The Sirens' Call Audiobook By Chris Hayes cover art

The Sirens' Call

How Attention Became the World's Most Endangered Resource

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The Sirens' Call

By: Chris Hayes
Narrated by: Chris Hayes
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About this listen

From the New York Times bestselling author and MSNBC and podcast host, a powerful wide-angle reckoning with how the assault from attention capitalism on our minds and our hearts has reordered our politics and the very fabric of our society

We all feel it—the distraction, the loss of focus, the addictive focus on the wrong things for too long. We bump into the zombies on their phones in the street, and sometimes they’re us. We stare in pity at the four people at the table in the restaurant, all on their phones, and then we feel the buzz in our pocket. Something has changed utterly: for most of human history, the boundary between public and private has been clear, at least in theory. Now, as Chris Hayes writes, “With the help of a few tech firms, we basically tore it down in about a decade.” Hayes argues that we are in the midst of an epoch-defining transition whose only parallel is what happened to labor in the nineteenth century: attention has become a commodified resource extracted from us, and from which we are increasingly alienated. The Sirens’ Call is the big-picture vision we urgently need to offer clarity and guidance.

Because there is a breaking point. Sirens are designed to compel us, and now they are going off in our bedrooms and kitchens at all hours of the day and night, doing the bidding of vast empires, the most valuable companies in history, built on harvesting human attention. As Hayes writes, “Now our deepest neurological structures, human evolutionary inheritances, and social impulses are in a habitat designed to prey upon, to cultivate, distort, or destroy that which most fundamentally makes us human.” The Sirens’ Call is the book that snaps everything into a single holistic framework so that we can wrest back control of our lives, our politics, and our future.

©2025 Chris Hayes (P)2025 Penguin Audio
Economics Editors Select History & Culture History & Theory Media Studies Political Science Politics & Government Social Sciences Technology & Society

Interview: Chris Hayes is sounding the alarm about the key resource of our age: attention

'The finite resource of this age is attention. And the reason is that information consumes attention.'
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  • The Sirens' Call
  • 'The finite resource of this age is attention. And the reason is that information consumes attention.'

Critic reviews

“Casting a wide net that encompasses philosophers, media theorists, psychologists, and classic literature . . . Hayes unpacks how attention is both a force integral to survival and a resource so sought after that it has become like ‘gold in a stream, oil in a rock.' . . . Relatable and amusing . . . A savvy . . . meditation on the modern attention economy.” Publishers Weekly

“[Hayes’] facility for lucid synthesis is put to gratifying use in this smart, constructive book . . . He carefully charts how the churning monetization of attention has fundamentally changed news, politics, and leisure time, turning our communications landscape into a kind of ‘failed state’ where common-sense norms have been routed by ‘attentional warlordism.’ Amid the virtual maelstrom, Hayes wants to help readers reclaim a measure of mental tranquility . . . An intelligent, forward-looking analysis of our increasing inability to stay focused.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Chris Hayes sees around corners—not just naming and explaining but also solving problems that the rest of us are only starting to sense. The Sirens’ Call is his biggest idea yet, and his most urgent. Reading it has made me change the way I work and think. Brilliant book.” —Rachel Maddow, host of the Emmy Award-winning Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC and #1 New York Times bestselling author of Prequel, Blowout, and Drift

What listeners say about The Sirens' Call

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Social Media Attention: Who Knew

Excellent book on how social medial attention has changed our lives, our politics & how we interact with each other. Extremely thought provoking. Loved it!!!

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Critical listen

Loved Chris’ thinking and speculations, ideas and brilliance, thorough research and compassion for our world.

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Information.

I enjoyed the authors perception of how we got there & what we could do to save ourselves from being captives of screens.

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Timely

Timely, relevant and well crafted.. this is detailed examination of modern “attention capitalism” and its evolution. Hayes examined both the modern media’s adaptation and manipulation of people’s attention, and its role in society.

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I loved this

I loved this book on the current state of attention. It also talks about the history of attention as well.
This was easy to listen to - the narrator's voice was pleasant.

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Chris Hayes has great insight.

I’ve learned so much about attention from Chris that it has fundamentally shifted my perspective about attention and how to control my time in all areas. Marvelous, seriously life changing. Thank you, Chris.

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The message was so precise and effective. Chris Hayes is a very gifted and articulate journalist.

Loved the entire story and how it all tied together effecting a re-examination of how we need to control our own lives in a healthier way. My hats off to Chris Hayes.

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Very Timely Topic

Hayes brings historic and scientific research along with his insights into modern American life. The examples jump out as, “yes, me too!” moments. His suggestions are practical and straight forward. A fascinating listen!

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Poignant and Deeply Relatable

This book does truly an incredible job of articulating the strangeness of this current historical moment and and contains compelling takes on its damages and a way forward. 12/10, would recommend.

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Yeah Chris!

I really enjoyed this book by Chris Hayes. I watch him frequently on his show, and listen to his podcast. He is a good host.

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