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29+ Works 1,759 Members 41 Reviews

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Works by Carl Honoré

La lentitud como método (2012) 9 copies
The Power of Slow (2009) 5 copies
Lenteur mode d'emploi (2013) 2 copies

Associated Works

The Analog Sea Review: Number Four (2022) — Contributor — 2 copies

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With regards to this book it is more about the advised philosophy than the strength of the writing. I picked this up because I was interested in the Slow Movement. One of my favourite subjects was that of time, the opening subject, which started off well with the following paragraph - What is the very first thing you do in the morning? Draw the curtains? Roll over to snuggle with your partner or pillow? Spring out of bed and do ten push ups to get the blood pumping? No, the first thing you do, the first thing everyone does, is check the time. Page 17.

In my opinion it was one of the strongest subjects and made me think about my own relationship with time.

"Boredom - the word itself hardly existed 150 years ago - is a modern invention." This sentence really made me stop and think. 'I'm bored' is a term I have heard with increasing frequency each year. I only have to think back to when I was a child, and how the more technology developed and the less time we spent outdoors, the more bored we got, and to look at my young cousins now who are glued to their DS's which once the battery dies have absolutely no idea how to amuse themselves. It seems we have all forgotten how to slow down and simply be alive rather than constantly trying to maintain a state of hyper stimulation.


"Thanks to speed we live in the age of rage."
This rang truer for me than I would like to admit. I'm embarrassed to think of all the times I have huffed and puffed and gotten angry just by getting stuck in traffic or if I have to line up somewhere for more than a minute, not to mention if my Internet is lagging, having obviously completely forgotten what it was like when the first modem came out...When I think back on all the times I have gotten angry, most of it has been over nothing. Really. What does it matter if you have to wait a few minutes? After reading this I changed my ways. I know longer mind waiting. Instead I do some deep breathing, day dream about the newest hunk on True Blood or simply have a gander at what is going on in the world around me - birds finding twigs, children playing games, a leaf dancing on the wind etc. Slowing down has made me happier and calmer.

What I didn't like about this book was the chapter on music; it dragged on far too long and was very repetitive. Some chapters too suffered from repetition.

I also lost respect for the author on the chapter of Tantric sex. It might be a personal bias, but I could not understand how he could go back to the second class WITHOUT HIS WIFE. He went on to say, that although he performed the night's exercises with another woman (including touching her in places to see how pleasurable it was for her etc) it was all completely innocent. I mean honestly, he couldn't skip one night and wait until the next to go back with his wife to experience non-sex-induced orgasms??

After that I didn't really enjoy hearing his personal slant on everything and would have preferred he stay neutral and merely inform me of the different fields of the Slow Movement.
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spiritedstardust | 30 other reviews | Dec 29, 2022 |
I’m always conscious of time—and I envy creative people like musicians, writers and artists who can place themselves in the flow and losethemselves. I envy them because I so rarely get there myself. But I’ve been trying. See, I have a problem with time management. Not that I’m disorganized but I’m always trying to fit more in so I can do it all. As a result I’ve read probably every time management book under the sun. In the eighties I had my Time Planner, and now I live by my todo lists, and weekly, quarterly and annual goals. I’ve learned to be efficient and I’m always looking for ways to cut corners on the things that don’t matter to me so I can spend more time on the things that do.

So I’ve really been looking forward to reading In Praise of Slowness because I am the target demographic. A number of years ago I read John de Graff’s book Take Back Your Time and it changed my life. It opened my eyes to how we overwork ourselves in the United States. One of my favorite posters on his organization’s site is a cartoon that says, “Medieval Peasants Worked Less Than You Do.” I even attended one of their conferences. It was right after the economy crashed and they were struggling with how we could possibly get a minimum vacation law passed now. How sad!

In Praise of Slowness is a great book. It focuses on the Slow movement started in Italy and profiles areas where people are deciding enough is enough, work isn’t all there is, and it is time to get off the treadmill and enjoy life. The author, Carl Honore profiles ways people are taking back their lives through and choosing a more leisurely route through food, urban planning, mind/body, medicine, sex, work, leisure, and the over scheduled child.

I’m not exactly about to start cooking several hours a day, but I’ll be glad to eat any meals my friends choose to make and spend an evening with them. In fact, I did that last Friday. I went to a friend’s house and I made a new salad recipe while she and her partner bbqed. We drank wine while the kids went crazy running around the backyard. I left with a full belly and my kid fell asleep in the car on the way home. I need more nights like that. And that is something I’m working on—I’m currently working on building my support network in the real world and making more time for friends and family.

If you think your life is stressful and there isn’t enough time in the day, then please read this book. Pick an area or two, and then focus on how you can slow down. (And if you choose food, please invite me over). Then read de Graaf’s book Take Back Your Time and look for how we can change the work world to make it better. And then learn how to stop being a slave to technology by reading Be Excellent at Everything.
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auldhouse | 30 other reviews | Sep 30, 2021 |
Que a gusto he leído este libro. Recomendable para cualquiera que tenga hijos "pequeños" (no adultos).
 
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mirenbz | 3 other reviews | Jun 14, 2020 |
Following on from his excellent In Praise of Slow, this is Honoré's look at practical ways to achieve by thinking about a problem first.

His theory is that by rushing into solving a problem then you are not considering the full implications of your decisions and actions, and that by taking time and effort to get it right you only need to do it once. He does accept that quick fixes are sometime necessary; to get a car running again to get home, but proper consideration on a problem will lead to long term benefits.

The book is stuffed full of examples and case studies and he picks examples from other titles that I have read, such as The Wisdom of Crowds, Blink and Good to Great. Al lot of what he says is very true; the churn of stocks and share has no benefit to society or companies, as the long term investments made by Warren Buffet prove. The examples of the way that the RAF looks at pilot error and other mistake make all the flying by them safer, and looks at the check list now used by surgeons the world over to minimise errors.

Overall it is not a bad read, but not as ground breaking as his first book.
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PDCRead | 3 other reviews | Apr 6, 2020 |

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