In Praise of Slowness: Challenging the Cult of Speed (Plus)

We live in the age of speed. We strain to be more efficient, to cram more into each minute, each hour, each day. Since the Industrial Revolution shifted the world into high gear, the cult of speed has pushed us to a breaking point. Consider these facts: Americans on average spend seventy-two minutes of every day behind the wheel of a car, a typical business executive now loses sixty-eight hours a year to being put on hold, and American adults currently devote on average a mere half hour per week to making love.

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.

Here you will find no Luddite calls to overthrow technology and seek a preindustrial utopia. This is a modern revolution, championed by cell-phone using, e-mailing lovers of sanity. The Slow philosophy can be summed up in a single word -- balance. People are discovering energy and efficiency where they may have been least expected -- in slowing down.

In this engaging and entertaining exploration, award-winning journalist and rehabilitated speedaholic Carl Honore details our perennial love affair with efficiency and speed in a perfect blend of anecdotal reportage, history, and intellectual inquiry. In Praise of Slowness is the first comprehensive look at the worldwide Slow movements making their way into the mainstream -- in offices, factories, neighborhoods, kitchens, hospitals, concert halls, bedrooms, gyms, and schools. Defining a movement that is here to stay, this spirited manifesto will make you completely rethink your relationship with time.

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.


Make time to read this one!   May 24, 2004
Tw Rutledge (Nashville, Tennessee United States)
68 out of 78 found this review helpful

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


Feelin' groovy   March 3, 2005
Debbie the Book Devourer (Waltham, MA USA)
16 out of 16 found this review helpful

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.


This Book Could Change Your Life (Or a   June 28, 2004
Topazsfp (lexington, ky)
13 out of 15 found this review helpful

For a few years now I've been interested in learning about simpler ways to live. I picked up this book as a whim, and I will probably read it many times again over the course of my life. It is not a "how-to" guide per se; it is more a general overview of the many movements (ranging from educational to sexual) designed to help you enjoy life more. One of the things that I appreciated most is the lack of any sort of preachiness. The author is cleary curious and open, acting as the spectator for us and describing what he has seen while acknowledging the difficulty in slowing down in the world today. I highly recommend this book to everyone; I have already decided that several people that I know are getting this book for a gift. If nothing else, it helps you think about your life.