The Attention Merchants

[Tim Wu] writes books that make a big impact… The Attention Merchants is a sobering and significant book. * John Naughton, The Guardian *‘Wu writes about the uglier consequences of our great migration to the web with the bruised zeal of an ex-millenarian.’ * The Times *‘Wu is much better than most, partly because he is a sceptic, but mainly because he has narrative flair and an eye for the most telling examples.’ * The Sunday Times *In this revelatory book, Tim Wu tells the story of how advertisers and programmers came to seize control of our eyes and minds. The Attention Merchants deserves everyone’s attention. * Nicholas Carr, author of THE SHALLOWS *[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. * Financial Times *‘Wu’s book … record[s] the extraordinarily successful attempts by advertisers to occupy more and more of our attention over the past 100 years.’ * Ben Tarnoff, The Guardian *I couldn’t put this fascinating book down. Gripping from page one with its insight, vivid writing, and panoramic sweep, [it] is also a book of urgent importance, revealing how our preeminent industries work to fleece our consciousness rather than help us cultivate it. * Amy Chua, Yale Law Professor and author of BATTLE HYMN OF THE TIGER MOTHER *A profoundly important book… Attention itself has become the currency of the information age, and, as Wu meticulously and eloquently demonstrates, we allow it to be bought and sold at our peril. * James Gleick, author of TIME TRAVEL: A HISTORY *

The question of how to get people to care about something important to you is central to religion, government, commerce, and the arts. For more than a century, America has experimented with buying and selling this attention, and Wu’s history of that experiment is nothing less than a history of the human condition and its discontents.

Tim Wu is an author, policy advocate, and professor at Columbia University. He has been named as one of the leaders in science and technology, one of Harvard’s 100 most influential graduates and America’s 100 Most Influential Lawyers, and in 2014 and 2015 he was named to the “Politico 50.” He formerly wrote for Slate, winning the Lowell Thomas Gold medal for Travel Journalism, and is a contributing writer for The New Yorker. In 2015, he was appointed to the Executive Staff of the Office of New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.