Rating: 
Summary: Good, But Question the Premises
Review: Csikszentmihalyi's work came to me at a good point in my life. As a father and a husband, I tended to be self-absorbed and uncooperative around the house, viewing daily household chores as a "waste of time". Optimal experience helped me view even small, necessary tasks like these as challenges. By playing with the variables involved in simple chores like washing laundry - by giving myself time constraints, challenging myself to complete what seemed to be a daunting task, or simply focusing on and taking joy in progressive cleanliness - I kept my mind engaged, and greatly reduced my frustration. My house has been much more liveable ever since.What I took from the book in practical terms, however, was mostly self-invention. The book is short on practical techniques. The survey of Asian mind-control techniques is very interesting, but leaves little for the average person to use. There's also a lot to question here from a philosophy of life standpoint. One has to wonder where the line is between enjoying life and tolerating servitude. For decades, Marx, Marcuse and various Socialist thinkers have decried the capitalist system as an industrial tangle where monotonous mass production replaces craftsmanship. Csikszentmihalyi's theories, as framed, seem to be a perfect doctrine to keep people locked in mindless drudgery. Where does optimal experience end and oppression begin? The tale of the assembly-line worker looking to become a technician helps ameliorate this issue, but no clear answer is given. In all, Csikszentmihalyi doesn't seem concerned with these questions - he focuses too sharply on humans as psychological subjects, and takes the current architecture of industrial civilization for granted. Still, I applaud Csikszentmihalyi for giving a name - and the beginnings of a psychological theory - for something we all experience, but often can't identify.
Rating: 
Summary: INSIGHTFUL BOOK ABOUT "FLOW"
Review: A friend recommended this book to me, and before reading it I was not sure if I would understand the psychological writtings on what "flow" is. I was incorrect in my assumption. Mihaly's writting is very understandable and insightful. I was amazed at the author's extensive data collection from hundreds of thousands of different people where they similarly described what "flow" experiences meant to them. Where their everday life became more satisfying. If you enjoyed this book another book you might like is called "WORKING ON YOURSELF DOESN'T WORK" by Ariel and Shya Kane. Eventhough I wasn't sure what "flow" meant before reading Mihaly's book, after reading it I can honestly say I have many "flow" experiences in my life and that is a direct result of reading the Kanes' book, listening to their tapes (check out the Principles of Transformation-it's great!) and attending their seminars. For me the Kanes' book is a practical guide to living in the moment where life has become miraculous and satisfying on a day in day out basis.
Rating:
Summary: Flow is a superb concept & FLOW is an enriching book
Review: When I first read FLOW in graduate school, I was struck by the simple idea of it: being absorbed in whatever you're doing leads to flow, which usually leads to feeling you're living a meaningful life. I now use "flow" as a lens to consider everything; so many people seem so miserable because they haven't found their flow activity, or haven't been willing or able to make room for it in their lives. In my own book, WRITING IN FLOW, for which Csikszentmihalyi wrote the Foreword, I was able to apply these ideas to a writing life, which shows their universality. My life hasn't been the same since! FLOW describes how to recognize this altered state and how to make it more likely to happen regularly. It's impossible to read this book and not find resonances in your own life.
Rating: 
Summary: Long on Metaphor, Short on Science
Review: Flow is an ecstatic state that occurs when according to Dr. C. you are really, really paying attention to some creative or demanding act. And all credit to Dr. C. for brining our attention to flow and how it influences peoples lives. But there is a teensy little problem. Dr. C. tell us what other people tell him 'flow' feels like, but in 300 pages, he never tells us what flow is. This is sort of like reading a book on headaches by Dostoevsky or some existentialist philosopher. You may get the feel of what headaches are like, but to know the physiology of headaches, a better choice would be to rely on DrKoop. Same thing unfortunately with Dr. C. Instead of a scientific analysis of flow that brings in the latest research on cognitive science or neuroscience, Dr. C. ladles on the metaphors like a never ending fountain of curdled verbal gravy. Thus flow "transports one into a new reality", represents an "ordering of consciousness", or represents some "undreamed of state of consciousness". Hmm, may I have some psychic fries with all this psychic goodness? So Dr. C's book gets two stars for literature, but flunks out as science. Indeed, the latest research in neuroscience has demonstrated that the brain releases the neuromodulator dopamine whenever attention shifts from one salient precept to another. Whenever attention shifts a lot, as when we encounter something challenging, creative, or very interesting, a lot of dopamine is produced. Since dopamine is the pleasure chemical in the brain, as well as is responsible for drug induced highs, it stands to reason that flow is no more than a natural drug high that keeps us riveted on important thoughts. So flow is important, but is hardly best understood by the half baked Jungian analysis that Dr. C. cooks up. For a better insight on how you too can make 300+ page books by weaving together meaningless metaphors, I would refer the reader to George Lakoff's superb book "Philosophy in the Flesh". For a better understanding about the emotions that may underlie flow, I also recommend Antonio Damasio's book "Descartes Error..."; and for those of you who would like to get a better idea about how flow like processes may arise from the brain, Donahoe and Palmer's book "Learning and Complex Behavior" is heartily recommended.
Rating:
Summary: So basic and fundamental, you should read it at least once.
Review: Csikszentmihalyi (pronounced chick-ZENT-me-high) did some original research into enjoyment. He strapped pagers onto people and it rang 8 times a day at random. Whenever it rang, the subject was to write down what they were doing and rate their state of happiness and enjoyment on several scales. After 100,000 of these reports, he has found out some fascinating (and USEFUL) information about work, enjoyment, and creativity. I have read this book several times, and I'm always forcibly struck by the profundity of the first few chapters. The writing goes deeper and more to the heart of the human condition than anything else I've ever read. Csikszentmihalyi lays it out so straight and honest that it is almost a shock to the system. The chapters that follow are pure genius in my opinion, and they all have a solid, practical value. If you would like to "get into" your work more, if you would like to ENJOY your work more, you should read this book. I am the author of the book, Self-Help Stuff That Works, and I'm an expert on what is practical and helpful and what isn't. It's not often a book is both profound AND practical, but this one is. I recommend it highly.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent - Do Recommend!
Review: I read this book on the way out to the YMCA National Long Course Swimming Championships, and it truly helped me lose my pre-event nerves! I realized that the best performance one can have is when he/she becomes so involved it just happens - there was no thinking involved! If you believe it's possible, it happens.
Rating:
Summary: One of many great tools in the quest for self-understanding
Review: When I read the characteristics of "optimal experience" or "flow" (see p. 71), I found myself saying "Yes! That's it!" I had never had a concise description of those experiences in life that practically give meaning to our existence. As a developer of online environments (MOOs) for language learning, I have had to describe to educators in presentations and published articles just what it is that makes a low-level learner of Spanish stay hooked to the Internet for *hours* while chatting away in a foreign language, and why that experience was so highly motivating that these students were neglecting other studies (in favor of a foreign language??!!) or even missing Spanish class. I have quoted Csikszentmihalyi many times because his is the best description of that experience. The students were "in flow" - the experience had just the right balance of stress (they might not understand me if I don't communicate clearly) and pleasure (I'm enjoying getting to know this person!) to make it highly motivating. He says on p. 74: "In our studies, we found that every flow activity, whether it involved competition, chance, or any other dimension of experience, had this in common: It provided a sense of discovery, a creative feeling of transporting the person into a new reality." And that is precisely what was happening to my students when they got involved in using MOO (Multi-user-domain, Object-Oriented) for language learning. They were able to create and "live" in a new reality - but all in Spanish! I suspect that some of the readers of this book either have not had many flow experiences, or have not recognized them as such when they were having them. This book clarifies what they are and thus, bringing this understanding to consciousness, makes it easier to replicate them and increase the time spent in moments of happiness.
Rating: 
Summary: Don't Waste Your Time On This Garbage
Review: This book is a total waste of paper and time. The cultish undertones and blithering jargon are nothing more than insults to the intelligent reader. If you have money to burn, burn it on more worthwhile books than this one.
Rating:
Summary: This book is terrible. I'm amazed at the rambling jibberish
Review: Talk about a rambling piece of garbage. Mr. Csikszentmihalyi (who came up with that rediculous spelling?) has taken advantage of our capitalist society while promoting pure socialistic undertones in his book. Don't fall for the jargon. There is nothing here that is tangible or practical. It is by far the worst book I have ever read. Please spare yourself. There are many other self-help books out there with much more to offer.
Rating:
Summary: Happiness Defined
Review: Of all the great comments, nobody seems to mention the core of this book is a realistic look at the ever elusive "happiness". The author shows how we are taught to seek the wrong things when we attempt to seek happiness. A very important lesson and one that will stick with you in your struggle to make a happy life. Get it. Read it several times.
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