Rapt: Attention and the Focused Life

From Strand Bookstore

Behavioral scientist Winifred Gallagher presents a radical new argument in "Rapt", a compelling new book of science and psychology. In it, Gallagher proposes that success and happiness are the primary result of your brain's ability to focus especially on what it chooses to. In other words, your life's direction depends greatly on actively directing your attention to creating what you want and becoming who you want to be. Your focus is what converts the bewildering, chaotic information you get from the world into useful data, and with improved focus you can literally change your brain and your resultant behavior. Don't miss this fascinating new take on the mind and how it works.

From the Publisher

The behavioral scientist author of Just the Way You Are presents a provocative argument that the quality of one's life is directly related to the focus of one's attention, drawing on the latest findings in neuroscience and psychology to cover such topics as the human capacity for training concentration, the ways in which the creative mind thinks, and why people deliberate on the wrong factors when making big decisions.

Review

Laura Miller - Salon
"Gallagher deserves credit for calling our attention to attention itself, specifically to the way it works neurologically....RAPT [identifies] both biological and cultural causes for our sometimes self-defeating habits."

Review

David G. Myers - Wall Street Journal
"RAPT is a fascinating discussion of how consciousness works, and Ms. Gallagher offers much helpful advice on how to lead a 'focused life.' "

Review

Paul Bloom - Washington Post
"[In] this engaging book,....Gallagher blends the science nicely with examples of people whose disciplined attention has contributed to their success: Tiger Woods is extremely focused on golf; Mozart really grooved on music; and when Bill Clinton felt our pain, he did so with all his heart."

Review

Donna Seaman - Booklist
"Gallagher reinvigorates our understanding of a crucial cognitive function in a fluent and fascinating blend of cutting-edge science and thoughtful guidelines for living an attentive life."

More about the book

Please pay attention. Behavioral scientist Winifred Gallagher cogently argues that we all have the ability to enact positive change in our lives by controlling a single, simple factor--our attention. Gallagher shows how peoples' choices about what to concentrate on and what to dismiss have gradually become skewed over time or, worse, abandoned altogether. This compelling study combines scientific evidence, which shows that we have much more control over our focus than we realize, with concrete advice on how to harness that potential and transform it into fulfillment.