{"product_id":"the-problem-of-distraction-paul-north-9780804786874","title":"The Problem of Distraction","description":"\u003cp\u003eWe live in an age of distraction. Contemporary analyses of culture, politics, techno-science, and psychology insist on this. They often suggest remedies for it, or ways to capitalize on it. Yet they almost never investigate the meaning and history of distraction itself. This book corrects this lack of attention. It inquires into the effects of distraction, defined not as the opposite of attention, but as truly discontinuous intellect. Human being has to be reconceived, according to this argument, not as quintessentially thought-bearing, but as subject to repeated, causeless blackouts of mind.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Problem of Distraction\u003c\/i\u003e presents the first genealogy of the concept from Aristotle to the largely forgotten, early twentieth-century efforts by Kafka, Heidegger, and Benjamin to revolutionize the humanities by means of distraction. Further, the book makes the case that our present troubles cannot be solved by recovering or enhancing attention. Not-always-thinking beings are beset by radical breaks in their experience, but in this way they are also receptive to what has not and cannot yet be called experience.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Paul North\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0804786879\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780804786874\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Stanford University Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 02\/12\/2012\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 248\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.75lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.90h x 5.90w x 0.60d","brand":"Paul North","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":45331722928383,"sku":"9780804786874","price":28.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_6adf53a9-f917-4d67-aab4-38dfb26f0249.jpg?v=1713970721","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/the-problem-of-distraction-paul-north-9780804786874","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}