Framespotting: about the book

Framespotting is an informal, upbeat, punchy and jargon-free introduction to ‘framing’: how our view of life is often ‘zoomed in’ to focus on a small area; and how to take control of this process and see the bigger picture. Sometimes a ‘frame’ around a topic doesn’t just restrict what you see - to just what’s inside the frame - but it also influences how you see it: what you think is ‘good’ and what’s ‘bad’. And often we don’t notice this is happening.

Having spent time researching, campaigning and debating responses to climate change, Laurence became increasingly interested in the deep reasons why we’re doing so little to tackle something so serious. There are all sorts of technical, political and economic issues and debates, but there’s something deeper going on too. It’s like disentangling technical problems in industry (which we’ve both had many years’ experience of doing). But when he looked, Laurence was surprised how pervasive this ‘framing’ effect was in all sorts of other areas of life too, and how strongly it influences us.

Framing closes down solutions by limiting how we view situations and problems, so if we can spot frames and look outside of them, whole new worlds of possibilities can open up. The implications for many of the situations we face are mind-blowing. Making use of this knowledge can really make a difference to how we tackle all manner of life's problems. Unless people realize this, they can have heated debates within a frame but never question (or even be aware of) the frame itself. Everyone needs to know more about frames.

Clearly this isn't the kind of thing you keep to yourself! You want to get the word out so everyone can benefit. There are some books about framing (see the further reading section of this website), but nothing simple, light-hearted and appealing that general readers might pick up and enjoy.

And that, folks, is how Framespotting came about. It's our attempt to put everyone in charge of how they see things. We hope you enjoy that 'aha' feeling that comes from understanding something you thought was beyond you, and the 'wow' feeling from seeing and recognizing the examples of framing behind everyday situations; and that you feel empowered to recognize when you’re being duped - by politicians and corporations, or simply unwittingly by the language we use. Enjoy your framespotting!

Framing at the Hay Festival

In December 2013 we gave a talk on frame spotting at the Hay Festival Winter Weekend. The provisional title for the book at that time was Zoom Control. You can listen to a recording of the talk by clicking here but sadly you'll miss out on the slideshow :(

Framespotting is published by IFF Books in paperback and as an eBook

Paperback $14.95 | £8.99
ISBN 978-1-78279-689-3

eBook $7.99 | £4.99
ISBN 978-1-78279-822-4

Psychology, Current Affairs

Format 216x140 mm | Extent 128pp

Distributed to the trade by National Book Network in the US;
by Orca Marston in the UK