413 pages ; 1 volume ; 20 cm In nearly every moment of our waking lives, we face a barrage of advertising enticements, branding efforts, sponsored social media, commercials and other efforts to harvest our attention. Tim Wu argues that this is not simply the byproduct of recent inventions but the end result of more than a century's growth and expansion in the industries that feed on human attention. From the pre-Madison Avenue birth of advertising to TV's golden age to our present age of radically individualized choices, the business model of 'attention merchants' has always been the same. He describes the revolts that have risen against these relentless attempts to influence our consumption, from the remote control to FDA regulations to Apple's ad-blocking OS. But he makes clear that attention merchants grow ever-new heads, and their means of harvesting our attention have given rise to the defining industries of our time, changing our nature - cognitive, social, and otherwise - in ways unimaginable even a generation ago. [Publisher] Originally published: United States: Alfred A. Knopf, 2016 Includes bibliographical references and index The first attention merchants -- The alchemist -- For king and country -- Demand engineering, scientific advertising, and what women want -- A long lucky run -- Not with a bang but with a whimper -- The invention of prime time -- The prince -- Total attention control, or the madness of crowds -- Peak attention, America style -- Prelude to an attentional revolt -- The great refusal -- Coda to an attentional revolution -- Email and the power of the check-in -- Invaders -- AOL pulls 'em in -- Establishment of the celebrity-industrial complex -- The Oprah model -- The panopticon -- The kingdom of content: This is how you do it -- Here comes everyone -- The rise of clickbait -- The Place to be -- The importance of being microfamous -- The fourth screen and the mirror of Narcissus -- The web hits bottom -- A retreat and a revolt -- Who's boss here? -- An absorbing spectacle: the attention merchant turned president -- The human reclamation project