Concentration intensifies awareness

p.307

All-out intent begets an all-around awareness which also helps us creatively.  I have often admired the alertness of the Abercrombie and Fitch windows in New York.  There is almost always something in them that makes us stop and gaze.  For instance, during wartime I noticed people packed three deep peering at one of the displays, so I wedged my way through.  The magnet was nothing but a hunk of rag with a little card saying: "This piece of cloth came from a parachute of a bomb that devastated a large section of London."

In my newspaper days, such awareness was known as a "nose for news" and is still the distinguishing mark of star reporters.  But even a chemist can set himself apart by developing the same power.