When

The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing

By: Daniel H. Pink

Narrated by: Daniel H. Pink

Length: 5 hrs and 47 mins

Publisher's Summary

Everyone knows that timing is everything. But we don't know much about timing itself. Our lives are a never-ending stream of 'when' decisions: when to start a business, schedule a class, get serious about a person. Yet we make those decisions based on intuition and guesswork. Timing, it's often assumed, is an art; in When, Pink shows that timing is, in fact, a science.

Drawing on a rich trove of research from psychology, biology and economics, Pink reveals how best to live, work and succeed. How can we use the hidden patterns of the day to build the ideal schedule? Why do certain breaks dramatically improve student test scores? How can we turn a stumbling beginning into a fresh start? Why should we avoid going to the hospital in the afternoon? Why is singing in time with other people as good for us as exercise? And what is the ideal time to quit a job, switch careers or get married? In When, Pink distils cutting-edge research and data on timing and synthesizes them into a fascinating narrative packed with irresistible stories and practical takeaways that give listeners compelling insights into how we can live richer, more engaged lives.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio on our desktop site.

©2018 Daniel H. Pink (P)2018 Canongate Books Ltd

Critic Reviews

Praise for Daniel H. Pink: "Provocative and fascinating." (Malcolm Gladwell, author of Outliers)

"Bold and persuasive." (Richard Wiseman, author of 59 Seconds)

"Pink is rapidly acquiring international guru status...He is an engaging writer, who challenges and provokes." (Financial Times)

Starts fine but tapers off towards the end

The book starts interesting and has some good data on the importance of time and also has information on evaluating yourself and learning about oneself.

However as we progress the specificity tapers off and almost everything and anything becomes important and worth considering. This sorta defeats the purpose

Makes you see time differently

What an piece of knowledge. Something I can definitely apply to my personal, spiritual and professional life.

Food for the inquisitive mind

A refreshing perspective on the concept of time and the effects it has on every day life. Highly recommended.

Wonderful insights about time

The book talks about the importance of poignant ending. This book ends with the statement “everything is timing” which is different from the worldly commonsensical saying we often hear: “timing is everything.”

Loved the practicality shared as stories in the book. Being from India, loved the coverage of dabbawalas excellent service. Less or no preachings, no frameworks to excel, just simple understanding and actions that are easy enough to apply and get a profound impact on our lives.

Highly recommend this audio book.

Highly recommend

I loved Dan Pink’s other books, so I surprise here - great! Highly recommend to Thank everyone.

"Timing is not everything, everything is timing."

I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this book. for those who are curious about how to extract the best of your day and possibly from your life, I would highly encourage you to absorb this book.

thank you Daniel H Pink

Fascinating insight into time

I learned so much! Timing, body clock, behaviour, social interactions - everything is linked. I loved the science and the handbook. my meta critique would be whether we all have to function optionally all the time? is it not also ok to experience a slump in productivity?

Inspiring and well researched

I found this book hard to put down and well worth my time. It was inspiring and well researched.

Should've been a blog post

The book is essentially a recital of facts and studies on timing. Which is not bad, but at times feels like a blog post would be a better format.

The second half of the book has much less value and feels like a filler.

First half great, second half filler

Really loved the first bit of this book and raved about it to my friends, but the latter half was really irrelevant to me. If it was a physical book I'd have been able to flip through these parts and may not have got so bored, but with the audiobook I wasted a lot more time giving each chapter a chance before skipping through. Worth a listen for the start though, very interesting and informative.

Interesting and potentially some useful insights

I enjoy Pink's writing style and he does a good job of the narration. There's plenty of good content here but, as is often the case with this type of book, much of it will already be familiar if you're a fan of Freakonomics, Nudge or Thinking fast and slow.

Good book, interesting insights

This is a good book that covered and surveyed different topics related to time. Found the chapter on synchronisation fascinating. There is some great tips for making the most of natural rhythms. I also liked the chapter on middle life and the middle of projects and how to manage the consequences.

Some really different ideas

This looks at both business and personal time and gives practical tips along with academic theory. Beginning and middle is g rest. Dips a bit at the end which is disappointing when he calls out that endings matter.

Some useful tips to improve your life

An enjoyable listen with a number of valuable tips related to timing, including our daily times of optimal performance, the most effective length of a nap and when to have them, the best time to start things, using midpoint urgency to enhance results by highlighting that are a bit behind, the importance of good endings, benefits of teams doing things in synchrony to enhance belonging.

Well written and insightful!

Well written, with great insight into perfect timing. Plenty of little case studies make this book relevant and accessible.

Interesting but could have been a half hour long

I like Dan Pink's stuff, I've listened to a lot of his short RSA lectures and it's always interesting. This book was just as good but is way too long, it could easily have been condensed into one of those 1/2 hour RSA animate lectures that work so well for this kind of material.

Also, I find the research and social science bit interesting but the self-help element is both dull and useless, the book could be substantially abridged by cutting that bit out altogether.

insightful and entertaining - time well spent...

Very well researched and presented. This book is crammed full of interesting insights, tips for time management and myth busters. whether you need to make more of your time for a profession or are just interested in time and it as a concept - you'll get a great deal from this book.

Interesting and insightful

This book gives an entertaining,rigorous and useful account of how time influences our lives. I will definitely recommend it to my friends.