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3.57 AVERAGE
3.57 AVERAGE
Carl Honoré delivers a well-researched survey of all the various ways within various aspects of life (career, food, sex, leisure, parenting, etc.) people are downshifting to slower speeds in order to reclaim their sanity and happiness. This book was also well-written and I found it interesting throughout.
So why just a two-star “It was OK” rating? Mainly because I didn’t feel like I learned anything. I didn’t experience any eureka moments triggered by anything Honoré says that made me look at my own life in a new way I hadn’t already thought of. I either need a) practical takeaways, or b) a new philosophical understanding, and while the journey through various slow movements was fascinating, I personally didn’t get either of those two things.
That said, maybe someone else would. The two stars simply reflects my own personal experience.
I’ll definitely say I did enjoy his TED talk immensely, which was why I picked up this book. I actually watched his TED talk a few years ago (and only now finally got around to his book) and at the time, his message did set off a lightbulb in my head. It was at the time when I was only beginning to notice how quickly I was coasting through life without much thought and feeling the first inklings of burn out. I’m sure if I had read his book then, I would have ended up giving it a higher star rating. Sometimes books are about arriving in your life at the right time.
So why just a two-star “It was OK” rating? Mainly because I didn’t feel like I learned anything. I didn’t experience any eureka moments triggered by anything Honoré says that made me look at my own life in a new way I hadn’t already thought of. I either need a) practical takeaways, or b) a new philosophical understanding, and while the journey through various slow movements was fascinating, I personally didn’t get either of those two things.
That said, maybe someone else would. The two stars simply reflects my own personal experience.
I’ll definitely say I did enjoy his TED talk immensely, which was why I picked up this book. I actually watched his TED talk a few years ago (and only now finally got around to his book) and at the time, his message did set off a lightbulb in my head. It was at the time when I was only beginning to notice how quickly I was coasting through life without much thought and feeling the first inklings of burn out. I’m sure if I had read his book then, I would have ended up giving it a higher star rating. Sometimes books are about arriving in your life at the right time.
hopeful
informative
relaxing
slow-paced
This book is named appropriately! In Praise of Slow covers the Slow movement and philosophies over topics such as Food, Cities, Intimacy, Medicine, Work, Leisure and Children and shows both pros and cons to ideas presented. While it’s not a page turner, it provides good practices on how to slow down areas of your life.
As part of my resolution in 2014 to read more non-fiction books I picked this one up. It's given to all the grads where I work and thought...well I'll give it a go.
Majority of the book is common sense. Just in terms of the fact that yes it is better to focus on a few things well rather than everything badly which is what a lot of people end up doing. I am a massive proponent of sitting to eat and to talk and I love reading but equally I'm guilty of trying to fill my time up, all the time - even though I already measure out my time by the teaspoon.
One of the best hooks was how the writer managed to tie the book back to his own experiences of being a father and reading to his child. It made me think that I don't want to be that parent that tries to do the 'One-minute story' because I'm too busy to spend time with my children. And kids that are so mired in extra-curriculars that they don't have time to be kids. That's not ok. At all.
Some of the practices suggested are very bourgeois (eating organically, cutting down hours at work, home schooling etc.). But some of them not so much - taking more time to have sex, more time away from TV and spending it with loved ones (friends or family) are easy enough to do. I guess it's made me think a bit more about how I spend my time and if I'm really doing things that enrich me...
Definitely worth a read, because in truth, we do go too fast and social media doesn't help and the phenomenon of FOMO has only made that more apparent for people in my age group.
Majority of the book is common sense. Just in terms of the fact that yes it is better to focus on a few things well rather than everything badly which is what a lot of people end up doing. I am a massive proponent of sitting to eat and to talk and I love reading but equally I'm guilty of trying to fill my time up, all the time - even though I already measure out my time by the teaspoon.
One of the best hooks was how the writer managed to tie the book back to his own experiences of being a father and reading to his child. It made me think that I don't want to be that parent that tries to do the 'One-minute story' because I'm too busy to spend time with my children. And kids that are so mired in extra-curriculars that they don't have time to be kids. That's not ok. At all.
Some of the practices suggested are very bourgeois (eating organically, cutting down hours at work, home schooling etc.). But some of them not so much - taking more time to have sex, more time away from TV and spending it with loved ones (friends or family) are easy enough to do. I guess it's made me think a bit more about how I spend my time and if I'm really doing things that enrich me...
Definitely worth a read, because in truth, we do go too fast and social media doesn't help and the phenomenon of FOMO has only made that more apparent for people in my age group.