Rapt

Attention and the Focused Life

By: Winifred Gallagher

Narrated by: Laural Merlington

Length: 7 hrs and 45 mins

Publisher's summary

In Rapt, acclaimed behavioral science writer Winifred Gallagher makes the argument that the quality of your life largely depends on what you choose to pay attention to and how you choose to do it.

Gallagher grapples with provocative questions -- Can we train our focus? What's different about the way creative people pay attention? Why do we often zero in on the wrong factors when making big decisions? -- driving us to reconsider what we think we know about attention.

As suggested by the expression "pay attention," this cognitive currency is a finite resource that we must learn to spend wisely. In Rapt, Gallagher introduces us to a diverse cast of characters -- artists and ranchers, birders and scientists -- who have learned to do just that and whose stories are profound lessons in the art of living the interested life.

No matter what your quotient of wealth, looks, brains, or fame, increasing your satisfaction means focusing more on what really interests you and less on what doesn't. In asserting its groundbreaking thesis -- the wise investment of your attention is the single most important thing you can do to improve your well-being -- Rapt yields fresh insights into the nature of reality and what it means to be fully alive.

©2009 Winifred Gallagher (P)2009 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

a must read book for all searching meaning in life

an important concept in life that empowers one to make most of our time and energy by knowing that we can choose to focus them where we want

Best in Class

I've listened to a number of book in this category. I found this book very satisying. It starts a little slow but the pace from middle to end wass difficult to halt. I savored this great book.

Worth paying attention to

A review requires at least 15 words which impacts the brevity I'd like to use in rating this book very worth your while.

Good Content Spoiled By Rapid Reading Speed

Essentially this is a very good book, but it's one you really have to work at to absorb. It's not an easy listen by any means. That's because content has a fairly dense, text book-like tone to it.

If you get it you'll need to sit and listen to it without any distractions. Don't try driving, walking or doing household chores with this one on, or you'll miss out on what she has to say.

It's a psychology book of sorts - written with the aim of helping us develop better minds and it really is deep and insightful.

Writing easily digestible prose is clearly not the author's strong point though. She relies on a logical, left-brain, technical type of language throughout. Her words are a bit too big and grown-up for my taste; lots of syllables, and she's not the best at telling engaging stories.

Nevertheless, as someone seriously interested self improvement I found it well worth my attention. I just wish they'd chosen a different narrator - or at least made a more subtly nuanced recording. It's not that the reader is terrible. It's just that she doesn't manage to bring the words alive. She reads way too fast and she's too far from the microphone to sound intimate and engaging. As such, the words go in one ear and out the other.

This kind of content calls for far more variation in pitch, pace pausing and more expression to hold attention well. Ironic, as the book is all about attention.

wonderfully clear voicing clarifying attention

A wonderful source pulling together many powerfully smart and learned authors, distilling and presenting the essence of many works on attention.

Enjoyable listen and good summary of much research

Many familiar studies along with more that I was not aware of summarized without getting too bogged down in the details. More a focus on what to learn from each study and how to organize all the ideas around common themes. I'll need to listen to it a few more times before I'll be able to pull out and use the ideas that are most aligned with my lifestyle. I look forward to listening to it more.

good review, nothing new

Would you try another book from Winifred Gallagher and/or Laural Merlington?

I think I could find better uses for my money. I would be willing to put up with Merlington's voice for a really good book, but it would be a negative factor.

Any additional comments?

This book provided a broad overview of the topic. It was thoughtful, not shallow. However, it offered nothing new. The author had read what I have read and added nothing. If you have read nothing on the topic and are looking for "one stop shopping" coverage, then this may suit you better than it did me.

My favorite book! Re-reading it again and again

Really helpful to find concentration and focus in life. Love the performance (reader) too. Highly recommend to people with ADHD

held my attention...mostly

The work presents an impressive amount of research, related (often indirectly) to the phenomenon of human attention, albeit in slightly biased fashion. To this reader, the author often turned what should have been an objective presentation of the data into an indictment of Western culture. Intentional or not, those highly sensitive to such things be warned. When you get past this, however, the book does manage to impart many useful insights and is, on the whole, worth a listen.

a book divided against itself?

whereas Rapt starts slow it has a stronger second half. the first part reviews what we mostly already know. okay. fine. we need to recall common knowledge which is usually "dull" since we already know it. the second half of the book, however, finally provides the information and research for which the reader has come searching: 1) our attention and our choice of focus matter more than we realize in our technological world, 2) multi-tasking may be a myth, and 3) brain function studies are so worth knowing about. imo, then, the second half of the book makes the entire book worth an attentive listen. inquiring minds want to know. and some things are worth the extra time.