“This book is such a pleasure to read. Each of the writers here spins an intimate, one-page mini-movie that sticks in your mind as much as their lost object has stayed locked in their memory.” — Air Mail From Hat & Beard Press: A new book, co-edited with Joshua Glenn. LOST OBJECTS: 50 Stories About […]
Show full content
“This book is such a pleasure to read. Each of the writers here spins an intimate, one-page mini-movie that sticks in your mind as much as their lost object has stayed locked in their memory.” — Air Mail
From Hat & Beard Press: A new book, co-edited with Joshua Glenn.
LOST OBJECTS: 50 Stories About the Things We Miss and Why They Matter.
Is there a “Rosebud” object in your past? A long-vanished thing that lingers in your memory—whether you want it to or not? As much as we may treasure the stuff we own, perhaps just as significant are the objects we have, in one way or another, lost. What is it about these bygone objects? Why do they continue to haunt us long after they’ve vanished from our lives?
In Lost Objects, editors Joshua Glenn and Rob Walker have gathered answers to those questions in the form of 50 true stories from a dazzling roster of writers, artists, thinkers, and storytellers, including Lucy Sante, Ben Katchor, Lydia Millet, Neil LaBute, Laura Lippman, Geoff Manaugh, Paola Antonelli, Margaret Wertheim, and many more. Each spins a unique narrative that tells a personal tale, and dives into the meaning of objects that remain present to us emotionally, even after they have physically disappeared.
To bring this collection of essays even more vividly to life, the editors gathered a similarly impressive array of artists to illustrate these meaningful things that have gone missing. Visual contributors include Seth, Kate Bingaman-Burt, Oliver Munday, Lisa Congdon, Matt Wuerker, Anita Kunz, Alex Eben Meyer, Gary Panter, and Kelli Anderson.
Read the book’s foreword, by the legendary Debbie Millman, in PrintMag.com
Here are three pieces from the book — by Alex Gerasev, Lea Hennesy (art by Dean Haspiel), and Stephen O’Connor (art by Oliver Munday — with a short intro by Josh, in The Boston Globe.
–> Subscribe to The Art of Noticing Newsletter here: robwalker.substack.com –> Indiebound | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Knopf Imagine a cross between, say, Ways of Seeing and Marie Kondo. It’s a book that’s meant to be not just read, but used, for years to come. It’s accessible, it’s helpful — and it’s fun! Some media: Very excited […]
Imagine a cross between, say, Ways of Seeing and Marie Kondo. It’s a book that’s meant to be not just read, but used, for years to come. It’s accessible, it’s helpful — and it’s fun!
I wrote a piece for The Guardianabout “five ways to experience a city differently,” with exercises from the book. The very well done excerpt “10 Ways To Change How You Interact With Your City” appeared in Next City. Ethical.net has published an excerpt: a bit of the introduction, and a few sample exercises. Here is a book-related piece I did for Wired.com in praise of doing things the hard way.
In connection with the Newsweek excerpt, I did a fun interview with Meredith Wolf Schizer. Sample quote: “Really, nobody needs to be told about the attention dilemma. What people want is a little help doing something about it.” Plus I had to pick my preferred font. Read it here.
Read this excellent Quartz piece about the book. | Read Bill Taylor on the book in The Harvard Business Review. | A nice riff by Danny Heitman in The Advocate |Thrive Global: “4 Simple Ways To Practice Mindfulness, Even If You’re A Total Beginner.” | This writeup from Rachelle Doorley of TinkerLab is so great! | Here’s a writeup in World Magazine. | “Why mindfulness is a little bit like rediscovering your inner child” — Lizzy Francis in a nice Q&A about the book for Fatherly. At Forbes.com, Will Burns cites The Art of Noticing in an interesting riff on elements of creativity. | Very excited to read the great Steven Heller call The Art of Noticing “a treat,” in a nice essay addressing his feelings about “motivational” books, for Design Observer. | “This compelling new book offers an array of techniques and exercises to sharpen and deepen your curiosity. The activities are useful for entrepreneurs, artists, and business professionals.” — Madanmohan Rao, YourStory. | Thanks to The Holmes Reportfor citing The Art of Noticingin this piece on “disruptive tactics to spur creativity.” (“Creativity is best spurred by making observations — which is becoming increasingly challenging in today’s frantic world.”) | “My brand-new copy of Rob Walker’s book, The Art of Noticing, is already heavily dogeared and I’ve only had it for a month. … The book is unlike any other I’ve read. It’s a delightful guide to seeing the world differently, to training oneself to notice the curious little things about ordinary life” — Katherine Martinko, Treehugger. | “Somewhere between ‘tasks’ and ‘meditations,’ these activities are designed to refresh and renew, some of them so simple that (like Zen philosophy) they are actually profound.” — Gail, Broad Street Review.
This Core77 Q&A about with the wonderful Allan Chochinov is quite comprehensive on the book’s origins and goals, and includes some nice interior views highlighting the Mendelsund / Munday illustration work. It also reveals why there are 131 exercises, if you’ve ever wondered.
On Radio Times on WHYY, along with fellow guest Jenny Odell — all about noticing, attention, and doing nothing. Listen here.
Here is a post from the Dallas Museum of Art, in connection with an event I did there, that includes a summary of ideas adapted from the book for adding a little unconventionality to your next museum visit. And here’s how the wonderful Birdfoot Festival, which hosted the book’s New Orleans debut, adapted and was inspired by Art of Noticing listening prompts.
I had a lovely time talking to Wioleta Kaminska and Matt Van Rys on their new CrazyBird podcast — which explores a “mutual fascination with nature and creativity.” We talked about “creative ways we can practice and enhance our ability to notice, pay attention and, consequently, engage with the world.”
“If you want a more interesting and creative life, the first thing to do is to start paying better attention to it. In The Art of Noticing, Rob Walker provides an essential guide to becoming an explorer of your everyday world. I found a ton to steal here and so will you.” —Austin Kleon, New York Times bestselling author of Steal Like An Artist
Look Slowly. Discover the Big Within the Small. Sketch a Room You Just Left. Follow the Quiet. Review the Everyday. Hunt the Infrathin. Get There the Hard Way. Eat Somewhere Dubious. Trespass. Make a Field Guide. Talk To a Stranger. Listen to an Elder. Be Alone in Public. Make a Personal Map. Interview An Object. Care for Something.
“The Art of Noticing is a book about reading, verbal and non-verbal reading, which is how we increasingly read now, and how we have always read. Walker encourages us to make a non-literal reading of our world, which can mean non-judgmental and more enlightened.” —Leanne Shapton, author of Guestbook and Swimming Studies
“In the tradition of John Berger, Susan Sontag, and George Nelson, Rob Walker offers a guide not to looking but to seeing—and why the difference is crucial. At once passionate and charming, he makes the case that noticing what’s there is the first step in creating what’s new.” —Michael Bierut, cofounder of Design Observer and author of Now You See It and Other Essays on Design
The Art of Noticing(Knopf) evolved in part from a class I teach at SVA, and draws (steals?) ideas from sources as varied as Adam Grant and Marina Abramovic. Plus, it’s cleverly designed and brilliantly illustrated by Mendelsund/Munday.
If you like the sound of this, there is even more at the Art Of Noticing newsletter: https://robwalker.substack.com, already endorsed by BoingBoing, Austin Kleon, Kottke, Paola Antonelli, and others.
“From ‘unitasking’ to the ‘mindful shower,’ The Art of Noticing is filled with clever, eminently deployable strategies for getting more from the world around you. It’s a paean to alertness, a sensory upgrade, a delightful field guide to being alive.” —Tom Vanderbilt, bestselling author of Traffic and You May Also Like
I’ve given talks about or inspired by the book, along with customized workshops, for a variety of company, conference, event, and university audiences. More here.
“Rob Walker’s writing has always been wonderful because of his unique eye for noticing what other people miss. With this new book, he’s basically teaching you all his secrets for seeing.” —Ryan Holiday, bestselling author of Ego is the Enemy and The Obstacle Is The Way
Just throwing this in for fun, from my U.K. publisher:
Feel like your attention is constantly being pulled in different directions? Learn how to steal it back. The Art of Noticing features 131 surprising exercises to help you get unstuck from your screen and manage daily distractions. @notrobwalkerhttps://t.co/b2nxqcqdpQpic.twitter.com/U51LHXC8EA
“Attention is a precious resource, one we waste in stupid ways. And attention is a muscle, one we can easily develop. In this refreshingly practical book, Rob Walker gives us 131 ways to treasure and improve our ability to see.”
—Seth Godin, author of This is Marketing
SOURCE NOTES
I list sources and suggestions for further reading in the book. But there wasn’t room for fully detailed set of citations. Instead I’ll try to do that here.
But please note: The below is a first stab, and an uncorrected list! It may not be complete or up to date, and the notes for the introduction in particular are definitely not properly formatted, in many cases.
But I wanted to share what I can in case it helps anyone who is curious for more. I’ll update & improve it as time allows. Plus I can get your input: If you have a correction, or a citation-related question, please get in touch — write to Consumed AT robwalker DOT net.
Links are current as of December 2018, but you can also tell me if something has gone dead.
“The Metropolis and Mental Life,” by Georg Simmel. 1903. Wherever I got this cites: The Blackwell City Reader, edited by Gary Bridge and Sophie Watson, 2002.
Gabrielle Esperdy, “Ugly America,” Places Journal, November 2014. Accessed 05 Jan 2018.https://doi.org/10.22269/141120
Horowitz, Alexandra. On Looking: A Walker’s Guide to the Art of Observation. New York: Scribner, 2013.
Munro Galloway, “Color Walk,” from Draw It With Your Eyes Closed: The Art of the Assignment, edited by Paper Monument. Brooklyn, New York: Paper Monument, 2012.
Nelson, George. How To See: A Guide to Reading Our Man-Made Environment, by George Nelson. Oakland, California: Design Within Reach, 2003.
See For Yourself: A Visual Guide To Everyday Beauty, by Rob Forbes. Chronicle Books; 2015.
Seeing Is Forgetting The Name of the Thing One Sees: Expanded Edition: Over Thirty Years of Conversations with Robert Irwin, by Lawrence Weschler. Originally published in 1982; this edition from 2008.
Correspondence and/or conversation with Alice Twemlow, Ingrid Fetell Lee, Sarah Rich, Austin Kleon, Nick Gray, Alex Kalman, Ellen Susan, Rotten Apple, Carla Diana, Geoff Manaugh, Dan Ariely, Rita J. King, Charlie Todd, Davy Rothbart.
Brunner, Bernd. “The Art of Noises: On the logic of sound and the senses,” by Bernd Brunner. The Smart Set. September 1, 2015 https://thesmartset.com/the-art-of-noises/
“The difference between hearing and listening,” Pauline Oliveros talk at TEDxIndianapolis, YouTube video published November 12, 2015. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QHfOuRrJB8
“Reclaim Your Commute,” by Francesca Gino, Bradley Staats, Jon M. Jachimowicz, Julia Lee, Jochen I. Menges, Harvard Business Review, May-June 2017 https://hbr.org/2017/05/reclaim-your-commute
Correspondence and/or conversation with Nicola Twilley, Paul Lukas, Faythe Levine, Rick Prelinger, and Speed Levitch
PROJECT:OBJECT is an ongoing multimedia experiment in stories about objects, in collaboration with Joshua Glenn. PROJECT:OBJECT launched in 2017, publishing four “volumes” of 25 nonfiction personal essays each, on the site HILOBROW. The project has also branched out into the realms of physical objects, audio stories, original illustration, workshops and events, charitable fundraising, and will continue to […]
Show full content
PROJECT:OBJECT is an ongoing multimedia experiment in stories about objects, in collaboration with Joshua Glenn.
PROJECT:OBJECT launched in 2017, publishing four “volumes” of 25 nonfiction personal essays each, on the site HILOBROW.
The project has also branched out into the realms of physical objects, audio stories, original illustration, workshops and events, charitable fundraising, and will continue to evolve in other ways we haven’t thought of yet.
“This is definitely one of the remaining examples of the rapidly diminishing ‘good Internet’ ice caps that will some day be spoken of only in legend.” — The Awl
VOL 1: POLITICAL OBJECTSran from January to March 2017, with nonfiction stories about personal objects with political significance by Virginia Heffernan, Luc Sante, Alexis Madrigal, Lydia Millet, Ben Greenman, Carolina A. Miranda, Stuart Ewen, Rob Baedeker, L.A. Kauffman, Astra Taylor, Stephen Duncombe, Marisa Silver, Chenjerai Kumanyika, Steven Heller, Anne Elizabeth Moore, Gary Dauphin, Tom Frank, Lizzie Skurnick, Alex Kalman and more.
This debut series also featured the first set of Project:Object Objects. Rick Pinchera‘s original designs for the POLITICAL OBJECTS volume, adorned T-shirts, mugs, and other apparel and accessories, available for limited time with proceeds adding to the project’s $500 contribution to the ACLU.
VOL. 2: TALISMANIC OBJECTS ran from April to June 2017, with stories about personal talismans from Gary Panter, Jami Attenberg, Amy Fusselman, Mike Watt, Mark Kingwell, Ben Ehrenreich, Jessica Helfand, Shelley Jackson, Amanda Fortini, Wayne Curtis, Jennifer Schuessler, Ben Ehrenreich, Shelley Jackson, Mark Frauenfelder, Ed Skoog, and more.
This series also included the project’s first story contest, with guest judge Annie Nocenti.
Talismanic Object Objects featured the original design of Jacob Covey on T-shirts, mugs, and a pouch perfect for holding your talisman; proceeds donated to the ACLU.
In April 2017, I was honored to run a mini PROJECT:OBJECT-style writing-about-objects workshop with Matt Daniel’s students at Riverdale High School in New Orleans.
Illicit Objects Temporary Tattoos
VOL. 3: ILLICIT OBJECTS ran from July through September, 2017 with 25 new stories about illicit personal objects by Kio Stark, Sari Wilson, Annalee Newitz, Eric Bennett, Catherine Newman, Josh Glenn, Paul Lukas, Douglas Rushkoff, Alison Fensterstock, William Gibson, Katie Notopoulos, Wesley Stace and more.
This series also featured our first-ever audio stories, from Natalie Kestecher, Nicole Pasulka, Shelby El Otmani, Sam Dingman,Ramona Martinez, Andrew Leland, Kalila Holt, and Julia Barton. To hear all our ILLICIT OBJECTS audio stories, check out the special episode of Benjamen Walker’s Theory of Everything.
In September 2017, PROJECT:OBJECT held its first live event, “THE THING IS…,” at the Contemporary Arts Center in New Orleans, in collaboration with Bring Your Own (a live storytelling series) and The Stacks bookstore. Participating storytellers included Nathaniel Rich, Anne and Susan Gisleson, Michael Tisserand, Yuri Herrara, Alia Alia, and Juyanne James. Stories from the event are being broadcast individually on WWNO New Orleans.
VOL. 4: LOST OBJECTS ran from October through December 2017. It featured 25 new stories by Seth Mnookin, Laura Lippman, Margaret Wertheim, Seth, Geoff Manaugh, and Debbie Millman, among others, paired with original illustrations from artists including Lisa Congdon, Kate Bingaman-Burt, Kelli Anderson, Oliver Munday, Joe Alterio, and Matt Wuerker.
In 2022, this became the book Lost Objects, described here.
Series logo by Kate Bingaman-Burt
From 2018 to 2021, PROJECT:OBJECT published additional 25-story volumes on the themes:
Flair (true stories about significant accoutrements, appurtenances, and regalia)
Fossils (objects that bear witness to a vanished way of life)
Fetish (objects with which we are obsessed, to which we are devoted, and from the influence of which we cannot escape)
Objectionable Objects (narratives of offense, outrage, innocent transgression or principled affront, in attire, display, speech or spectacle; guest editor Adam McGovern).
Movie Objects (significant objects spotted in movies)
Semio Objects (nonfiction narratives about semioticians’ significant objects)
In 2025, GIVE IT UP, an interactive, place-based experiment in objects and value, launched in Kingston, New York. Follow and participate in the project at giveitupkingston.substack.com.
I’ve been a fan of radio since I was a kid, and that’s extended into a digital-era enthusiasm for podcasts, sound art, and basically all things audio. Professionally, I’m a text guy, but I do try to do audio stuff whenever the opportunity comes up, and hope to do more. Here are a few things from […]
Show full content
I’ve been a fan of radio since I was a kid, and that’s extended into a digital-era enthusiasm for podcasts, sound art, and basically all things audio. Professionally, I’m a text guy, but I do try to do audio stuff whenever the opportunity comes up, and hope to do more. Here are a few things from that realm.
More Marketplace stuff here. Previously, I did some radio bits for the early version of the Slate / NPR show Day To Day, tied to my old Ad Report Card column, but I don’t think that stuff exists online anymore. And of course I’ve done scores and scores of radio interviews about various articles, books, projects, etc. But that’s different.
Since 2013, I’ve been on the faculty of the School of Visual Arts Products of Design MFA program. My annual mini-class is called “Point of View.” It’s a great program. Also since 2013, I’ve led workshop sessions on “writing about objects” for the Summer Intensive program associated SVA’s Design Research (formerly D*Crit) MA program. Also great. […]
Also since 2013, I’ve led workshop sessions on “writing about objects” for the Summer Intensive program associated SVA’s Design Research (formerly D*Crit) MA program. Also great.
Previously, I created and taught, with John Lowe, a class on writing nonfiction comics, and created and taught a class on writing about design, at the Savannah College of Art and Design.
I’ve visited many classes and many schools such as Cranbrook and Tulane, and served as a thesis adviser for a number of graduate students in various disciplines. I also served on an academic program review committee for the Rhode Island School of Design’s undergraduate and graduate industrial design programs.
I am represented by Penguin Random House Speakers Bureau. Please contact Kim Thornton Ingenito with inquiries: 212-572-2299 or kthornton@penguinrandomhouse.com Selected past appearances: Stories about Objects. Public talk and student workshop, University of Texas at Austin. September 2023 Lost Objects. Group reading and event, Brooklyn, NY. October 2022 The Art of Noticing. Online talk associated with “Global Moment […]
Stories about Objects. Public talk and student workshop, University of Texas at Austin. September 2023
Lost Objects. Group reading and event, Brooklyn, NY. October 2022
The Art of Noticing. Online talk associated with “Global Moment In Time” program organized by World Partnerships. August 2022
The Art of Noticing. Talk and workshop, private event, Chicago. October 2021
The Art of Noticing. Online talk for Penguin Random House company reads program. August 2021
The Art of Noticing. Remote conversation/Q&A. New Orleans Center for Creative Arts. December 2020
The Art of Noticing. Remote talk and workshop. Cranbrook Academy of Art 4D Design graduate program. October 2020.
The Art of Noticing. Remote talk and Q&A. Accenture Proposal Services group. June 2020.
The Art of Noticing. Emory University and the Michael C. Carlos Museum, February 2020.
The Art of Noticing. Cranbrook Art Museum, Bloomfield Hills, MI. October 2, 2019.
The Art of Noticing vs. Keep Going. In conversation with Austin Kleon. Texas Book Festival, Austin, TX,. October 27, 2019.
The Art of Noticing. Lecture and workshop. Private event. Sausalito, CA. June 25, 2019.
The Art of Noticing. Lecture, and gallery walk, at Dallas Museum of Art, in conjunction with the Dallas Books & Ideas Festival. Dallas, TX. June 1, 2019.
The Art of Noticing. Lecture/book launch, with live string trio, in conjunction with Birdfoot Festival. New Orleans, LA. May 30, 2019.
The Art of Noticing. Book discussion. American Alliance of Museums Annual Meeting and MuseumExpo. New Orleans, LA. May 21, 2019
The Art of Noticing. Book launch, in conversation with Melissa Kirsch. Brooklyn, NY. May 7, 2019
The Art of Noticing. Lecture. Private event; San Francisco, CA. May 15, 2019.
The Art of Noticing. Lecture. Phil Patton Memorial Lecture, School of Visual Arts, New York, NY. April 9, 2019
The Art of Noticing. Lecture. Private event; Deerfield, Illinois. April 4, 2019.
The Art of Noticing. Lecture. Private event; Turlock, California. March 20, 2019.
Radiovision green room. (It was just there. Not a contract rider thing.)
October 2013: Radiovision. Panel discussion (moderator) with Bob Garfield, Starlee Kine, and James Delon, on “native advertising.” New York, NY
May 2013:Significant Objects: A Conversation with Elizabeth Merritt. Conversation with Elizabeth Merritt of the Center for the Future of Museums on objects, stories, and the museum context. American Alliance of Museums: Annual Meeting and MuseumExpo, Baltimore.
December 2012: Significant Objects: Do Good Stories Make Objects More Valuable? Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) Conference. Chicago, Illinois
June 2012: Stories, Consumed. On objects, narratives, and significant consumption. Keynote at The Ad Club “Consumed” Edge Conference. Boston, MA.
February 2012: A Conversation with Bobbi Patterson. Rob Walker and Bobbi Patterson of Emory University’s Department of Religion talk about one of the Four Noble Truths of Buddhism — that suffering is caused by desire — and the complexity of navigating contemporary consumer culture.
Private event; Turlock, California. March 20, 2019.
May 2011: As Real As it Gets: Imaginary Objects and Fictional Critiques. Keynote at School of Visual Arts Design Criticism Conference. New York, NY
December 2010: Implausible Futures For Unpopular Places. Lecture on Hypothetical Development Organization project at Grand Arts. Kansas City, MO
October 2010: Imprint Culture Lab 2010: Conversations. Panelist (with Alex Bogusky, John Maeda). New York, NY
April 2010:Significant Objects. PSFK Conference keynote. New York, NY
Buying In book launch, NYC, June 2018. Hosted by PSFK, sponsored by Fast Company, with guests Barking Irons and Andrew Andrew
October 2009: Creating A New Craft Culture. Keynote at American Craft Council conference. Minneapolis, MN
June 2009: HOW Design Conference. Keynote. Austin, TX
May 2009: If You Follow Me I Will Follow You Back. Keynote at “Blowing Up The Brand,” New York University conference. New York, NY
March 2009: SXSW Interactive:. Panelist (with Tim Brown, Gary Hustwit, others), Objectified panel. Austin, TX.
November 2008: Marketing Week conference, keynote Q&A. Toronto, ON
June 2008: Printer’s Row Book Fair/CSPAN2. Chicago, IL.
SXSW Interactive, 2008. I used to ask members of my audience to obscure their faces, at which point I would take a picture.
March 2008: SXSW Interactive. “Buying In” reading at Austin, Tx.
March 2006: Guest lecture for “Colloquium on Design Criticism,” Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum. New York, NY.
Dec. 2005: “Letters From New Orleans” reading, Gulf Coast Writers Literary Evening fundraiser, Little Red Schoolhouse Performance Space, New York, NY.
May 2005: Panelist on “New Voices In Design Criticism” panel, ID Magazine/RISD/NAJP. New York, NY.
April 2005: Lecture at “Beyond The Object,” IDSA-NY conference. NY, NY.
March 2005: Lecture, Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies IEM Spring Lecture Series. New Haven, CT.
April 2004: Hearst Visiting Lecturer at the University of Texas at Austin (College of Communication). Austin, TX.
April 2004: Panel moderator: “Shopping And The City: The Good, the Bad, and the Fabulous in New York Retail Design,” MAS Urbanists event. New York, NY.
April 2004: Panel discussion, panelist: “Transculturalism.” Trace Magazine / Columbia University. New York, NY.
Feb. 2004: Hitesman Lecturer , Louisiana State University (School of Mass Communication). Baton Rouge, LA
From August 2013 to December 2018, I wrote a workplace advice column called The Workologist, for The New York Times. Per the original announcement: The C.E.O., the cubicle dweller, the summer intern, the Starbucks-telecommuter — everyone in the modern workplace has something in common: We all need advice sometimes. Beginning in August, a new Sunday […]
From August 2013 to December 2018, I wrote a workplace advice column called The Workologist, for The New York Times. Per the original announcement:
The C.E.O., the cubicle dweller, the summer intern, the Starbucks-telecommuter — everyone in the modern workplace has something in common: We all need advice sometimes.
Beginning in August, a new Sunday Business column by Rob Walker will offer help. Whether you’re wrestling with a career issue, trying to finesse delicate office politics, or are just flummoxed by one of the countless workaday irritations of life on the job, send your questions to [REDACTED].
In February 2018, the column moved to a weekly (as opposed to every other week) schedule. In November 2018, the column moved to the Monday business section before concluding at the end of 2018.
[From February to October 2019, a similar, sequel column ran in Lifehacker; see below. In that mode, I’ve weighed in on what makes a good boss on the podcast The Upgrade, and been the featured guest on a July 2019 subscription edition of The Savage Lovecast.]
From February to October 2019, I wrote a similar column, Human Resource, for Lifehacker. The first column, How To Get Fired, introduced some core elements of the Wokologist / Human Resource philosophy — and addressed how it felt to get the boot from a job as a work-advice columnist.
[NOTE: I stopped updating this page for a while because of a technical problem with the site; I’m gradually catching up now.] I write about technology, design, business, marketing, the arts, work, and other subjects. (For more about me please go here.) Currently I write the Branded column for Fast Company, and also focus on […]
Show full content
[NOTE: I stopped updating this page for a while because of a technical problem with the site; I’m gradually catching up now.]
I write about technology, design, business, marketing, the arts, work, and other subjects. (For more about me please go here.)
Currently I write the Branded column for Fast Company, and also focus on my newsletter, The Art of Noticing. From 2019 to 2021 I was a senior writer and columnist for Marker, a business publication launched by Medium. From 2013 to 2018 I wrote the Workologist column for The New York Times. From 2012 to 2016, I contributed regularly to Design Observer. From 2013 to early 2015, I was a columnist for Yahoo News and Yahoo Tech. From 2004 – 2012, I was a contributing writer to The New York Times Magazine, most notably writing the weekly Consumed column. Before that, I was a columnist for Slate.
All along, I have also done other work here and there for a variety of outlets. Selected examples below, in reverse chronological order. Recent entries are BRANDED columns for FastCompany.com unless otherwise noted. I also post newer stuff (newsletter included) all the time on LinkedIn.
“Liquor Pang,”64 Parishes, Fall 2018. Essay for Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities’ quarterly magazine’s special section on 300 years of New Orleans music.
“The most trenchant psychoanalyst of our consumer selves is Rob Walker. ‘Buying In’ is a fresh and fascinating exploration of the places where material culture and identity intersect.” – Michael Pollan.” Available now at bookstores, or online from Amazon, Powell’s, and Barnes & Noble. One of the five best nonfiction books of 2008 — Salon. […]
Show full content
“The most trenchant psychoanalyst of our consumer selves is Rob Walker. ‘Buying In’ is a fresh and fascinating exploration of the places where material culture and identity intersect.” – Michael Pollan.”
Available now at bookstores, or online from Amazon, Powell’s, and Barnes & Noble.
One of the five best nonfiction books of 2008 — Salon.
One of the Ten Best Business Books of 2008 — Fast Company
One of the Best Business Books of 2008 — USA Today
Reviews:
“Fascinating … A compelling blend of cultural anthropology and business journalism.” — Andrea Sachs, Time Magazine
“Few observers have plumbed the subterranean poetry of marketing as thoroughly as Walker. [H]e argues that our susceptibility to marketing arises from our ignorance of its pervasiveness. Indeed, in recent years the ad industry has adopted an underground method of selling that depends on our complicit embrace of brands. Walker calls it ‘murketing,’ and once you understand it, you notice its footprint everywhere.” — Farhad Manjoo, The New York Times Book Review
“Fascinating new book about the dialogue between who we are and what we buy. Salient point: while none of us likes to think of himself as a brand obsessed zombie … our behavior often tells a different story.” –Tony Dokoupil, Newsweek
“Walker fills his richly reported book with insights from cutting-edge marketers, entrepreneurs and artists. … His thinking is provocative.” — Kerry Hannon, USA Today
“Walker … makes a startling claim: Far from being immune to advertising, as many people think, American consumers are increasingly active participants in the marketing process. … [He] leads readers through a series of lucid case studies to demonstrate that, in many cases, consumers actively participate in infusing a brand with meaning. … Convincing.” — Jay Dixit, The Washington Post
“A sophisticated and sometimes lighthearted take on how consumers interact with brands, defining and controlling them as companies struggle to keep up.” – Susan Berfield, BusinessWeek
“A compelling look at the state of advertising today … shows why even those who feel like they see through marketing feel attached to specific brands as a way to both project and foster their identities.” — David K. Randall, Forbes
“Walker lays out his theory in well-written, entertaining detail.” — Seth Stevenson, Slate
“It’s enlightening and fun to follow Walker’s metamorphosis … to fascinated explorer of U.S. consumer marketing. He has a flair for branding [and] an affinity for people who seek cultural alternatives. … there’s plenty of substance here, and plenty for marketers to ponder.” — Andrew O’Connell, Harvard Business Review
“Walker makes all this cultural observation compelling; he is a good reporter and storyteller, with a sharp eye for the comic.” — David Billet, The Wall Street Journal
“If you find yourself in this book and don’t like what you see, at least it’s not all your fault. Blame marketing – and thank Walker for the insights.” — Carlo Wolff, The Boston Globe
“Walker takes the reader on a fascinating tour through subversive branding strategies … In Walker’s world, the consumer has been consumed – the stuff owns us.” — Jonathan Birchall, Financial Times
“Do we want to look good? Do we want to be socially responsible? How do our material choices connect with our values? Walker offers a lot to think about in this fast-moving, disturbing book, and that’s a satisfying consumer exchange indeed.” — Susan Larson, The (New Orleans) Times-Picayune
“Revealing … Buying In is more complex than it first appears. … Walker wants us to recognize the personal narratives that are embedded in well-murketed products.” — Carly Berwick, Bloomberg News
“Buying In delves into the attitudes of the global consumer in the age of plenty, and, well, we aren’t too pretty. Walker carries the reader on a frenetically paced tour of senseless consumption spanning from Viking ranges to custom high-tops.” — Robert Blinn, Core77
“Walker is a deft, entertaining guide who maintains a lively pace without sacrificing depth. … The biggest payoff comes in the book’s culminating chapters.” — Catherine Aman, Corporate Counsel
“Marked by meticulous research and careful conclusions, this superbly readable book confirms New York Times journalist Walker as an expert on consumerism. … [A] thoughtful and unhurried investigation into consumerism that pushes the analysis to the maximum…” — Publisher’s Weekly (starred review)
If you would like, you can read, free of charge, the first section of the book at this site.
* The Anti-Advertising Agency: “Buying In poses an essential question about how we position ourselves in consumer culture, and that question is: what makes you feel real? And knowing you have the power to change it, will you make use of it?”
* GoodReads newsletter Q&A: “Walker reveals some idiosyncrasies of consumer culture and tells Goodreads why he’s in mourning for his Chuck Taylor.”
* Brandweek.com Q&A: “Brandweek editor Todd Wasserman found the opportunity to speak with Rob Walker via e-mail about some of the broader, more contextual questions raised by Walker’s book.”
* Q&A for Alpha Consumer (U.S. News) Book Club: Part One and Part Two.
* Eyecube: “I read him because he’s crazy with the smarts, has his finger on the pulse of what people are buying and why, and presents his ideas in a clever, original way.”
* Q&A with Express Night Out: “What is shopping like for you? Are you just obsessed with studying everything at the mall?” Etc.
* Q&A with Stop Smiling: “While many of us fancy ourselves modern-day Holden Caulfields as we call out the phonies in the world of advertising and marketing, few have articulated their positions with the degree of clarity as Rob Walker.”
* ByDesign (Australia radio): “The relationship now is interactive, between consumer and what is consumed.”
Seth Godin: “Worth your time: Rob Walker’s (great!) new book on the overlooked triggers of marketing.”
Marginal Utility: “Walker is extremely adept at finding subjects to cover that reveal some subtle wrinkle of consumerism, and [in NYT Magazine column Consumed] he lets the reader draw conclusions from his reporting. Sometimes the reticence frustrates me—I want the implicit idea expanded into a more general theory about consumer behavior. Thankfully, his excellent new book Buying In does just that.” [This is worth reading in full, it’s really interesting.]
Andrew Keen: Applies murketing to Ariana Huffington: “To understand Brand Ariana, I turned to Rob Walker’s brilliant new book about brand building in the digital age.”
Gawker: “You think you’re able to use your education, morality, and philosophical beliefs to rise above advertising? Ha! That’s what all the sheep think.”
Jezebel: “Do interesting people have interesting things? Or does having interesting things make you interesting? And if not — surely there are interesting monks, for instance — why do we think possessions make a personality?
Brand New (Gareth Kay): “Buying In, is in one way, a smart, readable exposition on the idea of ‘murketing.’ But it is a much more fundamentally important book. … It’s a great read, packed full of interviews and stories about brands from the new and relative underground to the older and relative mainstream.
Secretly Ironic: “Walker doesn’t think it’s possible or necessary for people to stop imbuing consumer objects with meaning, but he wants people to be aware of how and why they do it, and to understand that a symbolic purchase isn’t a substitute for actually having your own identity or being part of a community.”
Kinetic Loop: “Walker deftly guides the reader through this new landscape, where marketing borders have deliquesced and commercial persuasion has become thoroughly integrated into our daily lives.”
William/GoodReads: “Walker uses a conversational, easily approachable, reader-oriented style and, more importantly, rather than just lay out his arguments, he involves readers in his own journey to puzzle out the changes taking place in marketing and consumer culture. The result makes for a warmer read than other books of this type.” [Another really interesting one, includes reviewer’s thoughtful account of a recent shopping visit to a J.C. Penney.]
Culture Making: “Walker has that Gladwell-like knack for weaving together anecdotes and first-person reportage, combined with a better-than-Gladwell ability to weave them into a clear arc of careful argument about how consumerism has changed our culture and our sense of ourselves.”
My Brilliant Mistakes: “Full of simple but startling revelations (although also equally entertaining).”
Canuckflack: “Are you the master of your consumer environment, or are you the bitch of marketers, pop psychologists and retail designers?”
Weatherpattern: “What would happen if we unplugged from our brands? How would we and those around us react to separating ourselves from our possessions? Is that even possible? Even better, what stories would we construct about ourselves? Who would we be?”
Lifefilter: “It left me looking deeper into the actual and perceived value of objects.”
Misha Cornes/Threeminds: “A refreshingly jargon-free analysis of the interplay between brands and consumers.”
idUnited: “Funny thing is as I was reading the book I was experiencing Murketing first hand.”
Seen Reading: “Caucasian male, late 20s, wearing white pressed shirt, blue dress pants, and brown leather shoes, a pale trail of virgin white outlining his freshly shorn hair.”
Witoozy.com: “If you are interested in looking at what makes a brand popular, who determines a brands popularity and why there is loyalty to brands, I’d recommend this book.”
Mixed Mania: “Walker’s understanding of not just consumer culture, but generational differences and general human nature, makes this book a real standout in terms of shedding light on the grey area between authentic culture and manufactured meaning.”
Mark Kingwell/Toronto Globe & Mail: “Marketers now use the levers of criticism against themselves, making branding better by embracing, rather than ignoring, their harshest opposition. On this model, the logic of rebellion is the engine of market success, not a sabot tossed into its machinery.”
– > Early endorsements <–
The most trenchant psychoanalyst of our consumer selves is Rob Walker. ‘Buying In’ is a fresh and fascinating exploration of the places where material culture and identity intersect. – Michael Pollan, author, In Defense of Food
Rob Walker is a gift. He shows that in our shattered, scattered world, powerful brands are existential, insinuating themselves into the human questions “what am I about?” and “how do I connect?” His insight that brand influence is becoming both more pervasive and more hidden—that we are not so self-defined as we like to think—should make us disturbed, and vigilant. — Jim Collins, author, Good to Great
Rob Walker is a terrific writer who understands both human nature and the business world. His book is highly entertaining, but it’s also a deeply thoughtful look at the ways in which marketing meets the modern psyche. –Bethany McLean, editor at large, Fortune, and co-author of The Smartest Guys in the Room
Rob Walker brilliantly/deftly deconstructs the Religion of Consumption. Love his column, couldn’t put his book down. – Paco Underhill, author, Why We Buy
Buying In has vast social implications, far beyond the fields of marketing and branding. Most importantly, from the policy point of view, it obliterates our old paradigm of companies (the bad guys) corrupting our children (the innocents) via commercials. In this new world, media-literate young freely and willingly co-opt the brands, with most companies being clueless bystanders desperate to keep up. Consuming and interacting with products has become the new turf for the identity politics game, stirring the kind of savage feelings previously reserved for matters of ethnicity and class. I really don’t know if this is good news or bad news, but I can say, with certainty, that this book is a must-read. – Po Bronson, author, Why Do I Love These People?
Significant Objects was a literary and anthropological enterprise devised by Joshua Glenn and Rob Walker. It began as an online experiment demonstrating that the effect of imaginative narrative on any given object’s subjective value can be measured objectively. Various online sequels, a book, and a number of events and collaborations have followed. Read more of […]
Show full content
Significant Objects was a literary and anthropological enterprise devised by Joshua Glenn and Rob Walker.
It began as an online experiment demonstrating that the effect of imaginative narrative on any given object’s subjective value can be measured objectively. Various online sequels, a book, and a number of events and collaborations have followed.
The project collaborated with Slate on a writing contest; guest curators and partner editors including The Believer,Electric Literature, Underwater New York,The Center for Cartoon Studies, and MoMA design curator Paola Antonelli; and organized a reading and participatory “Object Slam” as part of San Francisco’s Litquake, featuring Beth Lisick, Rob Baedeker, Miranda Mellis, Chris Colin, and Katie Williams.
Most (ahem) significantly, a collection of 100 of the project’s finest stories was published by Fantagraphics in a highly impressive volume, masterfully designed by Jacob Covey. This was covered by The New York Times and NPR’s All Things Considered, among others, and inspired a collaboration and contest with Kurt Andersen’s Studio 360. The book debuted with a sold-out event at The Strand in New York City, featuring contributors Luc Sante, Matthew Sharpe, Mimi Lipson, Ben Greenman, Annie Nocenti, Shelley Jackson, and Jason Grote.
The book is now hard to find, but you might try Amazon or AbeBooks. All the project’s stories are archived on this site.
Here is a video that describes the project by way of interviews with several participating authors:
And here is a video of our book launch event at The Strand in New York, NY:
The Art of Noticing made “the longlist for 
This Core77 Q&A
I’ve been a fan of radio since I was a kid, and that’s extended into a digital-era enthusiasm for podcasts, sound art, and basically all things audio. Professionally, I’m a text guy, but I do try to do audio stuff whenever the opportunity comes up, and hope to do more. Here are a few things from that realm.
The Art of Noticing. Lecture. Private event; Deerfield, Illinois. April 4, 2019.
