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keniasedler 's review for:
In Praise of Slowness: Challenging the Cult of Speed
by Carl Honoré
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.