In Praise of Slowness: How A Worldwide Movement Is Challenging the Cult of Speed [ハードカバー]

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.

With "In Praise of Slowness," Carl Honore offers a gift that is simultaneously outrageous and practical --- what a great combination. It is outrageous in that our culture has become so addicted to speed (the pace, not the drug) that for many of us, the idea of slowing down and making more conscious choices about how our time is spent is perceived as nearly impossible. It is practical in that there is nothing impossible about what Honore describes and recommends in this useful and enlightening book.

As a psychotherapist, speaker and author (Embracing Fear & Finding the Courage to Live Your Life) who teaches the advantages of living life by decision rather than default, I appreciate Honore's emphasis on responsibility of choice. He is not recommending that we exchange one end of the continuum (speed) for the opposite end (slowness). Instead this book is about developing the full range of choices --- as in, "I want to be ready and able to move as quickly in life as the situation calls for, but I also want to be capable and willing to slow down and not approach every task and every errand as if is a matter of life or death."

"In Praise of Slowness" takes us on a very interesting tour of places where slowness is already becoming more valued (and practiced). He gives examples ranging from individuals to medical professionals (that's not about the long, slow wait to see the doctor), to even city planners who are designing communities that are conducive to slowing it all down. Much of this is about a return to bottom-line human values --- caring more about the quality of our lives than the quantity of items we check off our list at the end of each day.

Most of all, this is a book about the importance of being in charge of our own lives. This is an informative, enlightening and entertaining read, and I recommend that you make time to read it.

And get an extra copy to leave on the desk of the busiest, most rushed person you know.

- Thom Rutledge, author of Embracing Fear & Finding the Courage to Live Your Life