Episode · Modern Wisdom · 2022-01-06
Books mentioned on Why You Can't Pay Attention And Focus - Johann Hari - #418
Johann Hari is a writer & a journalist. You probably struggle to focus on the task you're doing.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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Willpower
Discussed“He wrote a book called Willpower, right? So, go and interview him, and I say, 'Oh, you know, Professor Baumeister, I'm thinking of writing a book about whether people are struggling to pay attention.'”
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Lost Connections
Lost Connections by Johann Hari is a profound examination of the environmental and social roots of anxiety, depression, and human alienation.
Discussed“So we had this discussion when we talked about Lost Connections, your last book on depression”
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Indistractable
Indistractable by Nir Eyal is a practical guide on managing attention, overcoming procrastination, and understanding the psychological triggers that drive distraction.
Discussed“writing the book about a guy called Nir Eyal. Have you had Nir on your podcast? I think you might have done, yeah. I have. And the interesting thing is that you mentioned I haven't listened to the audio bit that you've put on your website. You mentioned the conversation with him got heated. My conversation with him didn't get”
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Hooked
Hooked by Nir Eyal is a practical guide for tech designers on how to build habit-forming products and drive user engagement through psychological triggers.
Discussed“And when I spoke to Nir Eyal, what I was trying to draw out was the disjunction between these two books, right? You've got Indistractable which says, 'This is a Push the [ __ ] button, it's an easy thing. You can do it.' And then you've got Hooked which is saying, 'Let's drive them crazy.'”
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Stolen Focus
Stolen Focus by Johann Hari explores the modern crisis of diminishing attention spans and the various societal forces that degrade human focus.
Recommended“Arnold, you're the governor of California. Like you should Anyway, anyway, Stolen Focus, why you can't pay attention. Johann's new book will be linked in the show notes below. It's awesome, man.”
Other mentions in this episode (1) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
Own book Stolen Focus
“So, yeah, the the the although I stressed my goal is not that we not be on the internet it's that we have an internet that is not designed to maximally invade or ruin our attention. Um and essentially I'm sure um some people are going to describe my book as anti-tech and it I am not anti-tech at all.”