Synopses & Reviews
In Distraction, the philosopher Damon Young argues that distraction is not simply too many stimuli but a confusion about what to attend to and why. If we are dying already," as Heidegger cheerily put it, then we only have so many days to invest. To commit to this job, this spouse, this leisure, this gadget means taking time, energy and wherewithal away from other possibilities. In an age of innumerable, intense diversions, we need to be clearer than ever about what is important.
Synopsis
Most of us struggle with distraction every day: the familiar feeling that our attention is not quite where it should be. We feel it at work and at home and it can be frustrating and uncomfortable. But what is distraction? In his lucid, timely book, Damon Young shows that distraction is more than too many stimuli, or too little attention. It is actually a matter of value - to be distracted is to be torn away from what is worthwhile in life. And for Young, what is most worthwhile is freedom: not simply rights or legal liberties, but the capacity to patiently, creatively craft one's own life. Exploring the lives of such luminaries as Henri Matisse, Karl Marx, Seneca and Henry James, Young exposes distraction in work, technology, art, politics and intimacy. With warmth and wit, he reveals what is most valuable, and what is best avoided, in the pursuit of a life of one's own.
About the Author
Damon Young is an Honorary Fellow in Philosophy at the University of Melbourne and a frequent contributor to newspapers, magazines and radio.
Damon Young on PowellsBooks.Blog
I begin with the hunger of Albert Camus. The philosopher, novelist, and playwright was born in French Algeria, living for much of his childhood in a home without electricity or running water. No oven — just an alcohol stove. No toilets — just holes in the masonry. And no father: his dad, Lucien, was killed by shrapnel when Camus was a baby...
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