The thinking life

English language

Published Dec. 15, 2011 by St. Martin's Press.

ISBN:: 978-0-312-62571-9

(1 review)

How do we turn off the noise of daily life, turn on our brains, and begin, once again, to engage in that fundamental human activity known as thinking? In The Thinking Life, civility expert P.M. Forni looks at the importance of thinking: how we do it, why we don't do enough of it, and why we need to do more of it in order to live a better life. In twelve short chapters, he gives readers a remedy for the Age of Distraction, an age fueled by social-networking overload, compulsive texting, Internet addiction, and a never-ending stream of cell-phone calls. First, Forni shows how to put aside time to think every day. With the decks cleared, he then shows how we can improve our abilities of: attention, reflection, introspection, self-control, positive thinking, proactive thinking, decision making, creative thinking, problem solving. Just as Forni did with civility, he puts the importance …

How do we turn off the noise of daily life, turn on our brains, and begin, once again, to engage in that fundamental human activity known as thinking? In The Thinking Life, civility expert P.M. Forni looks at the importance of thinking: how we do it, why we don't do enough of it, and why we need to do more of it in order to live a better life. In twelve short chapters, he gives readers a remedy for the Age of Distraction, an age fueled by social-networking overload, compulsive texting, Internet addiction, and a never-ending stream of cell-phone calls. First, Forni shows how to put aside time to think every day. With the decks cleared, he then shows how we can improve our abilities of: attention, reflection, 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. - Back cover.

1 edition

Chris Aldrich reviewed The thinking life by Pier Massimo Forni

Review of 'The thinking life' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

While some might categorize this as a "self-help" or "business" book, it's really a broader reaching thesis which is perfect for almost any reader. It's both a descriptive as well as prescriptive manual for the human thinking machine. Similar to his previous two excellent must-read books on civility (Choosing Civility: The Twenty-five Rules of Considerate Conduct and The Civility Solution: What to Do When People Are Rude), this is a well-written, clear, and concise text whose aim is the noble goal of improving all of our lives.

In the vein of excellent recent books like William Powell's Hamlet's BlackBerry: Building a Good Life in the Digital Age, David Allen's Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity, Steven Covey's The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, and others, Dr. Forni covers the ground of how to best deal with the current "age of distraction" in which we live. Even better, …

While some might categorize this as a "self-help" or "business" book, it's really a broader reaching thesis which is perfect for almost any reader. It's both a descriptive as well as prescriptive manual for the human thinking machine. Similar to his previous two excellent must-read books on civility (Choosing Civility: The Twenty-five Rules of Considerate Conduct and The Civility Solution: What to Do When People Are Rude), this is a well-written, clear, and concise text whose aim is the noble goal of improving all of our lives.

In the vein of excellent recent books like William Powell's Hamlet's BlackBerry: Building a Good Life in the Digital Age, David Allen's Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity, Steven Covey's The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, and others, Dr. Forni covers the ground of how to best deal with the current "age of distraction" in which we live. Even better, however, he makes many of these books obsolete as he uses his phenomenal depth of knowledge of everything from the Greek and Roman schools of thought to Benjamin Franklin and George Washington and then through to Napoleon Hill (Think and Grow Rich) and Dale Carnegie (How To Win Friends and Influence People and How to Stop Worrying and Start Living)and beyond to provide simple and useful examples of how to be a better and clearer thinker and to elucidate how that will make your life a happier one.

Fans of "Getting Things Done" (GTD) will appreciate some of the underlying philosophy, but will love how it extends those concepts to create a truer sense of happiness in their daily lives.

When I initially approached the book -- as an avowed addict of the fast-paced flow of information from both the internet and television -- I was daunted at the mere ideas that the book portended. But again Dr. Forni breaks the proverbial mountain into a practical mole-hill. He divides things into simple and understandable chunks, but also provides the necessary motivation along with simple examples of how to carry out this wonderful philosophy. In the short time since I've read the book, I've been able to more easily put down my "crack-berry" smart-phone and focus more on what I'm doing and getting the best out of life.

Fans of his previous work who have "chosen civility", will also appreciate how he ties in the concepts of civility and further extends them to the concept of thoughtfulness. The same way he broke down the concept of being civil and created simple, executable ways of changing your daily behavior, he does so with thinking while simultaneously removing the implied modern-day stigma of being a "thinking" person.

In short, this is the book that I wish I had been given before I started high school or even before I started college. I'll desperately miss all the time I've had without this book, but I'll definitely be living a better life now that it's here. One thing is certain: everyone I care about will be getting a copy for the holidays this year!

Subjects

Thought and thinking
Conduct of life
Success