THE ATTENTION MERCHANTS: The Epic Struggle to Get Inside Our Heads
Tim Wu
Atlantic Books
416 pages; Rs 499
There is a memorable line in the children’s story, The Pied Piper of Hamelin. Asked what was so great about his invention, the cunning, flautist replies: “I attract attention; chiefly with a secret charm… Who doesn’t know of the Pied Piper?”
Who knew that the story of the Piper would one day be a metaphor for the advertising industry?
When we get down to thinking about it, consciousness is really a scarcity. In the limited waking time we have in
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