Rapt: Attention And The Focused Life (2009) - Plot & Excerpts
I may not have given this book a fair shake trying to listen to the audiobook version. Around disk five of seven of *Rapt* I abandoned the book. This book reminded me a little of Martin Seligman's books about "Authentic Happiness." For Seligman, optimism was the answer to almost every human psychological ailment, and focused attention was Gallagher's panacea. One contributing factor to losing my interest was that the author was perhaps too thorough with her coverage of the topic of attention. For example, I didn't really need another author's summary of Brian Wansink's "Mindless Eating" when I'd already read that book. Two other problems for me are not specific to this book, but concern audiobooks in general. The pacing is predetermined, and a less than dynamic reader can make even an entertaining book drag on. When reading print, I frequently speed up over sections that are not as interesting (yes, I skim) and I use the table of contents to gauge how much work it will be to get through the irrelevant or boring parts, especially of non-fiction. It would be a great service to impatient people like me if audiobook publishers would print the table of contents on the package somewhere. But with too much (non-original) material, a less than dynamic recording, and no signposts to guide my expectations of when the material would pick up again, my mind began to wander!Apparently, I am a poster child for lack of attention and focus. Too bad because the first chapters of the book were fairly interesting and had some good food for thought. This was a frustrating book. The core idea--that what you focus on determines who you become--is revolutionary. The execution of this book, on the other hand, is nearly awful. It reads like a distracted newspaper article, like a high school student trying to sound like Malcolm Gladwell. What could have been a fantastic 30 page essay was (presumably, due to the pressures of the pop-cognitive-psychology book industry of our time, which wants to churn out an endless stream of best-seller Tipping Points) instead bloated to a 200 page meander through email correspondences and regurgitated research abstracts.I only got 60% of the way through, and stopped. I've got better things to focus my rapt attention on.
What do You think about Rapt: Attention And The Focused Life (2009)?
This author will be in my area discussing this book in a few days. It sounds interesting...
—bellefillex3
It was alright. Seemed to have lost steam towards the last third of the book.
—pricey
Attention and focus are some of the brain's greatest resources.
—Ameenah
