The Sirens' Call: How Attention Became the World's Most Endangered Resource
Perhaps the most sophisticated contribution to the genre ... Hayes is right to deplore the commodification of intellectual life. But one can wonder whether ideas are less warped by the market when they are posted online to a free platform than when they are rolled into books, given bar codes, and sold in stores ... The panic over lost attention is, however, a distraction.
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Hayes observes his subject from multiple angles, noting that attention isn’t just something exploited by sinister forces ... Occasionally the book gets a little textbook-y ... Overall, Hayes keeps it lively ... I wasn’t entirely satisfied with Hayes’ ideas for remedies.
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Hayes persuasively and heartrendingly argues ... In perhaps the most surprising section of the book, Hayes examines his life as a famous person, one who involuntarily attracts the attention of strangers when he walks down the street. Here his writing comes alive with an emotional truth, an unflattering one offered in the service of his subject.
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