasts. They find it readable and valuable, especially for teens and young adults. The writing style is well-received, with some finding it engaging and thought-provoking, while others feel it's repetitive.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
Customers find the book insightful and helpful. They say it summarizes research in an understandable way. It's a great book for those interested in psychology or how we think. The author provides an interesting view of life that could be useful to many people. The writing style combines her personal views and observations valuably with the wide range of experts.
"...I feel like this book will improve my experience of my recreation and family time more than my professional life...." Read more
"...is one of the primary points of the book, focusing, or paying rapt attention to situations...." Read more
"...A sprinkling of nineteenth century philosophy provides some context, but we are left with little more than the general idea that attending to the..." Read more
"...capacity for concentration, expands your inner boundaries and lifts your spirits, but more important simply makes you feel that life is worth living...." Read more
Customers find the book readable and useful. They say it's good for teens and young adults, with a good balance of anecdotes and data, making it thought-provoking and engaging. The style is captivating and makes you feel like life is worth living.
"...This would be particularly good reading for teens and young adults, if only you could get them to pay attention long enough to read it...." Read more
"...your spirits, but more important simply makes you feel that life is worth living.” The above quotes encompass the thesis of this book...." Read more
"Overall, this is not a bad book. It's a bit repetitive, but not overly so...." Read more
"...RAPT is definitely worth reading and gives many of us new tools for making decisions and clearing out the clutter in our lives that keep us from..." Read more
Customers appreciate the book's writing style. They find it well-researched and thoughtful.
"...Instead it is a well researched and well written investigation into and defense of the thesis comprised in the quotes above...." Read more
"...Gallagher's writing style is engaging and captivating. Not only have I read the book, but I then listened to it the audio version...." Read more
"Winifred has an award winning research and writing style that combines her personal views and observations valuably added to the wide range of..." Read more
"...It is thoroughly researched and well written. I'm getting a paper version for my wife." Read more
Customers have mixed opinions about the book's pacing. Some find it engaging and understandable, helping them enjoy quality time with loved ones. Others feel it's repetitive and boring.
"...back to and read again as it seems to have already enhanced my time with my two young children...." Read more
"Overall, this is not a bad book. It's a bit repetitive, but not overly so...." Read more
"...book to people who want to feel more rested and enjoy more quality time with their loved ones...." Read more
"...It summarizes the research in a way that is both understandable and engaging. I highly recommend it." Read more
Top reviews from the United States
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- Reviewed in the United States on July 5, 2015Some of the best moments are here and gone and in the past sooner than I'd like. Rapt helps me believe that even if I can't keep the best parts forever I can get the most out of them as they happen by striving for the focused life. This is one of those book that I hope to come back to and read again as it seems to have already enhanced my time with my two young children.
I actually bought this hoping that it would help my teaching practice, by helping me understand my students with attention issues, but I got so much more out of this read. I feel like this book will improve my experience of my recreation and family time more than my professional life. I found myself highlighting quote after quote from Rapt, as this book is densely packed with great info and advice.
- Reviewed in the United States on October 25, 2024I bought this book after reading Deep Work by Cal Newport. I thought it was good but not as good as Newport's book.
- Reviewed in the United States on June 5, 2009This book confirmed things I already knew or suspected but hadn't taken the time to really think about. That in itself is one of the primary points of the book, focusing, or paying rapt attention to situations. I have already noticed changes in how I go about my daily activities. This would be particularly good reading for teens and young adults, if only you could get them to pay attention long enough to read it. I was impressed enough that I am now starting on Winifred Gallagher's book "The Power Of Place"The Power of Place: How Our Surroundings Shape Our Thoughts, Emotions, and Actions (P.S.).
- Reviewed in the United States on June 20, 2014Who we are and how are is largely shaped by where we focus, where we invest our attention. Although our minds are naturally (and often strongly) drawn to the dangerous and the novel, we have the ability to influence our focus. With or without intentional choice, attending to one aspect of our physical and mental environment causes us to ignore others.
Rather than making a coherent case for where we should place our attention under what circumstances and providing techniques for controlling that attention, the author provides a journalist’s survey of the scientific work being done in the area. A sprinkling of nineteenth century philosophy provides some context, but we are left with little more than the general idea that attending to the right things will make us happier.
- Reviewed in the United States on April 30, 2020“If you could stay focused on the right things, your life would stop feeling like a reaction to stuff that happens to you and become something you create: not a series of accidents but a work of art ... Paying rapt attention whether to a trout stream or a novel , a do it yourself project or a prayer, increases your capacity for concentration, expands your inner boundaries and lifts your spirits, but more important simply makes you feel that life is worth living.”
The above quotes encompass the thesis of this book. It was what hooked me when I read the sample downloaded on my Kindle. I felt excited by how much this idea resonated with me and was eager to find out exactly how I could do this. How do I stay focused on the right things? What can I do to generate more opportunities for ‘rapt’ attention in my life? But this book is not a ‘how to’ guide. Instead it is a well researched and well written investigation into and defense of the thesis comprised in the quotes above. While there are numerous hints at things one might do to enhance capacity for attention and focus (start a regular meditation practice is a recurring one), the reader is left to figure this out on their own. I guess I was a bit disappointed by this. I thoroughly agreed with the thesis from the moment I read it. I was looking for advice rather than a convincing argument.
- Reviewed in the United States on August 29, 2014After listening to an interview with the author of this book, I realized that I have been distracted and not totally focused on what is important in my life. I'm not good at multitasking, and this book is helping me to accomplish more by prioritizing and focusing. It's better for me to finish what I start than to have multiple projects and errands at the same time. I used to have time to spend with my friends but now I never see them anymore because I'm always busy, yet nothing seems to get done. I've just started reading the book but I no longer feel guilty because I didn't get through a 2 page to-do list on my day off. I would recommend this book to people who want to feel more rested and enjoy more quality time with their loved ones.
The seller has a good variety of books to browse through and gave me very good service. The books were a good price and arrived in excellent condition. I'm sure I'll buy from this seller again
- Reviewed in the United States on June 1, 2009With a world of busyness it is easy to lose attention on what is important. When that attention is lost income is also lost. This book does a great job of examining and explaining how attention and focus work. The best idea that I received from the book is that with everything that there is to focus on you must give attention and focus to your focus. Yes you may know that is what focus is but how many times have you forgot and moved onto the next thing without mastering the first one?
If attention equals income then this is a book you must read.
- Reviewed in the United States on February 7, 2011Overall, this is not a bad book. It's a bit repetitive, but not overly so.
Taking charge of your attention, especially with our ever multiplying
distractions, is essential. Gallagher makes this point well. The spiritual
side is not too heavy handed - indeed, I would not be able to tell
her religious affiliation from the book alone.
However, the discussion of science leaves something to be desired.
It is akin to reading a string of press releases - results are
interpreted in a very general sense, and there are no qualifications.
I understand that writing more carefully about these results
would make the book a lot less interesting. But, as with any
popular science book, the reader should keep in mind that
much of it is overinterpretation (if not misinterpretation).
Top reviews from other countries
-
Cliente de AmazonReviewed in Mexico on April 1, 2023
3.0 out of 5 stars Usado
Lo compré nuevo y llegó usado, subrayado, eso si está bien cuidado
- A JadhavReviewed in the United Kingdom on May 22, 2022
5.0 out of 5 stars this book is important
Elegantly written with an ordinary message that has an extraordinary impact. I will be re-reading it again and again lest I forget its hard-earned lesson.
-
TercioRNAReviewed in Brazil on March 26, 2018
5.0 out of 5 stars Muito foco aqui
Esse livro era o que estava procurando pra acreditar no poder da atenção concentrada; vai ao encontro do que já tinha lido ou ouvido falar sobre o tema. É um livro para aqueles aqueles que não conhecem o assunto e tem interesse na área.
- Soumitra GhotikarReviewed in India on November 17, 2019
5.0 out of 5 stars A scientific yet Simple to understand guide to properly manage your Memory Bank !
The true story of the author
First, I would thank Carl Newport, in his book "Deep Work", he has mentioned Winfred Gallagher & her book RAPT on many occasions, which ultimately made me buy this book.
Perfect Tool to manage your memory
David Schwartz, in his "Thinking Big" book mentions that high confidence is nothing but a systematically managed Memory. On a daily basis, from every incident, if we start depositing just the Positive thoughts into our memory bank, it offers the same Positive Solutions in complex situations where we are seeking for creative solutions to handle a challenge.
Gallagher goes further ...
Gallagher not just shares these principles, but the self-practiced-on-own-life principles with enough scientific case studies & examples, on how it works actually. And her own life examples proves "why it works"
The neurological details make it very clear how storing just the Good Memories will service your life. Most recommended !
- Paul C.Reviewed in Germany on September 23, 2019
2.0 out of 5 stars Lots of simplified information; tedious read
Instead of outlining a clear concept derived from her personal experience, Gallagher chooses to quote one scientific study after another. Surely she accumulates a lot simplified information but it makes for an incredibly tedious read.