In the 1990s, three to five percent of American children were believed to have what was referred to as "disordered attention." By 2013, 11 percent were believed to have disordered attention. In 1990, six hundred thousand children were on Ritalin, and by 201 three and a half million children were on stimulants. So was this better diagnosing of the problem? Is the diagnosis actually reliable? And is there an ironic result of treating the problem pharmacologically? 

All these questions are explored in Casey Schwarz's book, ]Attention: A Love Story, but the telling is enhanced by your own personal romance with Adderall. This week on Just the Right Book, Roxanne Coady and Casey explore her explanation of what brilliant writers like David Foster Wallace have to say about attention and just why attention might be the key to a full life. 

Casey Schwartz is the author of Attention: A Love Story and In the Mind Fields: Exploring the New Science of Neuropsychoanalysis. She contributes regularly to The New York Times and lives in New York City.