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3.57 AVERAGE
3.57 AVERAGE
informative
inspiring
slow-paced
It probably says something about me that I listened to this book at 1.5x speed and it still took me a couple of weeks to get through it
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
informative
relaxing
medium-paced
3.5 stars, enjoyed it and it will stick with me, would recommend, but probably won't reread.
The good: I'm a long time supporter of the slow movement, and I enjoyed reading about the various ways we can take a step back from a frantic life and regain some poise. I earmarked a lot of quotes and thoughts in the book that really resonated with me, and it is overall an engaging and enjoyable read. I preferred the parts where he waxes poetic about the slow lifestyle over the parts that are just statistics and facts, but there's a pretty good balance between the two.
The less good: My edition of the book was printed almost 20 years ago, in 2005, and parts of it are a bit dated and out of touch by 2023 standards. The chapter on work, particularly, feels...upper class. Some of his suggestions, like "What's a pay cut compared to job happiness?" and setting your own work hours, budgeting time into your work day for meditation and small naps just feel somewhat out of touch with the actual worker class. He includes lots of quotes from executives and businessmen/women about how slowing down has helped them so much, but none from, say, maids or shop cashiers. The chapters also get a bit repetitive and formulaic, but are still overall engaging.
The bad: Also dated, the author's mild but persistent fatphobia and references to very 2000s diet culture and how TV makes people fat and lazy and therefore morally bad. This was really the one sour note of the book for me, and while I know it was typical of the time the book was written, it's still off putting
The good: I'm a long time supporter of the slow movement, and I enjoyed reading about the various ways we can take a step back from a frantic life and regain some poise. I earmarked a lot of quotes and thoughts in the book that really resonated with me, and it is overall an engaging and enjoyable read. I preferred the parts where he waxes poetic about the slow lifestyle over the parts that are just statistics and facts, but there's a pretty good balance between the two.
The less good: My edition of the book was printed almost 20 years ago, in 2005, and parts of it are a bit dated and out of touch by 2023 standards. The chapter on work, particularly, feels...upper class. Some of his suggestions, like "What's a pay cut compared to job happiness?" and setting your own work hours, budgeting time into your work day for meditation and small naps just feel somewhat out of touch with the actual worker class. He includes lots of quotes from executives and businessmen/women about how slowing down has helped them so much, but none from, say, maids or shop cashiers. The chapters also get a bit repetitive and formulaic, but are still overall engaging.
The bad: Also dated, the author's mild but persistent fatphobia and references to very 2000s diet culture and how TV makes people fat and lazy and therefore morally bad. This was really the one sour note of the book for me, and while I know it was typical of the time the book was written, it's still off putting
Content Warnings
Minor: Fatphobia
informative
reflective
slow-paced
Some interesting facts; but I already live this way. I liked the chapter on speeding.
"Empty time is not a vacuum to be filled,” writes the dean.
“It is the thing that enables the other things on your mind
to be creatively rearranged, like the empty square in the 4 x
4 puzzle that makes it possible to move the other fifteen
pieces around.” In other words, doing nothing, being Slow... "
I feel like the other books I read on Slow Living appealed to the heart while this was aimed at my head, and so I found it quite monotonous to read in the beginning. I continued because I knew I needed it. I like that this book had research, references and the perspective of others to back up The Slow Movement.
I especially liked the chapters about Slow Sex and Raising an unhurried child. The fact that there are others who have gone before me years ago to embrace this lifestyle and they're all flourishing is somewhat comforting and inspiring.
What I also like about the Slow Movement is that it asks that we choose the pacing we want. It's not necessarily asking for us to throwaway "fast" but to blend fast and slow harmoniously. Run fast through the fields but slow down to observe and smell the flowers.
"We all must have the right to choose the pace that
makes us happy. As Uwe Kliemt, the Tempo Giusto pianist,
says, “The world is a richer place when we make room for
different speeds."
Surprisingly, I enjoyed reading this book in the end.
"The secret is balance:
instead of doing everything faster, do everything at the
right speed. Sometimes fast. Sometimes slow. Sometimes
somewhere in between. Being Slow means never rushing,
never striving to save time just for the sake of it. It means
remaining calm and unflustered even when circumstances
force us to speed up. One way to cultivate inner Slowness
is to make time for activities that defy acceleration—medi-tation, knitting, gardening, yoga, painting, reading, walk-ing, Chi Kung."
“It is the thing that enables the other things on your mind
to be creatively rearranged, like the empty square in the 4 x
4 puzzle that makes it possible to move the other fifteen
pieces around.” In other words, doing nothing, being Slow... "
I feel like the other books I read on Slow Living appealed to the heart while this was aimed at my head, and so I found it quite monotonous to read in the beginning. I continued because I knew I needed it. I like that this book had research, references and the perspective of others to back up The Slow Movement.
I especially liked the chapters about Slow Sex and Raising an unhurried child. The fact that there are others who have gone before me years ago to embrace this lifestyle and they're all flourishing is somewhat comforting and inspiring.
What I also like about the Slow Movement is that it asks that we choose the pacing we want. It's not necessarily asking for us to throwaway "fast" but to blend fast and slow harmoniously. Run fast through the fields but slow down to observe and smell the flowers.
"We all must have the right to choose the pace that
makes us happy. As Uwe Kliemt, the Tempo Giusto pianist,
says, “The world is a richer place when we make room for
different speeds."
Surprisingly, I enjoyed reading this book in the end.
"The secret is balance:
instead of doing everything faster, do everything at the
right speed. Sometimes fast. Sometimes slow. Sometimes
somewhere in between. Being Slow means never rushing,
never striving to save time just for the sake of it. It means
remaining calm and unflustered even when circumstances
force us to speed up. One way to cultivate inner Slowness
is to make time for activities that defy acceleration—medi-tation, knitting, gardening, yoga, painting, reading, walk-ing, Chi Kung."
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
informative
reflective
slow-paced
challenging
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
informative
reflective
medium-paced