{"id":1373,"date":"2025-11-30T16:53:28","date_gmt":"2025-11-30T21:53:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/garthnichols\/?p=1373"},"modified":"2025-10-26T16:53:52","modified_gmt":"2025-10-26T20:53:52","slug":"book-review-the-sirens-call-chris-hayes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/garthnichols\/uncategorized\/book-review-the-sirens-call-chris-hayes\/","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: “The Siren’s Call” (Chris Hayes)"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In the epic tale, Jason lashed himself to the mast of his ship, commanded his crew of Argonauts to put wax in their ears, all to avoid crashing upon the rocks of the Sirens. But why didn’t Circe recommend wax in his own ears? Why was he yelling at his crew to change course? How did Jason and his crew survive the Siren Song?<\/p>\n

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This is the provocation that Chris Hayes puts in front of the reader in his book “The Siren’s Call. It is an examination of what attention is, how it has been commodified, and is no longer within our own control. In an age of an overwhelming amount of information, there is a war on attention: “Information consumes Attention”.<\/p>\n

This book brings together a lot of different themes and challenges that leaders and educators face today, and weaves them into a coherant whole.<\/p>\n

You would be interested in \u201cThe Siren\u2019s Call\u201d if\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

(1) You\u2019re fascinated by how our attention is being turned into a commodity in today\u2019s digital age.
\n(2) You\u2019ve ever pondered whether our constant connectivity is harmless or harmful,<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a thought-provoking read that aligns well with other works you might have explored, like Johann Hari\u2019s, “Stolen Focus<\/a>“,\u00a0 where he tells the reader that if they are feeling distract, it is not their fault\u00a0it is by design; <\/strong><\/em>\u00a0or, Jenny Odell\u2019s\u00a0 “The Art of Doing Nothing<\/a>“, where she urges readers to disengage from the attention economy\u2019s demands and embrace deeper, more intentional forms of engagement; or, David Sax, “The Future is Analog<\/a>” where he advocates that we need to reframe HOW we educate, and that has to involve technology is a meaningful way. Each of these books, linked above to my book review of them, are referenced directly or indirectly throught “The Siren’s Call.”<\/p>\n

You might not be interested in this book if\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

(1) You\u2019re seeking straightforward solutions. Like Rushworth Kidder\u2019s \u201cHow Good People Make Tough Choices,\u201d Hayes\u2019 book doesn\u2019t offer a neat formula. Instead, it challenges you to wrestle with the reality that our attention is being mined like a resource.
\n(2) You’re seeking respite from the war on attention. Throughout, his examples pile up and pile on the next, and it can be overwhelming to see yourself, your habits reflected back at you.<\/p>\n

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Click the image to hear Chris introduce this book – and look at the comments on the side. Classic Trolling…addressed in his book too!<\/p><\/div>\n

Information Consumes Attention:<\/strong>
\nAs Herbert Simon noted and Hayes highlights on page 164: \u201cIn an information-rich world, a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention.\u201d How might we, as educators, ensure that the ‘signal -to-noise’ ration is mangeable across age and stage? The more information is out there, the more fractured our shared sense of community becomes: we can watch anything at anytime, and when we connect with others, we find ourselves more often then not, saying “Did you see this reel…” or “This thing came across my feed – did you see this?”. What might be the solution?<\/p>\n

Hayes builds on this to argue that we risk living in a \u201cboring apocalypse,\u201d where we\u2019re never truly bored in a productive way\u2014only endlessly idle, scrolling through infinite feeds without giving our minds the space to daydream or recharge. The calls us back to Jenny Odell’s work on the art of doing nothing for nothing’s sake. Our biology and neurology need boredom in order to process, think differently and make sense of our use of time.<\/p>\n

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@cbsmornings<\/a> <\/p>\n

In his new book, Chris Hayes makes the case that today the world\u2019s most endangered resource is human attention and that ruthless competition for our attention is changing how we live our lives. Brook Silva-Braga caught up with Hayes to discuss “The Sirens’ Call.” #booktok<\/a> #screentime<\/a> #tech<\/a> #news<\/a> #attention<\/a> #books<\/a> <\/p>\n

\u266c original sound – CBS Mornings<\/a> <\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n