Wednesday, July 06, 2005

Books and One Thing Leads to Another

I’m currently reading In Praise of Slowness by Carl Honore.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/006054578X/qid=1120653713/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/103-7411287-7955859

Honore is a journalist who, like most of us, found himself running faster and faster just to keep up. He had an epiphany when he saw an ad for “One Minute Bedtime Stories” and was about to place an order, in an effort to make putting his child to bed more efficient.

He stopped and he asked himself what was going on.

In Praise of Slowness is a look at our relationship with time in the 21st century. Why do we feel compelled to go faster and faster, and what can we do about it.

Honore is no Luddite. He values technology as much as anyone else. He also has come to realize that there are limits and there must be a balance. What he learned was that there is a world wide Slow Movement, hoping to accomplish the very things he sets out to do.

The book has a lot of information about the Slow Movement.

In Praise of Slowness is every bit about our relationship to time as Your Money or Your Life is about our relationship to money and making a living.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0140286780/qid=1120654051/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_ur_1/103-7411287-7955859?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

Another book about time is The Art of Time by Jean-Louis Servan-Schreiber.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1569246475/ref=pd_ecc_rvi_2/103-7411287-7955859?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance

JLSS starts out with all the little time management tips and tricks, but quickly gets to the nut of the matter – have you ever notice that you have time for what what you really love? Therein lies the secret: love what you do.

Honore’s style of prose is light and fast moving. He doesn’t get in the way of the story he’s trying to tell. He reminds me very much of Malcom Gladwell, a regular columnist for the New Yorker. Gladwell’s past articles for the New Yorker make for entertaining and fascinating reading. They can be found on his website at:

www.gladwell.com

Gladwell is the author of two books: The Tipping Point…

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0316346624/qid=1120654320/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_ur_1/103-7411287-7955859?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

… and more recently, Blink

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0316172324/ref=pd_sim_b_1/103-7411287-7955859?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance

2 comments:

  1. Companion to the slow movement is staying put. Scott Russell Sanders' book, _Staying Put: Making a Home in a Restless World_, is worth taking a look at.

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  2. I might add that the most reliable method that I've found for slowing down is the regular practice of standing zen (aka zhan zhuang or ritsuzen).

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