The average office worker focuses on a task for only three minutes. We’re living in a huge crisis of attention. Stolen Focus begs the question: is this the death of our attention? Is it gone for good? It depends what we do now. I think what helps with grief is what helps with all human suffering: being surrounded by people who hold you and value you. To describe grief as a pathology, which is what we do in our culture, and to say you’ve got a limited amount of time in which to grieve – “Come on now, back to work, stop thinking about that!” – is a form of disrespect for that love. You grieve because you’ve loved the person. I’m grieving.” We offer these to parents now, grief is a form of love.

She said, “Why am I being offered these? I’m not insane. Immediately afterwards, Joanne was offered psychiatric drugs. Joanne’s daughter Cheyenne died in childbirth. I interviewed, got to know and became friends with a woman called Joanne Cacciatore. What helps with grief? I would reject the premise of helping with grief. You’ve become best known for writing books that investigate depression, addiction and distraction. It’s something I’d like to have more of a sense of. I enjoy sex and I enjoy eating but other than that, I think I have a very limited sense of bodily pleasure. I think of my body as sort of a brain on a stick. Trauma can do that, but also I think it’s our culture. What’s your relationship with your body now? A great friend of mine – V, formerly known as Eve Ensler – is always saying to me that I’m profoundly disconnected from my body. Many people have blamed many sins on Vegas. And if you get stuck in Vegas, it’s not that easy to eat well. So I gave up junk food and got a personal trainer. I thought, “This isn’t even the fried chicken shop I come to the most.” That was a horrific moment in my life. Every member of staff who was working that day had written: “To our best customer.” My clogged heart sank.

The guy behind the counter said, “Oh, Johann, I’m really glad you’re here.” And he went off behind where they fry the chicken and came back with a massive Christmas card. It was lunchtime and I gave my standard order … which is so disgusting that I won’t repeat it. On Christmas Eve 2009, I went to my local KFC near Brick Lane. Describe your body at the time and what happened next. In late 2009, you made a conscious effort to change your body. “Many people have blamed many sins on Vegas.

Stolen Focus by Johann Hari