Look
How to Pay Attention in a Distracted World
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- ¥2,000
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- ¥2,000
発行者による作品情報
A powerful exploration of how we pay attention that will transform the ways we connect with one another – at home, at work, and beyond.
Paying attention is a crucial human skill, yet many of us have forgotten how to listen carefully and observe intentionally. Deluged by social media and hobbled by the increasing social isolation it fosters, we need to rediscover the deeply human ways we connect with others.
Christian Madsbjerg, a philosopher and entrepreneur, understands this dilemma. To counteract it, he began a course at The New School in New York City called Human Observation, which lays out the ways that we can learn to pay attention more effectively. The course has been hugely popular since its inception, with hundreds of students filling waiting lists.
In Look, Madsbjerg sets out the key observational skills needed to show how we can recapture our ability to pay attention. Drawing from philosophy, science, the visual arts, and his own life, he offers both practical insights and a range of tools for experiencing the world with greater richness and texture. The result is a dynamic approach to rethinking observation that helps all of us to see with more empathy, accuracy, and connection to others.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this illuminating study, Madsbjerg (Sensemaking), a professor of applied humanities at the New School, explores human perception and how readers can harness the "rigorous observational process" of "hyper-reflection" to better understand the world. Drawing on phenomenology (the study of how humans experience the world), Madsbjerg writes that perception relies on context rather than raw sensory data—humans recognize the whole before its individual components. Impressions are also heavily colored by social and emotional context, according to Madsbjerg. For example, a romantic suitor and a gardener might view a rose in different ways, and abstract concepts such as "freedom" are likewise reliant on cultural context. To truly perceive, it's essential to observe without judgment, noticing the unfamiliar in the familiar and vice versa, as well as attending to what's absent. The author weaves in discussion of writers, artists, and philosophers who put the skill of perception into action, such as Financial Times reporter Gillian Tett, one of the few who foretold the 2008 financial crisis long before the collapse of Lehman Brothers; political theorist Ernesto Laclau; and biographer Robert Caro, whose up-close research allowed him to "see through the eyes" of his subjects. While Madsbjerg leans more into cultural influences on perception—drawing heavily on qualitative research and anecdotal evidence—than practical strategies, readers will be inspired by his clear enthusiasm for viewing the world with an open mind. This casts a fresh light on the everyday.
