The Attention Merchants

Vigorous, entertaining. . . . Wu describes how the rise of electronic media established human attention as perhaps the world's most valuable commodity. - The Boston Globe The Attention Merchants is a book of our time, touching on an emerging strain of anxiety about the information age. . . . A bracing intellectual tour de force. - The San Francisco Chronicle Comprehensive and conscientious, readers are bound to stumble on ideas and episodes of media history that they knew little about. [Wu] writes with elegance and clarity, giving readers the pleasing sensation of walking into a stupendously well- organized closet. - The New York Times A startling and sweeping examination of the increasingly ubiquitous commercial effort to capture and commodify our attention. . . . We've become the consumers, the producers, and the content. We are selling ourselves to ourselves. - The New Republic The book is studded with sharp illustrations of those who have tried to stop the encroachment of advertising on our lives, and usually failed. . . . Wu dramatizes this push and pull to great effect. - The New York Times Book Review An engaging history of the attention economy. . . . [Wu] wants to show us how our current conditions arose. - The Washington Post Dazzling. . . . [Wu] could hardly have chosen a better time to publish a history of attention-grabbing. . . . He traces a sustained march of marketers further into our lives. - The Financial Times [An] erudite, energizing, outraging, funny and thorough history of one of humanity's core undertakings-getting other people to care about stuff that matters to you. - Boing Boing Engaging and informative. . . . [Wu's] account . . . is a must-read. - The Washington Times