The world beyond your head : on becoming an individual in an age of distraction Cover Image

Book

The world beyond your head : on becoming an individual in an age of distraction / Matthew B. Crawford.

Summary:

"Crawford investigates the challenge of mastering one's own mind by showing that our current crisis of attention is only superficially the result of digital technology, and certain assumptions at the root of Western culture are the root of the cause"-- Provided by publisher.

Record details

ISBN: 9780374292980
ISBN: 0374292981
Physical Description: x, 305 pages ; 24 cm
Edition: First edition.
Publisher: New York : Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2015.

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [259]-283) and index.

Formatted Contents Note:

Introduction: Attention as a cultural problem -- Part I: Encountering things -- The jig, the nudge, and local ecology -- Embodied perception -- Virtual reality as moral ideal -- Attention and design -- Autism as a design principle: gambling -- Interlude: a brief history of freedom -- Part II: Other people -- On being led out -- Encountering things with other people -- Achieving individuality -- The culture of performance -- The erotics of attention -- The flattering -- The statistical self -- Part III: Inheritance -- The organ makers' shop -- Epilogue: Reclaiming the real.