In Praise of Wasting Time

De: Alan Lightman

Narrado por: Alan Lightman

In this timely and essential audiobook that offers a fresh take on the qualms of modern day life, Professor Alan Lightman investigates the creativity born from allowing our minds to freely roam, without attempting to accomplish anything and without any assigned tasks.

We are all worried about wasting time. Especially in the West, we have created a frenzied lifestyle in which the 24 hours of each day are carved up, dissected, and reduced down to 10-minute units of efficiency. We take our iPhones and laptops with us on vacation. We check email at restaurants or our brokerage accounts while walking in the park. When the school day ends, our children are overloaded with "extras". Our university curricula are so crammed our young people don’t have time to reflect on the material they are supposed to be learning. Yet in the face of our time-driven existence, a great deal of evidence suggests there is great value in "wasting time", of letting the mind lie fallow for some periods, of letting minutes and even hours go by without scheduled activities or intended tasks.

Gustav Mahler routinely took three or four-­hour walks after lunch, stopping to jot down ideas in his notebook. Carl Jung did his most creative thinking and writing when he visited his country house. In his 1949 autobiography, Albert Einstein described how his thinking involved letting his mind roam over many possibilities and making connections between concepts that were previously unconnected. With In Praise of Wasting Time, Professor Alan Lightman documents the rush and heave of the modern world, suggests the technological and cultural origins of our time-­driven lives, and examines the many values of "wasting time" - for replenishing the mind, for creative thought, and for finding and solidifying the inner self. Break free from the idea that we must not waste a single second, and discover how sometimes the best thing to do is to do nothing at all.

©2018 Alan Lightman (P)2018 Simon & Schuster

Prefer to have read this one

Unfortunately the reader took away the impact of the information presented. Would prefer to have read this one rather than listen to it.

Praise this book!

Mr. Lightman is onto something big. The concepts he introduces in here are necessary. It almost sounds impossible in today’s society to just “waste time”, but I now know why I need to. Great listen.

Great story ☺️

I loved it...
It took me to the good times of peace of mind ..
Technology can make our life speedily successful but not peaceful...

Timely Observations from Lightman

Valuable insights for our “Rush & Heave” obsessed Times. Like the Slow Food Movement he calls for us not only to “Stop and Smell the Roses” but to relish and take advantage of those opportunities to let our Minds wander and Waste Time.

Nice Reading experience with his soothing narration. Five Stars. *****

An Essential Read for Everyone’

This book highlights the scientific and mental importance of doing absolutely nothing. In this day and age, we are bound by our connections to “the grid”. Endless emails, messages, comments… We are practically haunted by them everyday. Helping out a friend becomes yet another task on our huge list of things to do. It’s sad and pathetic how much we have lost the true connection to others and ourselves. This book will guide you in restoring that connection and lead to a much better-balanced and fulfilled life. If you’re overworked and burnt out like I was, then this book is exactly what you need.