The Thinking Life
How to Thrive in the Age of Distraction
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4.2 • 5 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
How do we turn off the noise of daily life, turn on our brains, and begin to engage in that fundamental human activity known as thinking again? P.M. Forni, America's civility expert has given some thought to how we can successfully think our way through a greatly distracting world and live a better life.
In The Thinking Life, he looks at the importance of thinking: how we do it, why we don't do it enough and why we need to do more of it. In twelve short chapters, he gives readers a remedy for the Age of Distraction, an age fuelled by social networking overload, compulsive texting and an omnipresent stream of cellphone calls. He shows how to put aside time each day to improve:
- Attention
- Introspection
- Self-control
- Positive thinking
- Proactive thinking
- Decision making
- Creative thinking
- Problem solving
Just as Forni did with civility, he puts the importance of good thinking front and center in a book as lucid and profound as his earlier works.
"The most provocative and useful book I've read in years." -Robert Sutton, New York Times bestselling author of The No A*****e Rule
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Forni (Choosing Civility) is hardly alone in thinking that we live in a short-term, fun-oriented culture in which people desperately need to (re)learn the art of reflection and deliberation. The Johns Hopkins professor of romance literature and languages is influenced by such Stoic philosophers as Epictetus, who viewed thinking as "the golden way to the good life" and to happiness. Forni looks at critical thinking, "which is rational, informed, purposeful, and reflective..." Individual chapters discuss introspection, reflection, and attention. But Forni writes too little about what we should think about other than that we should be curious about everything not an easy task in a world flooding us with information. The book's second half provides some excellent practical advice and exercises on such matters as how to prepare for and act at a business meeting, how to think before making a decision, and the importance of thinking before speaking or tweeting. But his own writing is sometimes undermined by a trite phrase or a mini-sermon (e.g., regarding Olympic champion Michael Phelps photographed smoking a joint, Forni writes, "He was the victim of the foolishness of youth and the spirit of an age that won't promote prudence and self-restraint..."). Still, Forni argues well for reflecting more on our lives and behavior.
