In Praise of Slowness: Challenging the Cult of Speed (Plus) [ラフカット] [ペーパーバック]

I actually read this book about six weeks ago while vacationing with friends. The fact that I still remember it clearly and am still thinking about it is one of the best recommendations I could give. I read several books a week, and most of them do a relatively quick mental disappearing act. But this one is definitely a keeper.

As one of the other readers pointed out, this is not so much a how-to guide as a cultural snapshot of some of the more absurd Western practices that have accelerated our lives to an almost ludicrous degree. (Those who have tried driving a car during lunch hour while using one hand to eat fast food and the other to return phone calls will know immediately what I'm talking about.)

I once read a review that started by listing all of the things the reader had done differently since reading the book. In that same spirit, let me tell you that since I read this book more than a month ago, I have been:

*giving myself permission to take naps and get a full night's sleep almost every night

*watching less TV and taking more walks

*making a point to cook a real dinner several nights a week, with the whole family assembled at the table

*taking breaks during the work day, which I find has actually increased my productivity

*calling old friends long-distance and reconnecting

*taken my daughter out of gymnastics to keep the family at home and unscheduled

These are not enormous changes in my life -- I was doing some of them before -- but they are important ones. What's more, they've been easy to implement. Now I need to work on not taking my laptop everywhere and telling myself it's OK not to check my work email when I've got the flu!

The chapter I most appreciated was the one on parenting. Children do not understand the need for our fast pace, and what they need more than anything is our time. This book made me realize the number of times I tell my daughter to hurry up/we're late for school/we need to go now/blah blah blah. I do not want my daughter to grow up like so many kids in our culture: overprogrammed, overscheduled, and stressed out.

So, five stars for this book. I've already recommended it to several friends, including the ones I read parts of this aloud to on vacation. (We spent the week repeating the book's mantra, "Slow is the new fast.") Ironically enough, this book on slowness is a remarkably fast read. The chapters are short and engaging; the writing is sharp and sometimes quite funny. Honore is deeply conscious of his own need to change, such as when he gets a speeding ticket on his way to one of the 4-hour Italian dinners that feature in the "slow food" chapter. :-) One thing I wish he had talked about, since the book delves into spiritual issues, is the movement back toward the observation of a weekly sabbath. That practice has changed my life and the whole rhythm of my weeks. Well, perhaps that's fodder for a sequel. This is an excellent book.

Along the way I've picked up several religions and spiritual books of all stripes that advocate the benefits of meditation, silence, and retreats as ways to heal the body, mind, and soul.

But Honore's well researched treatise provides what I believe is the first incisive overview of an important cultural phenomenon as we immerse our lives in instant online messengers, SMS thumb tribes, skipped breakfast, limp chicken sandwiches for lunch, and a bout of 'power yoga' to punctuate that little crevice of a break in the evenings..

Honore's writing style may occasionally wear a "Manifesto" dress and many of his suggestions to live a slow life may have a fairly non-trivial opportunity cost depending on where you live, but it is a very timely and wonderfully thought-provoking read nonetheless.

I have been gradually embracing slowness in my life for some time, starting with saying "no" to so many after-work activities, cooking more often, walking away from my desk occasionally, and, most importantly, just taking the time to enjoy the moment instead of thinking about what I must do in the next moment. It took me more years than I care to acknowledge to realize that I am, and always have been, pretty much Slow in my ways, and to just stop trying to be otherwise.

So I was already in the "slow is beautiful" camp when I picked up this book. Carl Honore's well-researched and balanced look at slowing down merely confirmed what I already know: taking time to enjoy the moment, take care of one's self, nourish relationships, and just simply be still is the key to happiness and health, at least for me.

Honore starts by discussing the real downside of the Fast life: stress-related illnesses, sleep deprivation, feeling out of control, feeling rage. He then discusses the benefits of the Slow life: feeling more creative and satisfied with life, just for starters. Then he describes how people are slowing down in different aspects of life: cooking and eating, work, leisure time... Finally, he wraps it all up by asking us to evaluate ways we can slow down. The back of the book contains lots of resources to get us started.

I liked many things about this book, besides agreeing completely with the premise: Honore emphasizes balance -- that there are times when we should be Fast, and, for example, there is nothing wrong with working lots of hours if you really like to; his arguments are well-supported by his research and are not extreme; he acknowledges that making changes is not easy, yet gives us many practical examples of ways we can slow down; and the book was so well written and logically laid out that, much as I tried to, I couldn't read it slowly!

If you like this book, you might also check out Take Back Your Time, edited by John De Graaf; Affluenza, also by De Graaf; and Work to Live by Joe Robinson. I have read the first, a collection of essays by time experts, and have the other two on my list.