| Title | : | The Art of Noticing: 131 Ways to Spark Creativity, Find Inspiration, and Discover Joy in the Everyday |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0525521240 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780525521242 |
| Format Type | : | Hardcover |
| Number of Pages | : | 256 |
| Publication | : | First published January 1, 2019 |
Welcome to the era of white noise. Our lives are in constant tether to phones, to email, and to social media. In this age of distraction, the ability to experience and be present is often lost: to think and to see and to listen.
Enter Rob Walker's The Art of Noticing--an inspiring volume that will help you see the world anew. Through a series of simple and playful exercises--131 of them--Walker maps ways for you to become a clearer thinker, a better listener, a more creative workplace colleague, and finally, to rediscover what really matters to you.
The Art of Noticing: 131 Ways to Spark Creativity, Find Inspiration, and Discover Joy in the Everyday Reviews
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This might be a useful book for teachers to use with students who need to hone their observational, or mindfulness, skills. Art students, perhaps. For the rest of us, there are some good ideas but I didn’t find anything particularly original. Take time to smell the flowers, listen to birdsong, absorb your surroundings. All good advice, if not groundbreaking.
With thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Random House / Ebury Press for a review copy. -
The Art of Noticing is essentially another mindfulness reference guide but it approaches how we become mindful in relatively innovative new ways and these are compiled in the book as 131 different exercises. Each exercise aims to make the reader more consciously aware and to help them notice more about life that may usually pass them by. They are graded by level of difficulty from easy right through to advanced. Mr Walker emphasises the need to pay attention to the world around us and to firmly plant ourselves in the present. This is an interesting book and you can tell a lot of work and research went into producing it. Recommended to those who are seeking new and diverse ways to achieve mindfulness. Many thanks to Ebury Press for an ARC.
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This is quite an interesting read though am not sure if I will do the exercises as I'm quite lazy that way. There are 131 exercises designed to get us to notice more of what's going on round about us and get our noses out of the moderne technology we have at our fingertips today.
I would like to thank NetGalley, Penguin Random House UK, Ebury Publishing and the author Rob Walker for my ARC in exchange for an honest review. -
It's a bit of a strange thing to write a review before I've read every word of a book, but in this case I think that it's okay. I think that it's okay because this book is so practical that you'll probably put it down almost immediately (a strange endorsement for a book, admittedly). I started to read it on my morning commute and by the 7th page had already decided to put it away and start "noticing" things. Currently, I'm exploring my city for numbers, taking photographs of numbers as they reveal themselves in the urban landscape. I often facilitate group discussions and strategy sessions; I'll return to this book often when looking for ways to quickly introduce people the joy of applying a lens and looking for patterns.
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4 to 4 1/2 stars
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This was a delightful as well as educating read focusing on the concepts of attention and concentration. The writer, Rob Walker, offers 131 concentration/observation examples, or as Walker puts it "131 opportunities for joyous exploration in all its dimensions, that one can practice in his everyday life. He writes: "Paying attention is the only thing that guarantees insight, it is the only weapon we have against power"Apart from that, there is an interesting introduction where Walker analyzes the notion of paying attention and its vital importance for human beings. There is a number of references on other, academics or not, writers whose work on the subject help the readers to understand what is the point of "the art of noticing".
One can see "The Art of Noticing" as a useful guide for all who wish to take another step in the direction of mindfulness and enhancing conscientiousness. Some of the concentration exercises, or "thought experiments" as Walker defines them, are really challenging and intriguing. Personally I can't wait to follow some of the most stimulating ones and I firmly believe that they will prove to be truly helpful.. The number one enemy for a keen observer is distraction which can take many forms, especially today in an age where the subject is exposed to an overwhelming amount of information through the web and mass media.
If you are zealous supporter of self-improvement and you are interested on new ways of strengthening your mind, this is definitely the most pertinent book which, furthermore, offers many references for those who are fascinated and want to delve deeper into the subject. Finally, I would like to thank Netgalley and the publisher for providing a free ARC of this title. -
In this hi-tech, smart phone world, it's easy to not notice things around us. To look but not actually see. This book is a collection of 131 ways to change that. Some of the ideas take minutes and can be done immediately, while others take planning and more time. I dipped in and out, and while I didn't "perform" all these ideas, this is an interesting look at switching out of the regular brain patterns and noticing what is around us. I expect to dip into this one again in the future.
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So the question is, are those 131 exercises really surprising and innovative? Can I envisage myself taking part in any of them, or a close alternative that would be a better fit for my own lifestyle and personality?
The answer to the first question is – yes. All the exercises are slightly off the wall and unusual, requiring a shift from everyday thinking – to the extent that some of them are used to help art students hone an alternative, original view of the world. Some of my favourites include the one inspired by writer Paul Lukas, who likes to discover the backstory of everyday objects in an activity he calls ‘inconspicuous consumption’, by asking ‘how did it get that way?’. I also like the exercise Brian Rea uses of making lists of immaterial things – such as the things he is worried about, memorable moments during a dinner party, the bars he visited when living in Stockholm. None of the above remotely appeal, but I’m attracted to the idea of making a list of the flowers blooming in my garden, along with the date when they first appeared, for instance. Another exercise I particularly like is making a glossary of unfamiliar vocabulary that exist within a specific expertise, by asking people for terms within their work life that don’t regularly come up in everyday usage.
There were a number of exercises that left me cold – one was to record a couple of minutes of activity on your smartphone and write a poem, or description of it, after viewing it repeatedly to ensure you absorb all the minutest details. I’m not saying there is anything wrong with it, it just didn’t appeal.
What I appreciate is that Walker has taken pains to spread these exercises across the widest spectrum of interests and sensory input. There are exercises that appeal to our visual senses – like the above, for instance. There are exercises involving sound-mapping the surrounding environment, with some ingenious variations; exercises involving drawing or painting; and using modern technology to make short films of the day objects you touch every day. In short, whoever you are and whatever your particular strengths and inclination, I think you’ll find something in this book that you could use or adapt. And that was something else I really like – there is no sense in which Walker is at all dogmatic about any of the suggested exercises. He frequently suggests variations and at the end of the book actively encourages his readers to find different ways to put this approach in place.
These exercises are all designed to help us reset ourselves within our environment, so that we focus on the immediacy of existing in the way we’ve done for millennia – the way we’re designed to do. I will be campaigning for the hard copy edition of this book for my upcoming birthday, as the ebook isn’t a particularly friendly medium for browsing and flipping back and forth. Highly recommended for anyone who wants to reconnect with their surroundings in any way.
10/10 -
Desde hace unos veintiocho años he sido señalado por mi falta de atención. En los noventas y en donde crecí no creo que hubiera chance de tener un diagnóstico de ADHD predominantemente inatento. Dentro de todo esto, últimamente me he hecho a la idea de que puede que esté perdiéndome de muchas cosas que hay en mi entorno por culpa del teléfono-redes sociales-similares y conexas.
Este libro lo que hace es proponer una serie de ejercicios creativos para estar más al tanto de lo que ocurre a nuestro alrededor. Como probablemente sepan, nuestras cabezas operan en dos modos y uno de ellos que es el piloto automático filtra toda la información que no es esencial. Lo malo es que esto prácticamente nos ciega a muchas maravillas del mundo que tienen todo el potencial de: a) despertar nuestra curiosidad b) desarrollarnos la empatía c) contemplar la maravilla del mundo y todas las historias que hay en él.
Entonces, el libro empata bastante bien con la onda de mindfulness y algo con la del minimalismo. Todos estos ejercicios los recomiendo mucho para los fans de los libros de Keri Smith (Destroza este diario) y Austin Kleon (roba como un artista). Particularmente todos los booktubers que siguen haciendo Document your Life lo encontrarán valioso.
Y bueno, aproveché para leer este libro en una excursión en autobús a un parque nacional en el Caribe. Lo verdaderamente maravilloso es que cuando uno va en un tren o en un camión o similares y conexas uno tiene ese chance de ver el mundo a través del cristal como si se tratase de un escenario, donde los cuadros cambian continuamente. Entonces mientras leía el libro aprovechaba a mirar por la ventana y darme cuenta de las cosas que tenía ante mis ojos.
Ésto es algo de lo que me di cuenta:
-Una casa antigua pintada de blanco, con un ojo negro pintado en la fachada (¿A quién se le ocurrió? ¿Se trata de una galería de arte?)
-Una casa antigua con almenas en la fachada (¿En qué estaban pensando los dueños al ordenar ese tipo de arquitectura neogótica en San José?)
-En el gigantesco parque nacional de bosque lluvioso, en la vertiente del pacífico los árboles no tienen lianas y en la vertiente del atlántico sí (¿Por qué?)
-En el citado parque nacional, que es apabullante por lo grande y selvático, siempre veo una gran catarata entre las montañas tapizadas de árboles (¿Cómo se llega a esa catarata?)
-Este autobús tenía cortinas en zigzag. La cortina suelta al mecerse con el autobús proyectaba una sombra en zigzag que crecía y decrecía.
-La tapicería de pana de los asientos del autobús era color jade y su patrón eran círculos conectándose a otros en nodos (¿Podría ser un mapa de un nexo de agujeros de gusano?)
-En la planicie costera del atlántico, una sección con muchas plantas de bambú (¿Quién las plantó?)
-El Río Pacuare a reventar de agua (¿Será buena temporada para hacer rafting ahora que viene mi primo de visita?)
-Una tienda de abarrotes con un nombre chino en un pueblo que tiene un nombre bíblico 'Zhao Betania'. (¿Cómo llegó ahí el tendero?)
-Campos interminables de platanares. Patios enormes de contenedores gigantes, todos refrigerados, para llevarse el plátano. (¿Funciona como un aire acondicionado un contenedor refrigerado? ¿Qué tan verdes llegan los plátanos a su destino?)
-Un hombre sentado en su motocicleta, con un brazo cruzado y la otra mano un perico. (¿Cómo se llama el perico? ¿Desde cuándo lo tiene?)
-El cementerio de Limón. Una tumba que dice: "El dolor no es capaz de apacar (sic) la esperanza" (¿Quién fue el ser amado que le escribió esa bonita frase al difunto? ¿Cuál es su historia?)
-Las tumbas de la Colonia China. - (¿Qué los trajo aquí? ¿Cuántos se quedaron? ¿Habrán sido como los trabajadores que cuenta Ken Liu en el Zoo de Papel?) -
"What is art but a way of seeing?" John Berger tells us.
To make art, then, we need to see freshly, in different ways.
This book is all about shifting your focus and looking at the world from a different angle, looking at things with a different focus. It's an ideal book for someone wanting to see the world anew. -
Малка книжка, изпълнена с най-различни идеи как да накараш съзнанието си да излезе извън стандартното си състояние на избирателна пропускливост.
Всички знаем как като нещо ни направи впечатление и изведнъж го виждане навсякъде около нас. Идеята на книгата е да ти помогне да започнеш да забелязваш обикновените неща целенасочено. Оказа се, че напълно несъзнателно съм осиновила някои от тези идеи в ежедневието си и даже си имам мои собствени подобни странни навици да гледам за неща, които са важни за мен - примерно имам в главата си карта на Единбург с всички места, където има шанс да видиш котка и съзнанието ми винаги може да забележи котка на третия етаж без да си правя труда да мисля за това или въобще да гледам в тази посока.
Повечето предложения как да започнеш да наблюдаваш са лесни и определено приятни и чудесен начин да успокоиш блуждаещия си ум и да намериш вдъхновение и красота в напълно обикновени и скучни места, хора и предмети.
Не е нужно даже да се чете цялата книга, а може просто да отвориш на случайна страница и да си дадеш шанс да опиташ нещо ново, да видиш своя свят от нов ъгъл и може би по пътя да намериш това, което търсиш. Новата перспектива винаги е добър начин за справяне със стари проблеми. Определено ще се сдобия с копие на книгата да си я имам, когато имам нужда от вдъхновение или различна форма на mindfulness. :) -
Very delightful book of suggestions for noticing things that may be just mundane until you really see them. He has wonderful stories about how many of his suggestions were implemented. Absolutely wonderful suggestions, and I have to listen to this a lot more times. I will be trying a few of them just to help open my mind on seeing and hearing things. I've listened to this twice in a row already. This is a very powerful tool!
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Enjoyed this one.
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Definitely not for me. I’m not sure how this made it on my “to read” list, but maybe it is Squam related. I disliked it, but recognize that I’m probably not the intended audience, hence the three stars. If this is your sort of thing, you’ll probably enjoy it.
The author writes, “Art is everywhere, if you say so.” Although I get it, my core strongly disagrees with this statement. I know artists and this theory really undermines their talent.
One nice thing, actually stopped reading this at 20%, which is something I never do. So, oddly empowering. -
I love art assignments or prompts that encourage tangential looking/thinking, so this book was squarely in my wheelhouse. I love that you can read it straight through or cut to a page and read a passage or two. There are fun, thoughtful prompts that I believe would serve a lot of people some good.
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This was a book of affirmation.
Being a painfully shy, introverted child, I think I grew up already doing these things- noticing, going out of my way to look at different things-- or look at things differently. Challenging my oddly curious mind to make games out of things. To be learning something new, even if my surroundings seemingly didn't change much. (hint: they did, it just takes practice to quiet oneself and notice the changes.)
As we get older it's easier to be busy, distracted, exhausted. To go on autopilot and forget to notice all the subtleties around us.
But I think it's imperative to do so.
It works our brains, keeps them nimble. And I believe it settles us somewhere deep inside-- builds our own happiness and contentment.
If we allow it to do so.
I wish this book could be placed in the hands of the population in general (or on their screens in front of them, since I see the majority looking down at their devices instead of looking up and around them.) Use ALL your senses.
Favorite memory of listening within listening (done years ago):
Turning off all the lights, putting on headphones, lying on the floor, listening to a favorite song on a loop. Not just to hear the music, the words (all of which I already knew so well):
but to focus on the singer as he took a sharp inhale of breath before the beginning of each line of lyrics.
It gave me goosebumps. -
Walker provides 131 methods/ideas on how to hone the art of noticing one’s surroundings, paying attention to the mundane and observing what might otherwise be ignored.
I personally believe that being observant is a great skill to have. I began to hone my observing powers years ago, after reading my first Sherlock Holmes book.
Being observant is like being privy to a window that no one else can see. It’s like being the sole audience to a performance. Almost everyone is too consumed by their minds and their lives to take notice of things around them.
Noticing the world around you not only stimulates creativity and broadens perspective, it also grounds you. Noticing is ultimately being mindful of yourself and what surrounds you. Rob Walker provides several exercises on noticing. For example:
-Making an auditory map
-Making lists
-taking new routes
-digging back stories
While some of his suggested methods might not appeal to you, some of them might change the way you look at the world. -
This is one of the most impactful and helpful books I've read this year. I took my time working through it as an assignments-book or workbook, and transparently have more reading to go. (It's rare that I spend 7 months with a book that I didn't actually just abandon). But highly recommended in its message as well as sparking a different perspective on noticing and mindfulness that's helpful for anybody in any walk of life.
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How many books have changed your everyday life for the better? I don't mean books that have given you a spiritual awakening or whatever - I mean books that have changed the normcore experience of say a random Tuesday morning so it's just a little more magical, a little more curious, a little more colourful.
This book has had me conducting playful experiments on my own life in various ways for about 3 months now - I have spent ten minutes looking out of the window I most persistently ignore. I have collected photos of 'things growing on walls' and I now notice things growing on walls everywhere I go. I have been inspired to make art after being stuck for some time.
My main takeaway is we actually do have power over how we direct our attention.
"You may learn something about yourself in what you notice." -
Takeouts:
Looking as a vandal/futurist/historician/Improv/child/uncouth guest...
Deep listening.
Ideological Turing Test
Allocataplixis as the new way. -
There are 131 exercises in The Art of Noticing designed to get us to notice more, think more, listen more or just get us outside out comfort zone a little and explore new places and things.. They are ranked 1-4 in terms of difficulties in doing that exercise as some may require forward planning. This is really another 'mindfulness type book. I was left frequently asking myself 'why would I want to waste my life doing this' after reading some of the exercises. Do I have better things to do with my life than note every manhole cover I can spot or to do a complete inventory of my possessions down to the sheets of printer paper and food items in my kitchen cupboards? "Yes I do" was my overwhelming response and was further left feeling aggrieved that I'd spent too much of my life reading this book, let alone doing any of the practical exercises.
While I would welcome ways to encourage people to spend less time looking at phones, Internet or simply not paying attention to things and people because of distractions I think there are lot better way to achieve that than spending your time doing some of these exercises.
With thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Random House UK, Ebury Publishing for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. -
Big fan of this one— already added it to my Amazon cart so I can have a copy on hand whenever I need a creative boost! It’s chock full of exercises (from easy to more advanced) to help you really keep your eyes open, fuel your creative fire, and stay inspired, and I looooved it. I already put a few into action (and felt super validated by some I already do!) and found them so helpful and motivating.
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تقييم الكتاب ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
عنوان الكتاب: "فن الملاحظة"، للكاتب روب والكر، ترجمة: د. نهى عبدالله العويضي
عدد الصفحات: 303 صفحات
دار النشر: دار تشكيل للنشر والتوزيع
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رأيي:
"كتاب عبارة عن تم��رين لتقوية الملاحظة لدى الشخص يحتوي الكتاب على 131 تمرين متنوع وتنقسم هذه التمارين الى اربع انواع بحسب درجة الصعوبة (سهلة للغاية، ممكنة قد تستلزم بعض التخطيط، التحدي الممتع، المستوى المتقدم). سعى فيها الكاتب للوصول لما اسماه بفن الملاحظه عن طريق أما التأمل أو التركيز أو التخطيط وكتابة الامور وفي بعض الأحيان يقترح علينا الكاتب أمور غريبه منها أستمع للغرباء وتحدث معهم والتعاطف مع صخرة!! .. بالمختصر يحاول الكاتب أن يجعلنا نعيش اللحظه ونتذكرها ونستمتع بها، وافاد الكاتب بأنه تم تصميم التمارين والتأملات المذكورة في الكتاب لمساعدة القارىء في تحديد ما يريد الاهتمام به ومن ثم ماهية الاشياء ومن هم الأشخاص الذين يريد الاهتمام بهم. من المواضيع المطروحه لعبة المطاردة تحدث فيها عن صورة البحث الذهنية وعرفها على أنها (الشكل المرئي للتوقع الذي يتيح لك إيجاد معنى في وسط الفوضى.)
ولقد وضح تجربته في البحث عن الكاميرات الأمنية في سان فرانسيسكو. كما تحدث عن النظر من خلال النافذة والنظر للفنون في المتاحف بالاضافة الى أمور اخرى منها(مثل دراسة سلوكيات زوار المتحف، الانتباه لأسماء المتبرعين وتأمل حراس المتحف). بالإضافة الى انه اقترح ان نقوم بتجربه جميلة يتحدث الكاتب عن محاولة رسم غرفة غادرتها للتو لا يحتاج لتفاصيل الدقيقة ولكن الامور الاساسية مثل الأبواب والنوافذ والأثاث.
دعم بعض المواضيع بدراسات قام بها علماء ومؤرخين وكُتَاب في مجال علم النفس. يقترح علينا الكاتب أن نحاول رؤية الامور من زاوية كمؤرخ أو فنان الشوارع أو عالم مستقبليات أو ضيف سيء أو ممثل مرتجل أو طفل، ويعطي أمثله على كل واحد منهم.
تحدث الكاتب عن الأصوات أو بمعنى آخر الضوضاء التي نصدرها نحن في يومنا، وطرح تجربة تسجيلها وملاحظتها لمعرفة الاصوات التي تصدر منا ومدى تأثيرها علينا مثل ( المشي والكتابة وغسيل الأطباق والكلام وحتى الغناء) مع محاولة القيام بأقل قدر من الأصوات وبعدها المحاولة بأكبر قدر من الضوضاء وتسجيل الملاحظات لمعرفة مدى تأثيرها على تركيزنا. كما تحدث الكاتب عن طرق الانصات الجيد وتحدث عن استراتيجية سلنت (slant). واقترح الكاتب التحدث مع الغرباء والذي من خلاله يتعلم الشخص دروس كثيره.
أعجبني الكتاب فقد وسع الكتاب مداركي وجعلني أنظر لبعض الأمور من زاوية أخرى، استطعت ان اخرج بافكار جديدة، ساجرب ان أطبقها في حياتي."
ملاحظة:" الترجمة جيدًا جدًا" -
A lot of self-help books assume you are either trying to stop being a loser and become a demigod. There's often very little that speaks to ways to 'help' a normal person live a more enchanted life. This is thankfully, one such book.
I often say that editing writing is an effort to trick your brain into actually reading what is on the page, rather than what you expect to read. This is a book about doing that for normal life. How often have you driven to work, and realised upon stopping the car that you hardly saw anything. Your autopilot was on, you didn't hit anything or have any close calls, and so, could just tune out of the world before your eyes. The system works. Often, it works too well, and we struggle to notice, or rather often notice only the things we've seen before and expect to see.
This is a book of short vignettes about engaging with the world in fresh ways. Many involve some form of a visual game. Shift to looking at rooftops instead of the path below, try and find the oldest thing around you, try and find something that is broken, something that shouldn't be there, or which represents something which once was there. Or just take time to listen, to really listen. To walk a different path to work, eat at a casual restaurant you've never been to before, find ways to get out of autopilot.
Despite the many good ideas, the book can become somewhat repetitive. Its relentlessly practical focus may make it the perfect book for an artist looking to rediscover their creativity, but it loses some of the sense of wonder and exploration because the stories have no space to breathe. I'd recommend first picking up On Looking by Alexandra Horowitz who walks around the same New York block with eleven different experts (in sociology, in architecture, in archeology etc) and each helps her see the world in very different ways. That's a more charming version, but The Art of Noticing is still a valuable push to help you notice, really notice the world around you. -
“Our life experience will equal what we have paid attention to, whether by choice or default.
—WILLIAM JAMES”
Okay, I’ll be honest. While reading this book, I was planning to give it a 3-star rating, finding some of the ideas in it plainly absurd and even meaningless. Then I read the last part: “But really, caring is at the very heart of it all.” “This at its core is the art, and the joy, of noticing.”
And I thought, well yes! Definitely. Caring is the heart of noticing. We notice things, whether ideas, people or objects, so much more when we care about them.
But that’s not only what made me give it the 4 stars. I realized that throughout the reading journey, so many ideas sprang into my mind, some related to the things said and others merely inspired by them. So I thought this book deserves credit for being inspirational in a way.
It was a short light read, focusing on the idea of noticing and paying attention, with exercise ideas incorporated to implement the abstract ideas.
Here’s something for you to reflect on:
“True, distraction might mean missing the main event. But what if nobody knows what or where the main event is?”
The pinnacle of distraction is being so endorsed in the distractive element that you don’t know what you are being distracted from. Isn’t this what is happening to us on daily basis?
Or are we too distracted to answer such a question? -
This is a truly brilliant book. It is not just a book to be read, but to do and to transform you. It is, essentially, a series of exercises, graded by difficulty, which help and encourage you to notice the things, and people, around you properly. As the author says, you can just read the book through from cover to cover but that defeats the purpose. Using the exercises allows you to free up the way you look at, and ultimately notice, things. Th exercises not only allow you to notice more deeply but, in the process, find out more about yourself. Many of the exercises use art, with good reason, as art provides he perfect medium for getting inside the painting. I particularly liked the exercise where you look from the point of view of different members of society.
I can highly recommend this book if you want to go deeper into the world around you and discover a new appreciation for what it contains.
Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the copy of this book for review purposes. At no point was I asked to write a positive review. My rating and review are based on my reading and enjoyment of the book.
