Crazybusy By Edward M. Hallowell, M.D.               Ballantine Books 2006 Edward Hallowell is a psychiatrist who taught at Harvard Medical School for twenty years, is a best-selling author and an expert on attention deficit disorder.  Not bad for a guy with ADD and dyslexia.   He’s an ideal person to observe and comment on our wired, hyper, fast-paced world.  He notes that the feeling of being overwhelmed, so common to us today, is a feeling that individuals with dyslexia and ADD know extremely well.  The subtitle of the book is “Overstretched, Overbooked and About to Snap!  Strategies for Coping in a World Gone ADD.”   Can you relate? Crazybusy refers to the modern phenomenon of brain overload.  Dr. Hallowell describes what’s happening to us as “culturally-induced attention deficit trait.”  He used to call it “a case of modern life” but for this book he named it “F-state (which) fractures focus and is frenzied, flailing, fearful, forgetful, flustered, furious and frantic” – not to mention ineffective and unpleasant!   What he endorses is “C-state (which) is clear, calm, cool, consistent, concentrated, curious, creative and courteous” – also more pleasant and productive.   He devotes over 90 pages to suggesting ways of moving from F-state to C-state.   Creative thinker that he is, Hallowell has coined an imaginative vocabulary to describe the sources of “the rush, the gush, the blather and the clutter” of our lives.  “Gemmelsmerch” describes “the ubiquitous force that distracts us from whatever we’re doing.” – the ping announcing each new e-mail comes to mind.  “Frazzing” is “ineffective multitasking.”  “Pizzled” is “a combination of pissed-off and puzzled.”  “Fuhgeddomania”, “Loseophilia”, “Gigaguilt”, “Taildogging”, “Screensucking”, the list goes on.  This is book is not only insightful and instructive but entertaining as well. The book’s format is perfect for people who have ADD or are already overloaded (i.e. most of us): it contains 35 short chapters, gets to the point and contains a wealth of specific suggestions for slowing down, avoiding distractions and making time to think instead of reacting all the time.  There’s a chapter on multitasking, which he likens to playing tennis with two or more balls and explains why it’s usually ineffective.  There’s a chapter on “rhythm” and why it’s important.  It helps to relegate routine tasks and activities to the cerebellum (the automatic pilot of the brain), freeing up the frontal lobes (which don’t like monitoring boring, repetitive tasks) for creative work and higher functions.  He talks about the value of time-outs (“few, if any, people say they do their best thinking at work”), the importance of social connection and doing what matters most first. This excellent book is well-written, easy to read, thought-provoking, practical and a vital resource in navigating the ADD world around us.