Rating: 
Summary: Learn about others' flow or flow yourself
Review: Reading this book is not a very good idea if you actually want to attain the so-called "flow." Though I read this book a few years ago and have forgotten everything it "teaches," I know personally about the "flow" which he discusses and can tell you that it cannot be learned through reading any book. My flow, which I might add is still difficult to attain and sustain, comes from twelve years of consistent musical training as well as a low-stress environment and intense pursuit of that goal. Any thoughts about other things, such as what would accomplish flow, is certain to make you fall off the wave.
Rating: 
Summary: Inconsequencial
Review: I can honestly say that, my entire life has been a sort of search for a happy state of equilibrium, or "flow" as Csikszentmihaly puts it. According to Csikszen (for short), flow is more or less being a state of involvement with an an activity - work, sports, whatever - to the point where everything else it tuned out. Csikszen even goes so far as to say that this is in fact happiness. I have various issues with this book. For one, it is boring. Csikszen's concept is flow is interesting for about five pages, and then it starts drag. Although expressing the concept through a variety of different stories and examples, monotonous redundancy quickly set in. Secondly, Csikszen doesn't seem to achieve exellence in any department. This is neither a good self-help book nor a ground-breaking piece of science. And for all the psychology I have read, I would be hardpressed to label this psychology either. In any event, it is certainly not good psychology. It is just one overly simple view of what happiness is, expressed over and over again as Csikszen recounts the experiences of different sujects "flowing". Finally, the book completely side-steps a real treatment of psychological neuroses. If you are unhappy because you suffer from serious issues that must be understood, contextualized and overcome, this is not the book for you. This book naively assumes that all problems vanish or are forgotten forever by focusing on the moment - and as far as the author is concerned, it doesn't matter what one focuses on. I picture a manic-depressive "flowing" on legos all day (my favorite form of flow). The Kids in the Hall film, "Brain Candy," quickly comes to mind. This is a trifling book that is not worth your time. If you are interested in "flowing" in the first place, you need not read the book, because it will get you no closer to the immaculate "flow" experience. That said, if you are looking for ethically-charged, important, consequencial type of flow, seek out your local Buddhist organization. Indeed, "Flow" reads like a dry, watered-down, Westernized version of Zen Buddhism, for which it is no substitute.
Rating: 
Summary: flow
Review: Please send me information if there is a spanish edition
sincerely yours
Raul
Rating:
Summary: Flow Is Fun!
Review: If you are in any competitive sports, read this book. If you play golf, tennis, or any other such sport as a hobby and you want to do better, read this book. Flow refers to a state where you are totally absorbed in what you are doing. You lose self-consciousness. The one sure way to fail at a competitve endeavor is to be concerned with how you appear to others or how you are being evaluated. Your mental energy is drawn away from the competitive endeavor and what you need to be focused upon. You want to be in the flow. Not worried about your ego. (all competitor mind games essentially try to throw you out of a flow experience) As Csikszentmihalyi says if you are playing a game of tennis and suddenly you start thinking about how you are doing overall, your concentration is broken. It will become really hard to win. You want to only focus upon each serve or return shot as you are making it. Not the one before or the next one. Not how great or how poorly you are doing. You want this to happen naturally. You don't want to be saying to yourself, "I want to concentrate on each shot. I want to concentrate on each shot." You just want it to happen. The experience becomes, as Csikszentmihalyi calls it, an autotelic experience. What you are doing becomes an end in itself. And the best part of being in flow is that when you are in it, you will be enjoying yourself. "Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience" is one of the best books ever if you want to understand human performance and what separates those who win from those who lose...
Rating: 
Summary: Worthwhile
Review: Not an easy read, it may require a committment to finish, but well worth the effort. If you have wondered why playing a mediocre game of golf is more personally rewarding than watching mutli-millionaires slap bellies on TV (football), Mihaly has the answer.
Rating:
Summary: Pete and repeat went fishing. Pete fell out. Who was left?
Review: I've not read a library worth of books, but I've read enough to know that books are supposed to move forward. They have beginnings and endings, and while the ideas at these two places should certainly be related, reading would be a terribly disappointing experience if the beginning and ending are the same exact idea. That is the case with the terribly disappointing book "Flow."
The author repeats his theory on the happiness found in a mediocre life as if he's trying to convince himself of the worth of having published his less-than mediocre book. The idea he has is actually good, but the delivery is one of the worst experiences I've ever had. Want to know what it's all about? Set a goal, work towards it, and that will be a rewarding experience. Even if your goal is to stuff 129 TV's into boxes during your regular 8-hour shift at the Zenith factory, if you work towards that goal, "Flow" can be yours, and you don't even have to read 900 pages of dribble.
Rating:
Summary: Better than "good"; worse than "excellent"
Review: This book is a very good source for people who like to think deeply about the issues of life. It is especially useful due to the fact that almost everthing in the book is research-based. The facts are based on research conducted for more than 30 years. In addition, the research was multi-cultural; therefore, most North Americans can see what people from other cultures are doing that makes them feel good and fulfilled.
Although the book is based on research, it is quite easy to read and follow the explanations. You don't have to have a PhD in social sciences to grasp the main theme (however, some background in social sciences could be beneficial).
I consider this book "not excellent," because after you're finished reading, you feel that what the author wanted to do was to say: "OK. This is an assortment of my research. I showed you what other people do. Now it's up to you to figure out everything for yourself." Although this is logical in the sense that every life is unique and the fixes should also be unique, some main "guidelines" would not hurt at all.
The author is very well-respected in his field, and he does a pretty good job at assuring no-one who read this book would say: "So what?"
Rating:
Summary: Bears Re-discovery
Review: With the recent scientific investigations into the psycho-physiological roots of religious experience, this ten-year-old book bears re-discovery. While not overtly spiritual in nature, this book could perhaps become the basis for a new spirituality -- one where personal happiness is the highest goal, and optimal experience is the means by which it is achieved. Anyone who is interested in spirituality (even non-supernaturalist spirituality) and psychology will find this author's work worth investigating.
Rating:
Summary: Self-help for the thinking person
Review: Instead of attempting to offer the reader a condescending, simplistic recipe for success and happiness (par for the self-help course, it seems), Csikszentminalyi illuminates the processes of happiness in all their heady complexity. The difference between the conventional style and that of Flow is as that of a shoddy set of directions and a detailed road map. This said, the book is still very accessible, replete with relavent and engaging antecdotes, careful exposition, and a thoughtful writing style. The best thing that can be said about Flow is that it excites the pleasurable experiences that it describes!
Rating:
Summary: important but badly written
Review: Csikszentmihalyi has some very important and enlightening ideas here, but it could have all been condensed into 10 pages. Instead, he goes into endless vague generalizations about the state of the world and how the Industrial Revolution destroyed people's lives. He's awfully pessimistic for a psychologist of happiness. He also doesn't seem to know how to write for a lay audience, because he assumes we're stupid enough to enjoy the meaningless generalities that make up the huge majority of the book. Read it at the library, try not to let his pessimism get you down, and stop after about page 80.
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