The Economics of Attention: Style and Substance in the Age of Information (Paperback)

by Richard A. Lanham (Author)
Key Phrases: information life, motive spectrum, centripetal gaze, Boffin Pundit, Teacher of Righteousness, Café Voltaire (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
It took 2,000 years for punctuation and spaces between words to enter written language, so can the continued evolution of how information is packaged, filtered and consumed be doubted? In this exploration of the changing economics of our information-based world, Lanham, professor emeritus of English at UCLA and author of The Electronic Word, proposes the problem with the information economy is "information doesn't seem in short supply. Precisely the opposite. We're drowning in it." Lanham posits that as society moves from a world defined by "stuff" to one defined by "fluff," people are increasingly in need of filters to weed through the information glut. Enter the arts and letters. Citing sources from the art world to Madison Avenue, Lanham delves into the increasing amount of importance placed on a product's packaging rather than the product itself. Lanham's points are strong and well-researched, as shown through his "background conversations," substitutes for endnotes included at the end of every chapter. If style is going to increasingly operate as the decision-making arbiter, Lanham should be commended on his: clear, jargon-free and forward-thinking.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review
"I personally find this head-smackingly insightful. Of course! Money may make the world go 'round, but it's attention that we increasingly sell, hoard, compete for, and fuss over....The real news is that just about all of us - whether we participate in the market as producers or consumers - live increasingly in the attention economy as well." - Andrew Cassel, Philadelphia Inquirer "Lanham's points are strong and well-researched....If style is going to increasingly operate as the decision-making arbiter, Lanham should be commended on his: clear, jargon-free, and forward-thinking." - Publishers Weekly "It's refreshing to read a deeply literary mind who embraces the information age, and wants to focus on its civilizing possibilities rather than flee from the screens in horror." - Pat Kane, Independent (UK)"

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Product Details

• Paperback: 326 pages
• Publisher: University Of Chicago Press (October 15, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0226468674
• ISBN-13: 978-0226468679
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #87,326 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Economics of Attention, June 30, 2006

By	Stephen Balbach (Ashton, MD United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Economics of Attention: Style and Substance in the Age of Information (Hardcover)

Lanham has been a university professor for about 40-years, Yale-educated, English lit and rhetoric. He came of age pre-computer revolution, when writing meant manual type-writers and white-out and transcription. This series of connected essays are his ideas about what the digital revolution means for the future of books, universities and what he calls "the economics of attention" - how the world operates when information is plentiful and the scarce resource are "eyeballs" (attention). We are flooded with high-quality art, news, books, movies, data of every type - it is not an "information economy" because information is as plentiful as air - the scarce resource is peoples attention. In that environment, style (the wrapping paper, the ornamentation, packaging, literary style, etc..) becomes more important than substance - style is the substance (think for example all the crazy cultural things that come out of Japan - all style, no substance). He also discusses how we interact with things: we look "at" them, or we look "through" them - ie. we enjoy them for what they are, or we analyze them. We read a novel/movie on a literary level and dissect how it was created or and historical context, or we "get lost in the book" and enjoy it for what it is. These two forces are in a constant tug of war with every object we own - cars for example, utilitarian or style (or some combo usually). In the end Lanham concludes it is the liberal arts that will save the day for they are the ones who are trained to filter (critics) and create design and style (the new substance). He also provides the most detailed and lucid explanation I've seen on why paper books have not been replaced by the digital medium.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars an updated, timely reading of the Internet in contemporary culture, December 1, 2006

By	Henry Berry "Henry Berry" (Southport, CT) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Economics of Attention: Style and Substance in the Age of Information (Hardcover)

"Seeing clearly what is happening as the word moves from page to screen seems...to depend on seeing clearly what is happening in the world that expressive field has to express," the noted, influential rhetorician Lanham remarks in the beginning of his "Preface." His metaphor of an economy for this "expressive world" is literarily, generally, and perceptively apt. It's more than a useful image. In this economy, "attention is the commodity in short supply." In this economy, individuals "budget" their attention; and web designers, software engineers, computer makers, marketers, and more and more writers are in competition for the attention of consumers, users, and readers; which attention is often leads in one way or another to earnings. Anyone who has used the Internet to find information, buy something, communicate with others, pay bills, and other activities both common and innovative will have a feel for what Lanham proposes and investigates. The terms "cyperspace" and "virtual reality" no longer suffice to relevantly denote the substantive place the digital world with its operations and potentials has taken in most persons' lives. Such terms now seem exotic or frivolous considering, as Lanham recognizes, how the considerably arbitrary, yet essential and formulative trait of attention has ineluctably moved to the computer screen.

5.0 out of 5 stars Rhetoric to the rescue in the information age, June 7, 2009

By	Jake Keenan "saying no to Plato" (Berkeley, Calif, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is a gem of a book that deserves more credit than these reviews allow. Lanham brilliantly uses a focus on attention to open up economics, rhetoric, art, the internet, universities as institutions, and the style/substance interdependence. He comes across as futuristic in his professor in L.A. way and as a very old school classicist in more of a deep school way. What is rare and very refreshing in this work is his strong faith and understanding of rhetoric, the lively and ancient road less taken by philosophers. His writing is delectable and every paragraph offers something to think about. I would leave a sample quote but instead I'll recommend checking out the sample pages in the Look Inside feature above.