This was an eye opening read on the author’s mental health struggles and acceptance of her neurodivergence. It is a wonderful read and reminder that everyone is different and there is more than one way to consider things. I loved the themes, concepts, and format of this book as well and it was a memoir I couldn’t put down. Thanks for the ARC!

This book was great ! I have ADHD myself! I love how it gave information on how to pay attention better. I get distracted many times from sounds , lights , and just overall things that come my way. The book was informative to help cut down on having this happen without the need to want to medicate more.

I liked this book for the discussion of the author’s mental health experience, and a little bit for the stories the author made up about people who lived in her area centuries ago. Less so for the descriptions of life on a small farm. The funny thing is that this book came out in the UK before the States, and the the original title “Earthed” and description would lead one to believe that the book was all about the experience of a family starting a farm. A quick glance through the reviews from last year show that people were confused that it wasn’t purely about a small family learning how to make it on a farm in the English countryside.

The cover and blurbs about the version that was later marketed to the USA seemed like it was purely about a woman who is struggling to find her mental health diagnosis. I would say this book is a conglomeration of topics, mostly about a woman in her 30’s trying to find herself. She comes to the realization that she has been living as neurodivergent person her whole life, although she has some issue with the term.

I was bored at times reading this book, and other times the language was lyrical and absorbing. Overall, I would give it 3.5 stars.

Thank you to Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review

I am still thinking about Rebecca Schiller’s A Thousand Ways to Pay Attention: A Memoir of Coming Home to My Neurodivergent Mind (The Experiment, 2022) days after completing the last chapter. Mulling it over like so many pieces of writing, or perhaps film, where one is not sure what they digested, but the pondering is part of the journey itself.

Compared to my memoir intake, my nature reading is slim, but Schiller’s sumptuous sensorial descriptors of her family’s smallholder farm enmesh the reader in the landscape of its mucky, weather-beaten, seasonal wonders. Interwoven with this ecological narrative is the history of former owners of their two-acre property, including interpretive retellings of their experiences supported by primary documentation and literary device.

Schiller’s mental health is addressed through the first two-thirds of the book via her interactions with her children and spouse, her foggy memory, her clumsiness, and her heightened anxiety and depression since moving to the smallholding. Her diagnosis, and understanding of her neurodivergence, encompass the latter third of the book and feel a tad rushed.

Part of the joy, and potential conundrum, of A Thousand Ways to Pay Attention is the sheer amount of content all wrapped in a book that contains too many gifts: first years on a small family farm, obtaining a health diagnosis, and researching and reinterpreting the history of the land around her.

Thank you to NetGalley, The Experiment, and Rebecca Schiller for the e-ARC.

Schiller writes beautifully about her personal journey with an emphasis on connection to nature. I was expecting more emphasis on her neuro-divergence and readers looking for that may become impatient in the first act which is mainly full of descriptions of farm life. Those who like Thoreau, Beston, and the like however will find this a satisfying read and may find a kindred spirit or an empathetic opportunity in Schiller's struggles. Younger folks or those with a more modern lifestyle my find it hard to relate.

This was a well told memoir that hops back and forth in time and topics but in a way that works both from a literary standpoint and expresses the author's scattered, intelligent, involved thought process.

A THOUSAND WAYS TO PAY ATTENTION
by Rebecca Schiller
The Experiment
Pub Date: Apr 26

A Thousand Ways To Pay Attention is an important memoir on the impact of severe ADHD on a woman and her family living in the English countryside.

Author Rebecca Schiller's life began to spin out of control after the family moved to a rural area to raise goats and hens, and grow fruits and vegetables. As her symptoms worsened -- including intense anger and memory loss and many falls -- Rebecca's family felt the brunt too. Only after visits to specialist after specialist did she finally get her surprising diagnosis.

What I love about this memoir is Rebecca's brave candor, which will help similarly afflicted readers most. What I struggled with was the slow pace and at times confusing narrative, which leapt crazily from topic to topic. While it gave a real picture of a disordered mind, it was often hard to follow.

Thanks to the author, The Experiment, and NetGalley for the e-ARC. Opinions are mine.

#AThousandWaysToPayAttention #TheExperiment #RebeccaSchiller #NetGalley #neurodiversitymemoir #ADHDmemoirs #bookstagramcommunity

I received an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I mean no personal offense to the author because I know her experience is just that; deeply personal but communicating that experience or journey is not her forte. I had to skim the entire book. The pace was slow and I kept thinking “just get to the point.” Certainly not a read for me.

Great story. I really got her & what she was saying. Very interesting perspective on mental health. Definitely recommend.

I would like to thank NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest review.