Review "Vigorous, entertaining. . . . Wu describes how the rise of electronic media established human attention as perhaps the world's most valuable commodity." --The Boston Globe "The Attention Merchants is a book of our time, touching on an emerging strain of anxiety about the information age. . . . A bracing intellectual tour de force." --The San Francisco Chronicle "Comprehensive and conscientious, readers are bound to stumble on ideas and episodes of media history that they knew little about. [Wu] writes with elegance and clarity, giving readers the pleasing sensation of walking into a stupendously well-organized closet." --The New York Times "A startling and sweeping examination of the increasingly ubiquitous commercial effort to capture and commodify our attention. . . . We've become the consumers, the producers, and the content. We are selling ourselves to ourselves." --The New Republic "The book is studded with sharp illustrations of those who have tried to stop the encroachment of advertising on our lives, and usually failed. . . . Wu dramatizes this push and pull to great effect." --The New York Times Book Review "An engaging history of the attention economy. . . . [Wu] wants to show us how our current conditions arose." --The Washington Post "Dazzling. . . . [Wu] could hardly have chosen a better time to publish a history of attention-grabbing. . . . He traces a sustained march of marketers further into our lives." --The Financial Times " [An] erudite, energizing, outraging, funny and thorough history of one of humanity's core undertakings--getting other people to care about stuff that matters to you." --Boing Boing "Engaging and informative. . . . [Wu's] account . . . is a must-read." --The Washington Times About the Author Tim Wu is a policy advocate and professor at Columbia Law School. In 2006, Scientific American named him one of fifty leaders in science and technology; in 2013, National Law Journal included him among "America's 100 Most Influential Lawyers"; and in 2014 and 2015, he was named to the "Politico 50." He won the Lowell Thomas Gold medal for travel journalism and is a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times. http: //www.timwu.org
A**S
A book worth donating several hours of your life to.
I loved this book. Extremely accessible and easy to read, it demonstrates over and over again how clever big business is at harvesting our time as well as our money. I devoted several hours from whatever time I have left on this earth to read it and do not begrudge Professor Wu a single second of it.
J**T
pays attention! this important is...
this is a great read - traces the business of advertising back 100 years before internet, tv, radio to early print - news papers sold below cost, ended up peppering their front page with loads of annoying content - fast forwrd through same thing on radio, then TV (see Jerry Mander's 4 arguments for the elimination of TV for that too), to the intenret )see Shoshanna Zuboff's Suveillenace Capitalism for another take on this - also Jaron Lanier's works - prefer you are not a gadget, but 10 arguments for leaving social media also good) - this book analyses the background economics, reasons for the intrusion and mechanisms used to grab your eyeball time - essential reading (and a good way to avoid those google, facebook, tv adverts too:)
M**L
Very enlightening
Really interesting take on how some of the structures in society came about, and as I've heard many times in my life, follow the money. This book has definitely made me more conscious of the attempts to grab my attention. Would recommend to those who struggle with finding time for the things they've always wanted to, although this isn't a self help book it definitely makes you think about how you end up wasting your time.
E**R
May I please have your attention?
A history of the attention industry. It's shocking. This book contextualises the current internet/smart phone attention grab as merely the last in a long line of technologies used by commercial forces to capture and resell your attention. Together with Adler's Irresistible, and Carr's The Shallows, this is in my view essential reading to anyone that uses modern media technology.
J**H
Promises more than delivers
If you are completely unaware of the function, historically, of traditional media seeking to capture attention to sell for advertising, and it’s contempory form through social media, this is likely to be an interesting read. If you have heard of social media and are know some information about its development over recent years, it is a remarkably tedious and empty experience. It feels like a well written historical piece that has been overpromised and mistakenly promoted by the publisher, with no offence to the author who is clearly extremely knowledgeable and very articulate.
E**G
Great history of more than ads
Great book which looks beyond ads to all.edia and how they vie for attention.Particularly the chapters on TV (and Oprah) were great.Where it goes wrong is when he reduces it at the end to 'just ads' doing the wrong thing where he kind of forgets all other media and their complicitness in trying to get attention in all ways shapes and forms often without giving any merit back - that's why this is not a *****.
N**Y
Completely enthralling read what have we become.
I couldn't ignore this book. It challenges everything I've worked with throughout my own advertising career. It exposes the illusions used to hold your attention and will make you think about the contract you've signed in order to get free stuff. Great read.
D**N
Excellent history of the advertising industry
A splendid book by Tim Wu discussing the history of the advertising industry. Highly recommended, not just for those interested in marketing and advertising but for everybody using the internet.
Trustpilot
3 days ago
1 day ago
