Distracted by Maggie Jackson

August 6th, 2008

Title: Distracted
Author: Maggie Jackson
Publisher: Prometheus Books (2008)

I am a little embarrased to admit what I am about to say. I saw this book and it looked really interesting. I like sociology/psychology books, and Distracted: The Erosion of Attention and the Coming Dark Age by Maggie Jackson looked interesting. Now, on to the embarrassing admission: I didn’t have the attention span to read this book. Yes…very ironic. I started reading this book 3 different times, stopping to read other books. Then I would pick this back up and start again. Luckily, I eventually finished.

This book was OK. It had a bunch of interesting stories about a bunch of different things…but I couldn’t really follow it. I couldn’t find a consistent thought flow. It’s probably my fault because I couldn’t focus on it and I am likely not quite smart enough. Another reason is that I don’t know that I agree with the basic thesis. I don’t know that modern times are a “dark age” where people can’t communicate with each other, or no one has focus to do anything. I would agree that some people have this problem…but I know plenty of people who have incredible focus…all while growing up in a fast paced digital world.

I also felt there were a lot of random ideas being discussed. For example, there is a small section where Jackson talks about maps. It was interesting to read about old school cartographers and their dismay at digital systems like Google Earth. But I couldn’t figure out what it had to do with anything. Again, this is probably more my fault than anything else.

But…if you are concerned with the attention span of a “Sesame Street” society…this would be an excellent read.

But as for me…umm…what was I talking about?

Rating: 2 out of 5

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2 Responses to “Distracted by Maggie Jackson”

Deena @ My Bookshelf Says:
August 6th, 2008 at 12:36 pm
LOL!! Great post:-)
Literate Housewife Says:
August 7th, 2008 at 2:30 pm
I’ve kept meaning to comment on this review, but I keep getting side tracked. I really appreciate the fact that you will take a chance and read books like this. Have you always enjoyed reading non-fiction?