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Title: Finding Flow: The Psychology of Engagement with Everyday Life (Masterminds Series)
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Manufacturer: Basic Books
List Price: $14.95
Our Price: $6.24
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| Customer Reviews: |
| Finding Flow: The Psychology of Engagement with Everyday Life (Masterminds Series) by Basic Books Great intro |
This is an interesting book, but more importantly lead me to get another book from the same author - 'The Evolving Self'. Oh my god! I haven't read such clear logic in such an enjoyable style forever! It provides insides into change of self, through change of perspectives on evolution, that is evolution as a concept...One of the best books, if not the best book I have ever read! A beautiful combination of psychology and philosophy!
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| Finding Flow: The Psychology of Engagement with Everyday Life (Masterminds Series) by Basic Books An interesting work of social science |
This book is about what makes people happy. It is not really a self-help book, or a 'mind/body/spirit' type of book, which I think has led to some confusion and disappointment on the part of some of the reviewers here. The book does not really tell you how to find flow. It simply describes what it is, and why people who regularly experience it tend to be happier than people who do not.
I like the book because it really takes the study of human happiness seriously, and it has some very interesting things to say about what makes people happy.
I agree with the author that flow states are very satisfying, and I found his understanding of the requirements for achieving flow (especially the diagram on p. 31) to be helpful and interesting. But this is probably because I already have an extremely good method for experiencing flow. Those who do not will probably find his discussion a bit difficult to follow, perhaps even frustrating.
The best way that I've found to experience the state of flow is to pay attention to your breath, breathe fully, rhyhtmically and deeply, and harmonize the rhythm of your breath with the rhythm of your activity. For example, when walking, take 8 steps as you breathe in, 8 steps as you breathe out. For more on how to actually achieve flow, see "Living from the Heart", by Puran Bair (my father). |
| Finding Flow: The Psychology of Engagement with Everyday Life (Masterminds Series) by Basic Books Lousy Book |
You might think from its title that this book would give some guidance on how to ACHIEVE flow when doing something you need to be doing. It does not. Instead if is a collection of stats and anecdotes about to what degree various groups of people do or don't experience flow when doing various activities. Then it devolves into trivial anecdotes about people. Did you know Linus Pauling liked to read a lot when he was a kid?
But that's the good part; then it really falls out of bed branching off into a bunch of useless metaphysics. Like: The Theory of Relativity may help to reconcile Christians, Jews, and Muslims! (Sure it will...) I believe people do get in the zone sometimes. This books tells you little else, so I just saved you $11
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| Finding Flow: The Psychology of Engagement with Everyday Life (Masterminds Series) by Basic Books Atheism wrapped in pop psychology... |
| I discovered Csikszentmihalyi during a psych course in college. It is great to see psychologists taking the "science of happiness" seriously, rather than focusing only on pathological psychology. Besides the general vagueness of the entire book, in the final chapter Csikszentmihalyi makes his intentions clear: this book is nothing but a vehicle for his atheistic opinions. A real psychologist does not do this, and partly because of this I simply can't take this book seriously. If you are interested in the psychology of "flow" or "now", I'd recommend reading any of the many great books on Zen instead. |
| Finding Flow: The Psychology of Engagement with Everyday Life (Masterminds Series) by Basic Books Too abstract and vague. |
I was pretty disappointed by this book. For a book on flow, it is not very good at generating it. I believe the author is describing something legitimate when discussing "flow", but I was disappointed that he was quite vague and abstract, and did not illustrate his ideas with enough examples. This book was not quite as bad as his other book "Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience", but I was still disappointed by it.
He also wrote using sentence fragments instead of complete sentences, which was quite irksome to me. |
| Finding Flow: The Psychology of Engagement with Everyday Life (Masterminds Series) by Basic Books Product Description |
Part psychological study, part self-help book, Finding Flow is a prescriptive guide that helps us reclaim ownership of our lives. Based on a far-reaching study of thousands of individuals, Finding Flow contends that we often walk through our days unaware and out of touch with our emotional lives. Our inattention makes us constantly bounce between two extremes: during much of the day we live filled with the anxiety and pressures of our work and obligations, while during our leisure moments, we tend to live in passive boredom. The key, according to Csikszentmihalyi, is to challenge ourselves with tasks requiring a high degree of skill and commitment. Instead of watching television, play the piano. Transform a routine task by taking a different approach. In short, learn the joy of complete engagement. Thought they appear simple, the lessons in Finding Flow are life-altering. |
