The Attention Merchants: The Epic Scramble to Get Inside Our Heads

E60449

book nonfiction book

The Attention Merchants: The Epic Scramble to Get Inside Our Heads is a nonfiction book that traces the history and mechanics of the attention economy, examining how media, advertising, and technology industries capture and monetize human attention.

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All labels observed (2)

Label	Occurrences
The Attention Merchants	2
The Attention Merchants: The Epic Scramble to Get Inside Our Heads canonical	1

How this entity was disambiguated

This entity first appeared as the object of triple T482623 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.

NED1 Entity disambiguation (via context triple) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: The Attention Merchants: The Epic Scramble to Get Inside Our Heads
Context triple: [Tim Wu, hasWritten, The Attention Merchants: The Epic Scramble to Get Inside Our Heads]

A. The Master Switch: The Rise and Fall of Information Empires
The Master Switch: The Rise and Fall of Information Empires is a nonfiction book that examines the recurring cycle of openness and monopolistic control in communications and information industries throughout modern history.
B. The Business of Happiness
The Business of Happiness is a book by entrepreneur and sports team owner Ted Leonsis that blends memoir and business advice to argue that true success comes from pursuing happiness, meaning, and service to others alongside financial achievement.
C. No Logo
No Logo is a landmark anti-corporate globalization book by Naomi Klein that critiques brand-driven consumer culture and the power of multinational corporations.
D. Triumph of the Market
Triumph of the Market is a critical work by economist and media analyst Edward S. Herman that examines the social and political consequences of neoliberal, market-driven policies.
E. People, Power, and Profits
People, Power, and Profits is a book by economist Joseph Stiglitz that critiques contemporary capitalism and proposes reforms to create a fairer, more inclusive economy and democracy.
F. None of above. chosen
G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.

NED2 Entity disambiguation (via description) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: The Attention Merchants: The Epic Scramble to Get Inside Our Heads
Target entity description: The Attention Merchants: The Epic Scramble to Get Inside Our Heads is a nonfiction book that traces the history and mechanics of the attention economy, examining how media, advertising, and technology industries capture and monetize human attention.

A. The Master Switch: The Rise and Fall of Information Empires
The Master Switch: The Rise and Fall of Information Empires is a nonfiction book that examines the recurring cycle of openness and monopolistic control in communications and information industries throughout modern history.
B. The Business of Happiness
The Business of Happiness is a book by entrepreneur and sports team owner Ted Leonsis that blends memoir and business advice to argue that true success comes from pursuing happiness, meaning, and service to others alongside financial achievement.
C. No Logo
No Logo is a landmark anti-corporate globalization book by Naomi Klein that critiques brand-driven consumer culture and the power of multinational corporations.
D. Triumph of the Market
Triumph of the Market is a critical work by economist and media analyst Edward S. Herman that examines the social and political consequences of neoliberal, market-driven policies.
E. People, Power, and Profits
People, Power, and Profits is a book by economist Joseph Stiglitz that critiques contemporary capitalism and proposes reforms to create a fairer, more inclusive economy and democracy.
F. None of above. chosen

Statements (47)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	book ⓘ nonfiction book ⓘ
aimsTo	explain how industries compete for human attention ⓘ raise awareness of attention exploitation ⓘ
author	Tim Wu ⓘ
countryOfOrigin	United States of America ⓘ surface form: United States
describes	evolution of advertising techniques ⓘ how media companies monetize attention ⓘ impact of smartphones on attention ⓘ psychological manipulation in marketing ⓘ role of the internet in the attention economy ⓘ
format	audiobook ⓘ ebook ⓘ print ⓘ
genre	business ⓘ history of advertising ⓘ media studies ⓘ technology and society ⓘ
hasPart	analysis of contemporary digital platforms ⓘ historical case studies ⓘ
intendedAudience	general readers ⓘ readers interested in media and technology ⓘ
ISBN-13	978-0385352016 ⓘ
language	English ⓘ
notableIdea	history of attention capture industries ⓘ human attention as a tradable commodity ⓘ
publicationDate	2016 ⓘ
publisher	Alfred A. Knopf ⓘ Alfred A. Knopf ⓘ surface form: Knopf
subject	advertising industry ⓘ attention economy ⓘ behavioral targeting ⓘ clickbait ⓘ consumer protection ⓘ consumer psychology ⓘ data mining ⓘ digital platforms ⓘ mass media ⓘ newspaper advertising ⓘ online advertising ⓘ privacy ⓘ propaganda ⓘ radio broadcasting ⓘ social media ⓘ surveillance capitalism ⓘ television advertising ⓘ
timeSpanCovered	late 19th century to 21st century ⓘ

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (3)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Tim Wu → hasWritten → The Attention Merchants: The Epic Scramble to Get Inside Our Heads ⓘ

The Curse of Bigness: Antitrust in the New Gilded Age → relatedWork → The Attention Merchants: The Epic Scramble to Get Inside Our Heads ⓘ

this entity surface form: The Attention Merchants

Tim → notableWork → The Attention Merchants: The Epic Scramble to Get Inside Our Heads ⓘ

subject surface form: Tim Wu