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kestrellKes: Blind readers should note that I have just added this book to the Bookshare list of books to be validated.
In the fall of 2010, two Harvard psychologists announced the results of a study in which they used an iPhone app to measure people's happiness at that moment http://www.trackyourhappiness.org
and what they found indicates that when people's minds wander, they tend to dwell on unhappy thoughts (for more about this study, go to
"Wandering Mind Not a Happy Mind" http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2010/11/wandering-mind-not-a-happy-mind/ ).
This is perhaps merely the latest evidence that people are happiest when they are either living in the moment or fully immersed in some activity. The connection between attention and happiness is one of the many subjects explored in a book which I read recently,
_Rapt: Atention and theFocused Life_ by Winifred Gallagher (Penguin, 2009).
Beginning with an epigram from writer-psychologist William James-- "My experience is what I agree to attend to"--this book offers a fascinating and wide-ranging introrduction to attention, including how it affects productivity, creativity, and even our health. It includes information from an incredible number of books and studies, and the information is typically both recent and robust. The only disappointing chapter was the one on ADD, as it seemed to provide little actual information but instead substituted it with some highly suspect gender-based theory (girls with ADD are given only a passing mention).
The writing style of this book makes it very accessible to the general reader, so if you are looking for an introduction to the subject of attention and how it influences our daily lives, this book is a good choice.
In the fall of 2010, two Harvard psychologists announced the results of a study in which they used an iPhone app to measure people's happiness at that moment http://www.trackyourhappiness.org
and what they found indicates that when people's minds wander, they tend to dwell on unhappy thoughts (for more about this study, go to
"Wandering Mind Not a Happy Mind" http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2010/11/wandering-mind-not-a-happy-mind/ ).
This is perhaps merely the latest evidence that people are happiest when they are either living in the moment or fully immersed in some activity. The connection between attention and happiness is one of the many subjects explored in a book which I read recently,
_Rapt: Atention and theFocused Life_ by Winifred Gallagher (Penguin, 2009).
Beginning with an epigram from writer-psychologist William James-- "My experience is what I agree to attend to"--this book offers a fascinating and wide-ranging introrduction to attention, including how it affects productivity, creativity, and even our health. It includes information from an incredible number of books and studies, and the information is typically both recent and robust. The only disappointing chapter was the one on ADD, as it seemed to provide little actual information but instead substituted it with some highly suspect gender-based theory (girls with ADD are given only a passing mention).
The writing style of this book makes it very accessible to the general reader, so if you are looking for an introduction to the subject of attention and how it influences our daily lives, this book is a good choice.
no subject
Date: 2011-02-16 03:59 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-16 12:19 pm (UTC)Also--are you all recovered from your surgery? How is the winter treating you?
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Date: 2011-02-16 10:58 pm (UTC)Ned Hallowell & John Ratey have co-authored _Driven to Distraction_ and _Delivered from Distraction_, which were pop press groundbreakers. They're both aimed at high-school level or above readers, but don't delve into neuroscience at all. _ADD-Friendly Ways to Organize Your Life_ by Kathleen Nadeau, Ph.D & Judith Kolberg is great, full of practical advice, and delivers on its title.
Finally, Elaine Aron's _The Highly Sensitive Person_ takes a different tack. Observing some of the same behaviors, preferences, weaknesses & strengths, Aron describes a personality type, not a defect or deficit. That helped me reframe some of the more negative self-image I'd developed growing up as an "odd one out."
Almost recovered, posting a report in the next 30 minutes!