I know I sound like a broken record, but it's now just one week until my book The Distraction Addiction is available in stores and online.

The feedback on Goodreads has been positive, and the reviews in newspapers and magazines have been pretty good, too:

In this practical guide to better, more “contemplative computing,” Pang, a historian of technology, teaches readers a valuable set of skills to better enable them to deal with an increasing reliance on ever-more intrusive and distracting forms of mobile technology. Along the way, the author provides an elegant tour through current neuroscience and an examination of the nature of attention to find better ways to handle our contemporary digital mediascape….

Pang’s methods will be familiar to readers of other time-management manifestos, but he successfully renders them concrete, practical, and contemporary. His history of technology is also fascinating, drawing from sources far removed from the digital sphere. Pang’s tome is a valuable resource for anyone seeking to take control of his or her digital life, and it’s a great primer on the interplay between mind and tech. (Publishers Weekly)

The… tools that are supposed to give us greater mobility have shackled us. We’re not mastering the gadgets; they master us, as we urgently glance at our smartphones and feel compelled to update our Pinterest, Facebook, and LinkedIn profiles. These constant disruptions are incredibly counterproductive and inflate our sense of self-importance….

Pang is no finger-waggling Luddite. He points out that people have been attached to technology for millennia—wheel, stone ax, sword, microscope. We even bury our dead with tools. We will always be enamored of technology, but Pang suggests that we be more deliberate about how we engage with it and practice what he calls contemplative computing. (Spirituality and Health)

Pang reminds us that our brains are still capable of feats far beyond the reach of computers…. We may be afflicted with "monkey mind," he concludes, but rather than fight our compulsions with web-blocking software like Freedom, we're better off embracing technology as an extension of self, wielding it as unthinkingly as we would a bionic arm. (Mother Jones)

Pang implores us to use technology more mindfully in this thoughtful book that is rich in research and anecdote. Perfect for readers who enjoy books on the nature of attention such as Maggie Jackson and Bill McKibben's Distracted: The Erosion of Attention and the Coming Dark Age and on the behavior of human-computer interaction. (Library Journal)

With the invention of personal computers and smartphones, the world of information and updates from friends and family is just a split second away. "People who spend all day with computers used to be called hackers,” writes Stanford and Oxford visiting scholar Pang. “Today, that's all of us.” This overwhelming volume of information has prompted what many call a "distraction addiction," where everything feels urgent and in need of your immediate attention; this situation usually results in ineffective multitasking. Pang offers simple techniques to create a more peaceful and productive life…. By following these methods of self-control, readers can better utilize the tools at hand and follow the buzz on the airwaves while still feeling in control of their lives. (Kirkus Review)

Pang bolsters his advice with anecdotes of intellectual breakthroughs by great thinkers of the past, coupled with interviews with present-day scientists and tech-savvy professionals. These accounts, including the surprising use of social media by Buddhist monks and a lengthy analysis of Darwin's method of reflection through walking, are the best part of Pang's book, placing today's current tech addiction into a broader context of human history, development, and philosophical insight. (Booklist)

Carr, like any number of technology sceptics, would probably have advised Pang to take a break: to disconnect from the internet and head for the mountains; to declare a gadget-free "digital sabbath" one day a week; to get rid of his smartphone or never check email at night. But Pang is a techno-enthusiast, to put it mildly, so his instinctive first thought was the opposite. What if there were a way to use the internet – and all our web-connected phones and tablets and laptops and games consoles – to foster rather than erode our attention spans, and to replace that sense of edgy distractedness with calm? (The Guardian)

So thanks to these reviews, and a couple shorter notices in Real Simple and other places, I'm starting to allow myself to feel… kind of optimistic about the book. I've always believed in the idea– at some point after I turned it in, I was struck with the realization that if I was hit by a truck, I'd be happy with this book being my legacy– but it's clear that its moment hasn't passed. If anything, the year in the pipeline has only made it more relevant.