Attention : Beyond Mindfulness

Attention is central to everything we do and think, and underlies both the mindfulness revolution and concerns about the influence of social and digital media today.

In this book Gay Watson explores attention in action through many disciplines and ways of life, from neuroscience to surfing. The book contains interviews with, among others, John Luther Adams, Stephen Batchelor, Susan Blackmore, Guy Claxton, Edmund de Waal, Rick Hanson, Jane Hirshfield, Iain McGilchrist, Wayne McGregor, Garry Fabian Miller, Alice and Peter Oswald, Ruth Ozeki and James Turrell.

A valuable and timely account, this book is essential reading for anyone who finds their attention wandering due to the clamour of modern life, and wants to know why.

MEDIA REVIEWS

'This is a remarkable and searching account of the meaning of attention. Gay Watson looks deeply into the practices of artists, writers and musicians and reveals the correspondences with spiritual disciplines. This is a provocative book in replacing attention at the heart of what we should care about.' – Edmund de Waal;

'In this tour de force, Gay Watson weaves together profound spiritual insights, crisply clear science, and page-turning personal observations about the front edge of consciousness: how we attend to our inner and outer worlds. Since we gradually become whatever our attention repeatedly rests upon, this book also helps readers use attention more skillfully to grow more of the good inside themselves and others.' – Rick Hanson, author of Buddha's Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love, and Wisdom