Book Review - Stolen Focus by Johann Hari

In this video I give my opinions and talk about the book, Stolen Focus (Why You Can't Pay Attention - and How to Think Deeply Again) by Johann Hari.
I highly recommend this book for everyone and especially for anyone who is interested in improving your focus, understanding what can rob us of our attention/focus, ADHD, effects of technology and social changes on children. This books is one I will not forget or be finished with for a long time to come. Although I must take back the library copy, I have lots of notes I took on this book and my "work" has just begun on tailoring my own program for improving my focus (from the menu of many things I learned in this book)! I can already sense change happening just from the education I got reading this book!
This is not a self-help book but you will find a lot of ideas and things you can try. The author gives us 12 "causes" (of impaired focus) to think about and to study. His style is to research very thoroughly and present many sides of each topic. I love that and you don't find that in all books or content these days.
I love that he didn't just focus on one contributing factor -- the usual being technology -- and yet he thoroughly covered that cause (of lack of focus) in the book. IN fact he covers everything from the loss of recess in school to our diets, the speed and stress levels, collapse of sustained reading, you name it! Giving us many angles in which to approach healing our attention.
I didn't feel compelled to get up and research everything mentioned because he did such a good job of covering each topic in a concise easy to digest way.
As someone diagnosed with ADHD at the age of 40, I was especially interested in his (Chapter 13) research on The Rise of ADHD and How We are Responding to It. My mind is still reeling from the "furniture rearrangement" my brain got after reading that chapter. You'll have to read it for yourself but for me it gave me hope that I have only ever scratched the surface of healing my focus/attention issues and this book is my launching pad for making serious and impactful changes -- still keeping with my refusal to use meds for it.
So, that's my opinion -- this was one of the most worthwhile books I've read in YEARS.
Thank you for watching!
Related Links:
Older video of my home library:

[littlebadger]

One really good tip I've learned for focusing with YouTube is making sure the bookmark on your browser is set to your subscription feed, and not the main page. This prevents you from seeing YT's tailored suggestions as the first thing. It's helped me a lot.

[nicksg]

My goodness Coco is adorable, he needed to touch you so badly😍 I love that he is here with all of us🤗🤗

[cmralph...]

"Deep Work" by Dr. Cal Newport also addresses this topic. That book and his TedTalk really changed my life. I'm glad to see this topic being more widely spread to the public.

[melindabooth]

Coco wants his own channel.

Thanks for the review! I should probably read this book too.... It sounds interesting! I really appreciate analog.... I guess that explains my fountain pen addiction. I've been off Facebook for over a year.

[ryanp]

Great video and very thorough review!! Thanks for sharing :)

[flabbybum]

I really enjoyed this review - interesting and useful. I also love your little co-presenter.

[catobear]

Chris (and Coco!), I just put this book in my list to listen to as I still can't manage to read these days, on your recommendation. I look forward to it!

[YvonneRaphaelWriter]

Hi Chris! This reviews sounds like it’s useful for so many needs. I don’t have ADHD, but I do get distracted by tech. It’s so engrossing. And creepy listening by devices. Wow that’s so annoying and scary. I was just enjoying doing some Science articles and Google plunked constantly wiggly ads on it over and again. So annoying! And I gave feedback, but all they did was serve them faster. I finally deleted the article and closed the app. Tech is both maddening and extremely distracting. And I think much of my consciousness is weighed and worried by the state of the world. I think that’s a big reason for distractions in my life. And I relate to creepy smart tvs. Our TV comes on by itself. I finally unplugged the damn thing. Thanks for sharing! Hope you, your family and life over your way is going sweetly. 🙂

[nicksg]

I enjoy your book reviews, I learn other options. Is good to give a chance to things out of my comfort zone. Thank you so much🥰😍

[marilyngardner]

I really enjoyed Lost Connections by this author. I would like to check out this book as well. BTW, YouTube does plenty of serving up content to your feed as well. Watch one thing on a topic and YouTube will flood you with 100 more things on the same topic, which may or may not interest you. I find it incredibly frustrating that you can't check something out and broaden your horizons without being inundated with more of the same. Browsing around in a brick and mortar library is so much safer and more pleasurable.

[lju]

The chapters sound very interesting in this one. I love the idea of taking time off from the electronics and even tho I’m not on any social media except my utube channels I feel I need to take a rest from all the blather. Except my pen/ ink people…haha…

[ann-ingridhelik]

Hi, i just happened early on your video and even though not as organized as your usual self, you did great! I’m going to see the amazon version. I know that kindle is helpful but i love the feel of holding my book in my hands. I also take notes (in various colors ) and i find it easier with a real book. (But that could be because of my age )
The subject was very interesting; I’m still on “scattered minds, which i got after your review, .
Is the new book written in the same vein, linking to ADHD ? I find that since my heart problems 3 years ago, my concentration is not as easy. My mind wanders much more, even when I’m meditating . So I’ll check out the Hari book and keep it on my next list! My new year resolution is to finish what i start before jumping into the next thing! So far so good ish.
Take care