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ATTENTION book cover
ATTENTION
Dispatches from a Land of Distraction
2013
First Published
3.64
Average Rating
576
Number of Pages

A wide-ranging, rule-bending collection from "a major American writer" (The New York Times)—reclaiming the power of attention in an age of constant distraction 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.

Avg Rating
3.64
Number of Ratings
168
5 STARS
24%
4 STARS
35%
3 STARS
26%
2 STARS
10%
1 STARS
5%
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Author

Joshua Cohen
Joshua Cohen
Author · 10 books
Joshua Aaron Cohen (born September 6, 1980 in New Jersey) is an American novelist and writer of stories.
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