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Featured BookThe Art of Noticing
Rob Walker
In the era of trending topics and nonstop news alerts, it’s easy to get in the habit of paying attention to whatever everyone else is paying attention to. You might even assume that if you notice something that nobody else is buzzing about, it’s not important. But actually, as I talk about in my new book, The Art of Noticing, the opposite is true. There’s nothing more important. Think about the books you discovered on your own and became important personal favorites.
Creativity and innovation start with noticing what others have missed. And the real pleasure of losing yourself in a bookstore is that it provides exactly the sort of sanctuary from the white noise of trending topics and hot takes: You can let yourself find the words that speak to you. Reading, like noticing, is both a private act and an indirectly social one, they are ways of living more deeply in the world.
Building your attention muscles is at the heart of mindful focus, and being more deeply connected to others. But it’s more than that. The things you notice that everybody else has (so far) overlooked—that’s what makes you you.
When you’re in a library…
- Think about the first time you ever visited a library, or at least the earliest library you can remember having visited. Look for things that are in the library today (technology, for instance) that would not have been in the past. What’s the newest thing here? Think about what these examples say about how libraries have changed, and why.
- Now consider what is part of today’s library that hasn’t Get beyond the obvious: Yes, there are still books, but what else remains, and why is that?
- Discretely pay attention to your fellow patrons. Speculate about what these people might be up to. Consider all the implications.
- Evaluate the library space, and identify the most prominent shelf of titles. Consider these books: Which you’ve heard of, which you haven’t, and whether this matters to you.
- Now identify the least prominent space in the library. This is harder! Settle on the single book that is the most obscure, in terms of its physical placement, according to whatever criteria you have devised. Spend five minutes with this book, reading the cover matter and skimming its contents. If you can, check it out, take it home, and read it.
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- Look for books that are out of place, as if someone picked it up and carried it for a while and then left in the wrong section. Make up a story about what happened.
- See if there are any author-signed books available. Buy one, write a note in it above the author’s signature, and send it to a friend.
- Go to a non-busy aisle, take something off the shelf, pretend to look at it, and simply listen to the sounds of the store. Try to do this for five minutes.
- Discretely pay attention to your fellow patrons. Speculate about what these people might be up to. Consider all the implications.
- Decide which is the most prominently displayed book in the store, and which is the least prominently displayed. Decide which one you’d rather read.
Excerpted with permission from The Art of Noticing: 131 Ways to Spark Creativity, Find Inspiration, and Discover Joy in the Everyday © 2019 by Rob Walker. Published by Knopf, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC.
Illustration: Lucia Calfapietra; Author Photo: Michael Lionstar
