Instance of stream of consciousness of a contemporary male character, Eamon, over the course of a single day. Unusually, stream of consciousness is combined with supposedly recorded conversations, highlighting how special stream of consciousness is, rendered here very convincingly.It thrilled me. I could identify so much with the main character's man-thinking, though my thoughts are not as dynamic as his and I'm not competitive, not so self-condemning. His self-condemning may stem from testosterone-fuelled thinking that he identifies with strongly and is proud of.The book is subtitled "Sex, Death, and Science." Scientific judgment appears to be the foundation Eamon has built his identity around, but he accepts sex as a challenge to his self-regard. He feels vulnerable to a female character Ellen's judgments on him, that he feels he has less insight into, can protect himself from less easily, than he has into science.For me "Pay Attention" is a respectable work of literature. When future people want to understand our time, this could be a substantial guide for them, both in what it contains and what's missing. I do think it conveys the hollowness of our age's self-image.Most of all, I think women can get a very good idea of men's thinking from this story. It's uncannily similar to mine.