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If you were in church a few weeks ago you maybe heard me mention sirens. No, not the wailing sound blared out by police cars and ambulances. I mean the creatures from the Greek epic, The Odyssey, penned by Homer in the 8 th century BC.
Now, if you are like me, you may have drifted off to sleep at the very mention of classical Greek literature. If you have, then let me shout “WAKE UP!” in your ear, because I promise you something interesting if you make it to the end of this article. (I should point out that my relationship with classical Greek and Latin is like my relationship with kale. I know it’s supposed to be good for me, and I’d like to be able to brag that I consume it, but frankly, it all sounds rather too boring to be spending my time on. Today I’m only going to consume 2,000 calories, and none of them will be wasted on kale. In the same way, I can maybe read 20 books this year, and none of them will be classical literature.)


Anyway, if you are still reading, let me say “thank you” and remind you about the fascinating topic of sirens (the non-emergency-vehicle kind). Homer’s sirens are female creatures who inhabit the rocky coastline and sing. Really well. In fact, so beautiful are sirens’ voices that any sailor hearing them will lose all self-control. Transfixed, they will run their ships onto the rocks to get to the sirens, and diemiserable deaths.


Our hero, Odysseus, tells the crew of his ship to fill their ears with beeswax so they will not hear the sirens’ call. Further, he commands them to strap him to the mast of the ship and leave him there. He warns his crew that when he hears the song of the sirens he’ll beg to be untied but his men are to not listen to him, only tie him even tighter to save all their lives.


Sirens are beautiful distractions. We live with many siren songs – captivating voices that promise the earth, but in reality only distract us from what is important in life, even luring us to ruin on whatever metaphorical rock sinks your boat.

That, then, nicely tees up this week’s book recommendation for your consideration as you while away the late summer: The Sirens' Call: How Attention Became the World's Most Endangered Resource by Chris Hayes. According to Hayes, distraction is a hallmark of our culture. Indeed, all our waking lives are lived in an environment of distraction.


It used to be that TV commercials sold washing powder (or whatever). They still do. But now, with the burgeoning of smartphones and social media, something new is being sold ... us and our attention.

The lurid headline, the sensational claim, the tempting image appear on our phones for one reason: To grab our attention and make us click. The more clicks, the more your attention can be sold to advertisers. Your attention, not the washing powder, is the product. Itis being monetized for the further enrichment of very rich people.


Obviously, this is sobering. The human brain has a bias towards the scandalous. The more outrageous the headline, the better; even if that means downright lying. Hayes is not a Christian (at least, he makes no mention of a personal faith in his book), but I believe his observations on the impact of the smartphone on our personal lives are true and helpful. (By the way, if you’re wondering if this is the same Chris Hayes as the guy who has a show on MSNBC – wonder no more. He is, but this book is mercifully free of political opinion.)