How can I direct attention on an breath without consciously breathing?
These books are wrong, which is why relatively few Buddhists are stream-enterers or reach jhana. 

To observe the computer screen in front of you, you do not have to do anything with your eyes. The seeing of the computer screen happens automatically, as long as your head is pointed in the direction of the computer screen &amp; your mind is not asleep. 

Similarly, in meditation, feeling &amp; knowing the breathing happens automatically, as long as the mind is quiet, still &amp; gentle. All that is really needed is to sit upright with a still, quiet, gentle, awake mind. 

The difficult part is the quiet clear mind. If this can be done, the breathing part is easy because the body breathes automatically &amp; the mind knows breathing automatically when the mind is quiet. 

The path of the Buddha is the giving up of craving, which includes not craving when meditating. 

The Zen masters say: 'The silent mind can listen to grass'.