Sometimes, you just need to step back and think about things. Not everything in life has to be go Go GO! This month's variations on a theme is about books that make you think, that make you calm down, that make you sit back and contemplate before you act.
As per usual, the reviews/summaries are from Barnes and Noble.
In Praise of Slowness: Challenging the Cult of Speed
Carl Honore
Living on the edge of exhaustion, we are constantly reminded by our bodies and minds that the pace of life is spinning out of control. In Praise of Slowness traces the history of our increasingly breathless relationship with time and tackles the consequences of living in this accelerated culture of our own creation. Why are we always in such a rush? What is the cure for time sickness? Is it possible, or even desirable, to slow down? Realizing the price we pay for unrelenting speed, people all over the world are reclaiming their time and slowing down the pace — and living happier, healthier, and more productive lives as a result. A Slow revolution is taking place. [My Review]
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can't Stop Talking
Susan Cain
Passionately argued, impressively researched, and filled with indelible stories of real people, Quiet shows how dramatically we undervalue introverts, and how much we lose in doing so. Taking the reader on a journey from Dale Carnegie’s birthplace to Harvard Business School, from a Tony Robbins seminar to an evangelical megachurch, Susan Cain charts the rise of the Extrovert Ideal in the twentieth century and explores its far-reaching effects. She talks to Asian-American students who feel alienated from the brash, backslapping atmosphere of American schools. She questions the dominant values of American business culture, where forced collaboration can stand in the way of innovation, and where the leadership potential of introverts is often overlooked. And she draws on cutting-edge research in psychology and neuroscience to reveal the surprising differences between extroverts and introverts.
Leisure: The Basis of Culture
Josef Pieper
In Leisure the Basis of Culture, Pieper destroys common misconceptions about the idea of leisure and its relation to work. Leisure is not idleness, but an attitude of the mind and a condition of the soul that fosters receptivity to both physical and spiritual realities. The author points out that sound philosophy and authentic religion can be born only in leisure-a leisure that allows time for the contemplation of things, including the nature of God. Leisure has been, and always will be, the foundation of any culture. [My Review]
Imagine: How Creativity Works
Jonah Lehrer
Lehrer reveals the importance of embracing the rut, thinking like a child, daydreaming productively, and adopting an outsider’s perspective (travel helps). He unveils the optimal mix of old and new partners in any creative collaboration and explains why criticism is essential to the process. Then he zooms out to show how we can make our neighborhoods more vibrant, our companies more productive, and our schools more effective.
Walden
Henry David Thoreau
A cornerstone of American letters, Walden is Henry David Thoreau’s chronicle of the two years he spent living by himself at Walden Pond, contemplating the individual’s relationship to society. Thoreau first published this book in 1854, and its themes of self-reliance, independence, individuality, and integration with nature still resonate with readers today.
Are We There Yet?: The Golden Age of American Family Vacations
Susan Sessions Rugh
The first in-depth look at post-World War II family travel, Rugh's study recounts how postwar prosperity and mass consumption—abetted by paid vacation leave, car ownership, and the new interstate highway system—forged the ritual of the family road trip and how that ritual became entwined with what it meant to be an American. With each car a safe haven from the Cold War, vacations became a means of strengthening family bonds and educating children in parental values, national heritage, and citizenship.
Other Contemplative Titles
Contemplative Science: Where Buddhism and Neuroscience Converge - B. Alan Wallace
Escape: In Search of the Natural Soul of Canada - Roy Macgregor
Home by Another Way: Notes from the Caribbean - Robert Benson
Imaginative Horizons: An Essay in Literary-Philosophical Anthropology - Vincent Crapanzano
Mind in the Balance: Meditation in Science, Buddhism and Christianity - B. Alan Wallace
Thinking, Fast and Slow - Daniel Kahneman
As per usual, the reviews/summaries are from Barnes and Noble.
Carl Honore
Living on the edge of exhaustion, we are constantly reminded by our bodies and minds that the pace of life is spinning out of control. In Praise of Slowness traces the history of our increasingly breathless relationship with time and tackles the consequences of living in this accelerated culture of our own creation. Why are we always in such a rush? What is the cure for time sickness? Is it possible, or even desirable, to slow down? Realizing the price we pay for unrelenting speed, people all over the world are reclaiming their time and slowing down the pace — and living happier, healthier, and more productive lives as a result. A Slow revolution is taking place. [My Review]
Susan Cain
Passionately argued, impressively researched, and filled with indelible stories of real people, Quiet shows how dramatically we undervalue introverts, and how much we lose in doing so. Taking the reader on a journey from Dale Carnegie’s birthplace to Harvard Business School, from a Tony Robbins seminar to an evangelical megachurch, Susan Cain charts the rise of the Extrovert Ideal in the twentieth century and explores its far-reaching effects. She talks to Asian-American students who feel alienated from the brash, backslapping atmosphere of American schools. She questions the dominant values of American business culture, where forced collaboration can stand in the way of innovation, and where the leadership potential of introverts is often overlooked. And she draws on cutting-edge research in psychology and neuroscience to reveal the surprising differences between extroverts and introverts.
Josef Pieper
In Leisure the Basis of Culture, Pieper destroys common misconceptions about the idea of leisure and its relation to work. Leisure is not idleness, but an attitude of the mind and a condition of the soul that fosters receptivity to both physical and spiritual realities. The author points out that sound philosophy and authentic religion can be born only in leisure-a leisure that allows time for the contemplation of things, including the nature of God. Leisure has been, and always will be, the foundation of any culture. [My Review]
Jonah Lehrer
Lehrer reveals the importance of embracing the rut, thinking like a child, daydreaming productively, and adopting an outsider’s perspective (travel helps). He unveils the optimal mix of old and new partners in any creative collaboration and explains why criticism is essential to the process. Then he zooms out to show how we can make our neighborhoods more vibrant, our companies more productive, and our schools more effective.
Henry David Thoreau
A cornerstone of American letters, Walden is Henry David Thoreau’s chronicle of the two years he spent living by himself at Walden Pond, contemplating the individual’s relationship to society. Thoreau first published this book in 1854, and its themes of self-reliance, independence, individuality, and integration with nature still resonate with readers today.
Susan Sessions Rugh
The first in-depth look at post-World War II family travel, Rugh's study recounts how postwar prosperity and mass consumption—abetted by paid vacation leave, car ownership, and the new interstate highway system—forged the ritual of the family road trip and how that ritual became entwined with what it meant to be an American. With each car a safe haven from the Cold War, vacations became a means of strengthening family bonds and educating children in parental values, national heritage, and citizenship.
Other Contemplative Titles
Contemplative Science: Where Buddhism and Neuroscience Converge - B. Alan Wallace
Escape: In Search of the Natural Soul of Canada - Roy Macgregor
Home by Another Way: Notes from the Caribbean - Robert Benson
Imaginative Horizons: An Essay in Literary-Philosophical Anthropology - Vincent Crapanzano
Mind in the Balance: Meditation in Science, Buddhism and Christianity - B. Alan Wallace
Thinking, Fast and Slow - Daniel Kahneman
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