Information overload, the shallows, weapons of mass distraction, the googlization of minds: countless commentators condemn the flood of images and information that dooms us to a pathological attention deficit.

In this new book, cultural theorist Yves Citton goes against the tide of these standard laments to offer a new perspective on the problem of attention in the digital age. Phrases like ?paying attention? and ?investing one's attention? attest to our mistaken belief that attention can be conceptualized in narrow economic terms. We are constantly drawn towards attempts to...