“to be distracted is to be torn away from what is worthwhile in life”
I just came across a 2008 book, Distraction: A Philosopher's Guide to Being Free, by Melbourne-based philosopher and writer Damon Young. Young seems to be a kind of
Do we get a dopamine hit from creating meaningful lives?
This morning I came across something quite delightful: Hatchet Job of the Year, an award for the most scathing book review. Novels, poems, they all get their awards,
Digital Detox and the commodification of unplugging
In the Bay Area, what starts out as counterculture eventually becomes a commodity. It's inevitable, and not a bad thing: indeed, the counterculture has always had an entrepreneurial
“there is a cognitive advantage to be realized if we spend time immersed in a natural setting”
One of the chapters of my book talks about what to do when concentration fails. For a book about rebuilding your capacity for attention, this may seem odd,
“Silence and contemplation are not just for monks and nuns, they are natural parts of life”
In my last post I mentioned Christopher Jamison's short, very accessible book, Finding Sanctuary. Here's a bit more about it: No matter how hard you work, being too
“Even in small doses, mindfulness can effect impressive changes in how we feel and think”
Maria Konnikova, author of the soon-to-be-published book Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes, has a piece in the New York Times about the benefits of mindfulness. (Clearly Viking/Penguin's
“I got to know them. Until someone higher up in the chain of command gave me the order to shoot.”
Der Spiegel has a really good piece about what it's like to be a drone pilot, a job that has received rather little respect in the military (for
Breaks and work
This video from ASAPScience (via The Atlantic) is good: via YouTube My experience writing The Distraction Addiction followed many of the rules the video describes: boosting your productivity
“The problem is, too many writers today are afraid to be still”
Or so Silas House argues in a recent essay, "The Art of Being Still:" I’m not talking about the kind of stillness that involves locking yourself in a
“in our frenetic, technology-obsessed age we have lost the ability to contemplate”
Simon Doonan explains what's wrong with art today. One of his points: Short attention spans have made art into one quickie sight gag after another. Is that an