Rating: 
Summary: Make time to read this one!
Review: 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
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