book review: in praise of slow

in praise of slow
by Carl Honré

I bought this book years ago in the airport; an impulse buy. It has been to Germany, across the US, and sat on our bookshelves for years. Until a few weeks ago when we were purging books. We have too many. So it was either read it quickly or give it away!

Funny right, read the book about going slow fast or get rid of it?

The book makes the argument that we all need to slow down, not just with respect to food, which is the context where most people have heard of the slow movement. I think this is a great idea. I found myself nodding along, as I skimmed the book, because I did not want to spend too much time reading the book.

A few points points of interest from the book:

1. Don’t speed. You really won’t get there faster. If you do want to speed, think about someone you love getting run over by someone speeding and talking on their phone. Then don’t speed, or talk on the phone. (As an aside, I read the other day that only 2.5% of the human population are supertaskers, ie people who can do more than one thing at once. You are not in the 2.5%. Remember that.)
2. Meditation is really good for you. I am going to get a few books on meditation to get started.
3. Bra, Italy is the home of the slow food movement. We will be vacationing there soon!
4. The Super Slow exercise section was really interesting too. If you do weight training reps very slowly your body gets more out of the exercises. Read more here.

Good book. On to the next.