Days Of Distraction

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Days of Distraction

Author : Alexandra Chang
Publisher : HarperCollins
ISBN 13 : 0062951815
Total Pages : 320 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (629 download)

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Book Synopsis Days of Distraction by : Alexandra Chang

Download or read book Days of Distraction written by Alexandra Chang and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2020-03-31 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Startlingly original and deeply moving.... Chang here establishes herself as one of the most important of the new generation of American writers.” — George Saunders A Recommended Book From Buzzfeed * TIME * USA Today * NPR * Vanity Fair * The Washington Post * New York Magazine * O, the Oprah Magazine * Parade * Wired * Electric Literature * The Millions * San Antonio Express-News * Domino * Kirkus A wry, tender portrait of a young woman—finally free to decide her own path, but unsure if she knows herself well enough to choose wisely—from a captivating new literary voice The plan is to leave. As for how, when, to where, and even why—she doesn’t know yet. So begins a journey for the twenty-four-year-old narrator of Days of Distraction. As a staff writer at a prestigious tech publication, she reports on the achievements of smug Silicon Valley billionaires and start-up bros while her own request for a raise gets bumped from manager to manager. And when her longtime boyfriend, J, decides to move to a quiet upstate New York town for grad school, she sees an excuse to cut and run. Moving is supposed to be a grand gesture of her commitment to J and a way to reshape her sense of self. But in the process, she finds herself facing misgivings about her role in an interracial relationship. Captivated by the stories of her ancestors and other Asian Americans in history, she must confront a question at the core of her identity: What does it mean to exist in a society that does not notice or understand you? Equal parts tender and humorous, and told in spare but powerful prose, Days of Distraction is an offbeat coming-of-adulthood tale, a touching family story, and a razor-sharp appraisal of our times.

Distraction

Author : Damon Young
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1317488210
Total Pages : 176 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (174 download)

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Book Synopsis Distraction by : Damon Young

Download or read book Distraction written by Damon Young and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-12-05 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Driven to Distraction (Revised)

Author : Edward M. Hallowell, M.D.
Publisher : Anchor
ISBN 13 : 0307743160
Total Pages : 401 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (77 download)

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Book Synopsis Driven to Distraction (Revised) by : Edward M. Hallowell, M.D.

Download or read book Driven to Distraction (Revised) written by Edward M. Hallowell, M.D. and published by Anchor. This book was released on 2011-09-13 with total page 401 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Groundbreaking and comprehensive, Driven to Distraction has been a lifeline to the approximately eighteen million Americans who are thought to have ADHD. Now the bestselling book is revised and updated with current medical information for a new generation searching for answers. Through vivid stories and case histories of patients—both adults and children—Hallowell and Ratey explore the varied forms ADHD takes, from hyperactivity to daydreaming. They dispel common myths, offer helpful coping tools, and give a thorough accounting of all treatment options as well as tips for dealing with a diagnosed child, partner, or family member. But most importantly, they focus on the positives that can come with this “disorder”—including high energy, intuitiveness, creativity, and enthusiasm.

Distracted

Author : James M. Lang
Publisher : Basic Books
ISBN 13 : 1541699815
Total Pages : 304 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (416 download)

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Book Synopsis Distracted by : James M. Lang

Download or read book Distracted written by James M. Lang and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 2020-10-20 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Keeping students focused can be difficult in a world filled with distractions -- which is why a renowned educator created a scientific solution to one of every teacher's biggest problems. Why is it so hard to get students to pay attention? Conventional wisdom blames iPhones, insisting that access to technology has ruined students' ability to focus. The logical response is to ban electronics in class. But acclaimed educator James M. Lang argues that this solution obscures a deeper problem: how we teach is often at odds with how students learn. Classrooms are designed to force students into long periods of intense focus, but emerging science reveals that the brain is wired for distraction. We learn best when able to actively seek and synthesize new information. In Distracted, Lang rethinks the practice of teaching, revealing how educators can structure their classrooms less as distraction-free zones and more as environments where they can actively cultivate their students' attention. Brimming with ideas and grounded in new research, Distracted offers an innovative plan for the most important lesson of all: how to learn.

The Age of Distraction

Author : Robert Hassan
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1351486241
Total Pages : 323 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (514 download)

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Book Synopsis The Age of Distraction by : Robert Hassan

Download or read book The Age of Distraction written by Robert Hassan and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-09-08 with total page 323 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Connections between time, technology, and the processes of reading and writing make clear the links between experiences of what appear to be quite different phenomena. Reading and writing have functioned together in a particular way to build the world as we have known it for three thousand years. These interacting processes have now been transformed at their core and are building a different world, one where certainties of the previous era are disappearing and being displaced by what the author sees as a chronic and pervasive mode of cognitive distraction. Robert Hassan offers a perspective permeated by a sense of history, beginning with the invention of writing and the development of the skill of reading. Together with technological developments, these provide a unique view of the trajectory of modernity into late-modernity, and illustrate how the arc of progress has transformed. New modes of time, technology, and reading and writing are helping create a faster world where we know less about more-and forget what we know evermore quickly. What is the "time" of a thought? Is it possible to measure thinking? Can we consider knowledge or information, or reading and writing, as having temporal "rhythms"? These are questions Hassan tries to answer. So unfamiliar are we to thinking in such terms that they sound impossible. To a significant degree, time, thinking, and many forms of knowledge are the fruits of subjective experience. We connect experiences at superficial levels, where people have different experiences that may be objectively the same, but our interpretations will always diverge in respect of the "reality" we confront. This intersection of philosophy and communication takes the reader into new realms of analysis.

ATTENTION

Author : Joshua Cohen
Publisher : Random House
ISBN 13 : 0399590226
Total Pages : 576 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (995 download)

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Book Synopsis ATTENTION by : Joshua Cohen

Download or read book ATTENTION written by Joshua Cohen and published by Random House. This book was released on 2018-08-14 with total page 576 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Attention reveals a fresh, vital literary voice as it covers seemingly every imaginable topic relating to modern life.”—Entertainment Weekly “Joshua Cohen may be America’s greatest living writer.”—The Washington Post NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY WIRED One of Granta’s Best of Young American Novelists, Joshua Cohen arrives with his first collection of nonfiction, the culmination of two decades of writing and thought about life in the digital age. In essays, memoir, criticism, diary entries, and letters—many appearing here for the first time—Cohen covers the full depth and breadth of modern life: politics, literature, art, music, travel, the media, and psychology, and subjects as diverse as Google, Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders, fictional animals, Gustav Mahler, Aretha Franklin, John Zorn, landscape photography, fake Caravaggios, Wikipedia, Gertrude Stein, Edward Snowden, Jonathan Franzen, Olympic women’s fencing, Atlantic City casinos, the closing of the Ringling Bros. circus, and Azerbaijan. Throughout ATTENTION, Cohen directs his sharp gaze at home and abroad, calling upon his extraordinary erudition and unrivaled ability to draw connections between seemingly unlike things to show us how to live without fear in a world overflowing with information. In each piece, he projects a quality of thought that is uniquely his, and a voice as witty, profound, and distinct as any in American letters. At this crucial juncture in history, ATTENTION is a guide for the perplexed—a handbook for anyone hoping to bring the wisdom of the past into the culture of the future. Praise for ATTENTION “Dazzling in its scope . . . If curiosity is a writer’s greatest innate gift, Joshua Cohen may be America’s greatest living writer.”—The Washington Post “Cause for celebration and close study . . . [Cohen] will hunt after neglected shards of the past, minor histories, and charge them with an immediacy in the present. . . . He is experimenting with the essay form much more, and more cleverly, than any major American writer today.”—The Wall Street Journal “In Attention, Joshua Cohen makes an eclectic argument for how to improve our lives. . . . [He] tackles a surprising range of subjects to underline distraction’s role in our fraught predicament and to argue that paying attention could help us get out of it. . . . When it comes to making sense of our times with verve and imagination, few authors are more rewarding.”—Financial Times

The Art of Distraction in Moderation

Author : Monique M Doyle
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9780648483106
Total Pages : 204 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (831 download)

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Book Synopsis The Art of Distraction in Moderation by : Monique M Doyle

Download or read book The Art of Distraction in Moderation written by Monique M Doyle and published by . This book was released on 2019-03-24 with total page 204 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Let me entertain you Can good distraction lead to a more creative, fun-filled life? Award-winning mother and distraction expert Monique Doyle will entertain you with laugh-out-loud true stories, reflective poems and inspirational ideas on how a little distraction in your day can unleash creative riches inside you. HAVE FUN and BE INSPIRED!

Distracted

Author : Terri R. Kurtzberg
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 156 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (16 download)

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Book Synopsis Distracted by : Terri R. Kurtzberg

Download or read book Distracted written by Terri R. Kurtzberg and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2017-04-06 with total page 156 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What are the benefits and negative consequences of our increased connectivity at school, at work, and at home? Is being constantly distracted now a worldwide problem? This book examines how new technologies and social pressures have changed the way we use our attention, and the extent to which they drive us to distraction, by interpreting hundreds of scientific studies from the literatures in cognitive and social psychology, sociology, communication, management, and decision making. While distraction is ever-present in daily life, staying connected in an efficient way is the goal for one and all. To accomplish that, some amount of fine-tuning of typical interactions with technology is in order. Nearly everyone recognizes the addictive nature of constant connectivity—and its destructive effect on productivity and quality of work. But the availability of technology also promotes better engagement, control, and flexibility in both professional and personal settings. An in-depth analysis of these tradeoffs can lead to smarter choices about when and how to be connected throughout the day and across settings. The ultimate objective is to have technology enhance our lives without serving as a source of constant distraction. Distracted: Staying Connected without Losing Focus explains the nuances of what this addiction stems from—considering both societal and technological factors—and identifies both the invaluable opportunities and the counterproductive consequences of living in our technology-enabled, instant-access-to-everything world. The chapters examine a wide swath of scientific research to expose how technology use affects our attention and the extent to which it causes distraction. Authors Terri Kurtzberg and Jennifer Gibbs apply the science of human attention to reveal how specific areas of our lives are significantly changed with the advent of "continuous connectedness," including in the workplace, in personal relationships, in childhood development, and with regard to education and learning. Readers will clearly understand why multitasking fails us, what the consequences are—to ourselves and those around us—of being focused on a screen for much of the day, and how each of us can adjust our use of technology in order to improve our lives.

The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction

Author : Alan Jacobs
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 019983167X
Total Pages : 172 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (998 download)

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Book Synopsis The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction by : Alan Jacobs

Download or read book The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction written by Alan Jacobs and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2011-05-26 with total page 172 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In recent years, cultural commentators have sounded the alarm about the dire state of reading in America. Americans are not reading enough, they say, or reading the right books, in the right way. In this book, Alan Jacobs argues that, contrary to the doomsayers, reading is alive and well in America. There are millions of devoted readers supporting hundreds of enormous bookstores and online booksellers. Oprah's Book Club is hugely influential, and a recent NEA survey reveals an actual uptick in the reading of literary fiction. Jacobs's interactions with his students and the readers of his own books, however, suggest that many readers lack confidence; they wonder whether they are reading well, with proper focus and attentiveness, with due discretion and discernment. Many have absorbed the puritanical message that reading is, first and foremost, good for you--the intellectual equivalent of eating your Brussels sprouts. For such people, indeed for all readers, Jacobs offers some simple, powerful, and much needed advice: read at whim, read what gives you delight, and do so without shame, whether it be Stephen King or the King James Version of the Bible. In contrast to the more methodical approach of Mortimer Adler's classic How to Read a Book (1940), Jacobs offers an insightful, accessible, and playfully irreverent guide for aspiring readers. Each chapter focuses on one aspect of approaching literary fiction, poetry, or nonfiction, and the book explores everything from the invention of silent reading, reading responsively, rereading, and reading on electronic devices. Invitingly written, with equal measures of wit and erudition, The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction will appeal to all readers, whether they be novices looking for direction or old hands seeking to recapture the pleasures of reading they first experienced as children.

The Common Rule

Author : Justin Whitmel Earley
Publisher : InterVarsity Press
ISBN 13 : 1514006936
Total Pages : 136 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (14 download)

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Book Synopsis The Common Rule by : Justin Whitmel Earley

Download or read book The Common Rule written by Justin Whitmel Earley and published by InterVarsity Press. This book was released on 2023-03-14 with total page 136 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Habits form us more than we form them. Though we yearn for the freedom of the gospel, we remain anxious people shackled by our screens and exhausted by our routines. The answer is a rule of life that aligns our habits with our beliefs. Justin Earley provides doable, life-giving practices to find freedom and rest for your soul.

Drinking to Distraction

Author : Jenna Hollenstein
Publisher : Lulu.com
ISBN 13 : 1483405117
Total Pages : 98 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (834 download)

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Book Synopsis Drinking to Distraction by : Jenna Hollenstein

Download or read book Drinking to Distraction written by Jenna Hollenstein and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2013-12 with total page 98 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: She never drove or worked drunk, never injured herself or someone else, never woke up next to a strange man, was fired, went bankrupt, or became homeless because of her drinking. But for years Jenna Hollenstein worried that she was using alcohol for the wrong reasons. Though it didn't cause her to spiral out of control, drinking seemed to be detracting from her life in subtler ways: missed opportunities, unaddressed fears, challenges not taken, relationships not cherished, and creativity unexplored. Rather than a series of dramatic events often associated with alcoholism, her decision to stop drinking was based on years of introspection, pros and cons lists, and conversations with friends, family, and a wise therapist. Though she never "hit bottom," Hollenstein eventually realized that drinking was not enhancing her life: it was distracting her from it.

Focus in the Age of Distraction

Author : Jane Piper
Publisher : Ecademy Press
ISBN 13 : 1784523224
Total Pages : 152 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (845 download)

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Book Synopsis Focus in the Age of Distraction by : Jane Piper

Download or read book Focus in the Age of Distraction written by Jane Piper and published by Ecademy Press. This book was released on 2018-01-11 with total page 152 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The world of work has changed but our ways of working haven’t kept pace. We are now working even harder, longer and at a faster pace than ever before. Longer hours and harder work aren’t going to give us the career and life that we want. Today’s work where you’re selling your brain power and creativity, then your focus, attention, mindset and engagement are what will make the difference. 35 practical and pragmatic tips based on latest research in positive psychology, neuroscience, and common sense, will help you be more focused, creative and productive. Be more focused while at work, get more done, learn to switch off, get on and enjoy your life.

The Enchanted Hour

Author : Meghan Cox Gurdon
Publisher : HarperCollins
ISBN 13 : 0062562835
Total Pages : 304 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (625 download)

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Book Synopsis The Enchanted Hour by : Meghan Cox Gurdon

Download or read book The Enchanted Hour written by Meghan Cox Gurdon and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2019-01-15 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Wall Street Journal writer’s conversation-changing look at how reading aloud makes adults and children smarter, happier, healthier, more successful and more closely attached, even as technology pulls in the other direction. A miraculous alchemy occurs when one person reads to another, transforming the simple stuff of a book, a voice, and a bit of time into complex and powerful fuel for the heart, brain, and imagination. Grounded in the latest neuroscience and behavioral research, and drawing widely from literature, The Enchanted Hour explains the dazzling cognitive and social-emotional benefits that await children, whatever their class, nationality or family background. But it’s not just about bedtime stories for little kids: Reading aloud consoles, uplifts and invigorates at every age, deepening the intellectual lives and emotional well-being of teenagers and adults, too. Meghan Cox Gurdon argues that this ancient practice is a fast-working antidote to the fractured attention spans, atomized families and unfulfilling ephemera of the tech era, helping to replenish what our devices are leaching away. For everyone, reading aloud engages the mind in complex narratives; for children, it’s an irreplaceable gift that builds vocabulary, fosters imagination, and kindles a lifelong appreciation of language, stories and pictures. Bringing together the latest scientific research, practical tips, and reading recommendations, The Enchanted Hour will both charm and galvanize, inspiring readers to share this invaluable, life-altering tradition with the people they love most.

Perfect Distraction

Author : Allison Ashley
Publisher : Entangled: Amara
ISBN 13 : 168281551X
Total Pages : 304 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (828 download)

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Book Synopsis Perfect Distraction by : Allison Ashley

Download or read book Perfect Distraction written by Allison Ashley and published by Entangled: Amara. This book was released on 2020-03-23 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Lauren Taylor isn't thinking about love, especially not with the impossibly attractive man she accidentally spilled coffee all over. For one thing, he's out of her league and for another, she's focused on finishing her oncology pharmacy residency. And she's sworn off men who are too handsome for their own good, anyway. Andrew Bishop can't stop thinking about the gorgeous redhead who crashed into him and then disappeared, even though he should have way more on his mind—like dealing with his Hodgkin’s lymphoma diagnosis and finishing out his last year in law school. When Andrew and Lauren run into each other at the cancer center where she's working and he's being treated, they try to keep it professional. They can be friends, and nothing more. But sometimes life has other plans...

How Attention Works

Author : Stefan Van Der Stigchel
Publisher : MIT Press
ISBN 13 : 026235098X
Total Pages : 148 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (623 download)

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Book Synopsis How Attention Works by : Stefan Van Der Stigchel

Download or read book How Attention Works written by Stefan Van Der Stigchel and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2019-03-12 with total page 148 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How we filter out what is irrelevant so we can focus on what we need to know. We are surrounded by a world rich with visual information, but we pay attention to very little of it, filtering out what is irrelevant so we can focus on what we think we need to know. Advertisers, web designers, and other “attention architects” try hard to get our attention, promoting products with videos on huge outdoor screens, adding flashing banners to websites, and developing computer programs with blinking icons that tempt us to click. Often they succeed in distracting us from what we are supposed to be doing. In How Attention Works, Stefan Van der Stigchel explains the process of attention and what the implications are for our everyday lives. The visual attention system is efficient, Van der Stigchel writes, because it doesn't waste energy processing every scrap of visual data it receives; it gathers only relevant information. We focus on one snippet of information and assume that everything else is stable and consistent with past experience; that's why most people miss even the most glaring continuity errors in films. If an object doesn't meet our expectations, chances are we won't see it. Van der Stigchel makes his case with examples from real life, explaining, among other things, the limitations of color perception (and why fire trucks shouldn't be red); the importance of location (security guards and radiologists, for example, have to know where to look); the attention-getting properties of faces and spiders; what we can learn from someone else's eye movements; why we see what we expect to see (magicians take advantage of this); and visual neglect and unattended information.

Concentration

Author : Stefan Van Der Stigchel
Publisher : MIT Press
ISBN 13 : 0262357844
Total Pages : 224 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (623 download)

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Book Synopsis Concentration by : Stefan Van Der Stigchel

Download or read book Concentration written by Stefan Van Der Stigchel and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2020-03-10 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How to concentrate in a world of beeping smartphones, channel surfing, live-tweeting, pop-up ads, and other distractions. We are in the midst of an attention crisis—caused in large part by our smartphones. There's a constant stream of information that we are powerless to withstand because it shows up in our notifications. More and more of us are finding it harder and harder to concentrate. In this book, attention expert and cognitive psychologist Stefan Van der Stigchel explains how concentration works and offers advice on how to stay focused in a world of beeping smartphones, channel surfing, live-tweeting, pop-up ads, and other distractions. The good news, Van der Stigchel reports, is that we now know more about brain and behavior than ever before, and he draws on the latest scientific findings in his account of concentration. He explains, among other things, that the battle for our attention began long before the digital era; why our phones are so addictive; the importance of working memory (responsible for executing complicated tasks) and how to increase its capacity; and why multitasking is bad for our concentration, but attention rituals help it. He describes the 2017 Oscars debacle (when the Best Picture presenter was given the wrong card) as a failure of multitasking; argues that daydreaming can be good for our concentration; and shows that the presence of a passenger in a car reduces the risk of an accident. He explains the positive effects of taking “tech breaks” (particularly in natural surroundings), meditation, and even daydreaming. We can win the battle for our attention, Van der Stigchel argues, if we have the knowledge and the tools to do it.

Carpe Diem

Author : Roman Krznaric
Publisher : Penguin
ISBN 13 : 1101983140
Total Pages : 290 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (19 download)

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Book Synopsis Carpe Diem by : Roman Krznaric

Download or read book Carpe Diem written by Roman Krznaric and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2017-05-23 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Brilliant. One of those rare books that forces you to ask what the hell you're doing with your life." --George Monbiot, The Guardian **One of Forbes' 13 Best Books for Summer 2017** We've all heard the saying "seize the day." But what does it really mean--and how can we use it to jumpstart our lives? In the age of distraction, carpe diem is more essential than ever, and yet many of us simply don't employ it in our lives. In this thought-provoking and empowering book, cultural writer Roman Krznaric unpacks the history, philosophy, and modern-day applications of "seizing the day" and delivers a rousing call to action for anyone who wants to improve their lives--or our world. Carpe Diem is a far-ranging read, drawing on everything from the neuropsychology of regret to the anthropology of play, from medieval carnival rites to religious conceptions of the afterlife and early Japanese cinema. Offering food for thought as well as inspiring takeaways, the book examines not just the contributions of great thinkers throughout history, but also reveals insights from the lives of great seize-the-day practitioners including nightclub dancers, war photographers, bored housewives, and committed revolutionaries--offering a wide range of solutions to the daunting challenge of leading a meaningful life.