The Art of Noticing

Reviews

Attention is a precious resource, one we waste in stupid ways. And attention is a muscle, one we can easily develop. In this refreshingly practical book, Rob Walker gives us 131 ways to treasure and improve our ability to see.

If you want a more interesting and creative life, the first thing to do is to start paying better attention to it. In The Art of Noticing, Rob Walker provides an essential guide to becoming an explorer of your everyday world. I found a ton to steal here and so will you.

In the tradition of John Berger, Susan Sontag, and George Nelson, Rob Walker offers a guide not to looking but to seeing – and why the difference is crucial. At once passionate and charming, he makes the case that noticing what’s there is the first step in creating what’s new.

The Art Of Noticing is a book about reading, verbal and non-verbal reading, which is how we increasingly read now, and how we have always read. Walker encourages us to make a non-literal reading of our world, which can mean non-judgmental and more enlightened.

Rob Walker's writing has always been wonderful because of his unique eye for noticing what other people miss. With this new book, he's basically teaching you all his secrets for seeing.

From ‘unitasking’ to the ‘mindful shower,’ The Art of Noticing is filled with clever, eminently deployable strategies for getting more from the world around you. It’s a paean to alertness, a sensory upgrade, a delightful field guide to being alive.

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