Rating: 
Summary: Happiness in Simple Terms
Review: Flow is a concept Csikszentmihalyi developed to describe his observations of human's happiest states. Flow he says is more or less being heavily involved in an activity - be it work, a hobby, sex, music etc. - in which you've tuned out to everything else. I saw this as sort of zen-like living in the present through immersion in an action. I immediately identified with this concept, and he did an excellent job of showing the connection between flow and happiness in all areas of life. This is a very clear writer with an easy style. However I was left feeling that I can now identify past flow experiences I've had but can't exactly find in this book the key to increasing either the frequency or quality of those experiences in the future. That seems to be the trick. But maybe true happiness doesn't come easily. I would certainly recommend this to any thoughtful reader.
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Summary: Classic Positive Psychology Text. It'll make you smile.
Review: First, the name is pronounced chick-sent-mih-high. And it is worth remembering because this is one book that will probably be around in 100 or 200 years. It is that important. Certainly, it is one of, if not the most important books in the positive psychology field. The author has spent his life researching the Flow state, and in the process, has inspired hundreds, if not thousands of other researchers to further pursue this profound, yet simple concept. Flow is a state that artists experience when they are feeling in the groove, when time seems to just fly and the "work" seems to soar. One key ingredient of flow is a challenge that can be reasonably responded to with existing resources. That tells us that it is important, if we are going to achieve Flow States, to challenge ourselves regularly. The book walks the reader through some of the basic research and then, to conclusions about how this amazing concept affects us all, and how it affects people who insist on finding the flow in their lives. I discovered MC's work about 12 years ago, and while working on a book titled THE HAPPINESS RESPONSE, had my first conversation with him. He's one man who walks the talk-- kind, accessible. His book opens a door to a new way of thinking about living, about psychology, and it has had a major role in the development of the field of positive psychology. Matter of fact, if you are interested in positive psychology you absolutely must have this book. If you want to get a handle on some concrete aspects of finding more meaning in your life, on specific strategies for feeling more alive, then read this book. In my lectures and workshops, I present the Anatomy of Positive Experience. One key element is the optimization of the moment-- Once you realize you are having a positive experience, there are many strategies you can use to make the experience longer, stronger, deeper, more meaningful, shared with someone you love, etc. This book gives you many specific ideas on how to do just these things. In the annual meeting I organize, The Optimal Functioning and Positive Psychology Meeting, it is common for trainers and researchers to describe how winners stay in the moment to perform their best. Flow is about the same phenomenon. But not just about winning, it's also about the little moments too. You don't have to paint a masterpiece or climb a mountain to find flow. Just stretch a little. And this book and MC's other works help you learn HOW to stretch so you feel the FLOW. This is one of those books I've recommended to hundreds of people. Try it. You won't go wrong.
Rating:
Summary: Go with Flow
Review: What is 'flow'? Simply put you know you're having a flow experience when the adage "time flies when you're having fun" is operative. Applied to life I guess this means not getting locked into a job or a career or way of life that bores you. Do what you can't have enough of, whether that's tennis, driving buses, playing the equities market, healing, writing, .... If you want to have a happy life then get into the flow experience. Incidentally here's a pronunciation guide to (University of Chicago professor of psychology) Dr. Cziksentmihalyi's most daunting name: chick-SENT-me-hi
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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