- Paperback: 320 pages
- Publisher: HarperPerennial; Reprint edition (31 Mar 1991)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0060920432
- ISBN-13: 978-0060920432
- Product Dimensions: 20.3 x 13.5 x 2.3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 83,831 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Product Description
Providing an introduction to "flow," a new field of behavioral science that offers life-fulfilling potentialities, this study explains its principals and shows how to introduce flow into all aspects of life, avoiding the interferences of disharmony.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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TWENTY-THREE HUNDRED YEARS AGO Aristotle concluded that, more than anything else, men and women seek happiness. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
TWENTY-THREE HUNDRED YEARS AGO Aristotle concluded that, more than anything else, men and women seek happiness. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
36 of 37 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Besides having more vowels in his name than any other researcher in the field of positive psychology, Mihály Csíkszentmihályi is probably best known for his book Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. So what exactlty is flow and what does it have to do with finding happiness?
There are short and long ways to define the concept of flow. The short way is to tell you that flow is roughly the equivalent to what most people refer to as being "in the zone" or "in the groove". More elaborate definitions might be that it is "the state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter; the experience itself is so enjoyable that people do it even at great cost, for the sheer state of doing it."
Being such a desirable state, flow is naturally linked to happiness. The book feels that the path to happiness is a circuitous one that begins with one achieving control over the "contents of our consciousness". I'm taking that to mean that if I learn to find flow experiences, it will lead to greater happiness.
Know from the get-go that "Flow" is NOT a step-by-step book that gives you tips on how to be happy. Instead, the book summarizes years of research, so what you get when all is said and done, are general principles along with examples of how people have used them to transform their lives. The hope, then, is that you will have enough information in the book to make the transition from principles and theory, to actual practice.
In a nutshell, Flow is a unique and interesting book that examines the process of achieving happiness through the control of one's inner life. I didn't find it as easy to read as some books written by academic individuals, such as David Myer's The Pursuit of Happiness: Discovering the Pathway to Fulfillment, Well-Being, and Enduring Personal Joy, but it's definitely a "digestable" read for the general audience.
I'll tell you, though, after reading a lot of positive psychology books, you start to see some common threads. In "Flow", one of the conditions that makes flow occur is that you have a clear goal. And in the book Finding Happiness in a Frustrating World, it reveals that one proven way to increase long-term happiness (according to controlled trials cited in the book) is to set intrinsic/self-concordant goals. With much happiness research coming to similar conclusions, perhaps an important take-home message is this: the kinds of things we choose to spend our time on can have a HUGE impact on how happy we are. Happy trails!
There are short and long ways to define the concept of flow. The short way is to tell you that flow is roughly the equivalent to what most people refer to as being "in the zone" or "in the groove". More elaborate definitions might be that it is "the state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter; the experience itself is so enjoyable that people do it even at great cost, for the sheer state of doing it."
Being such a desirable state, flow is naturally linked to happiness. The book feels that the path to happiness is a circuitous one that begins with one achieving control over the "contents of our consciousness". I'm taking that to mean that if I learn to find flow experiences, it will lead to greater happiness.
Know from the get-go that "Flow" is NOT a step-by-step book that gives you tips on how to be happy. Instead, the book summarizes years of research, so what you get when all is said and done, are general principles along with examples of how people have used them to transform their lives. The hope, then, is that you will have enough information in the book to make the transition from principles and theory, to actual practice.
In a nutshell, Flow is a unique and interesting book that examines the process of achieving happiness through the control of one's inner life. I didn't find it as easy to read as some books written by academic individuals, such as David Myer's The Pursuit of Happiness: Discovering the Pathway to Fulfillment, Well-Being, and Enduring Personal Joy, but it's definitely a "digestable" read for the general audience.
I'll tell you, though, after reading a lot of positive psychology books, you start to see some common threads. In "Flow", one of the conditions that makes flow occur is that you have a clear goal. And in the book Finding Happiness in a Frustrating World, it reveals that one proven way to increase long-term happiness (according to controlled trials cited in the book) is to set intrinsic/self-concordant goals. With much happiness research coming to similar conclusions, perhaps an important take-home message is this: the kinds of things we choose to spend our time on can have a HUGE impact on how happy we are. Happy trails!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is an outstanding, well-researched, easy-to-read guide to transcending the limits of joy typically imposed by materialism, class, religion, behaviorism, and self-doubt.
Great approach to integrating success in work, love, life; not about finding a trick. It is a tool (not a morality) to increase attention, which provides focus to build skills, which increases the ability to solve tasks of greater complexity, which leads to richer & fuller lives (social, personal, mental, etc.). Not hot air--backed by research.
Great approach to integrating success in work, love, life; not about finding a trick. It is a tool (not a morality) to increase attention, which provides focus to build skills, which increases the ability to solve tasks of greater complexity, which leads to richer & fuller lives (social, personal, mental, etc.). Not hot air--backed by research.
12 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Many of us have at least sometimes had that exhilarating experience; the distinct feeling of control, satisfaction and harmony that come when we are totally concentrating and toatally committed to whatever purpose-driven activity we are doing. That's what Mihalyi Csikszenmihalyi calls the FLOW-experience and that is what this book is all about. If you have ever had an experience that even remotely fits this description, or if you've just pondered upon the meaning of life in general, read this book. C. talks about how the quality of our lives can be increased if we are able to experience 'flow' in as many situations in life as possible. It can be anything from rock-climbing or making a speech to listening to music or just sitting and watching a nice view. Even stressful and unfomfortable experiences can be transformed into flow-experiences, which the writer shows with the many examples from real life that follow throughout the book. The flow-experience very often has little to do with objective circumstances such as time and place. This is not at all one of those typical self-help books that come with straight-forward answers to complex problems, but more like a sientific study presented in an concentrated, "easy-to-read" way. What gives the book incresing credibility is also the many years of study, interviews and research that C. has put in to find out more about this subject. Althoguh I didn't agree with everything C. suggests (his view I thought was sometimes even overly optimistic and positive) and thought that he over-simplified matters too much at times, this book definately gave me new insights and changed the way at look some things in life. I agree with C. that we are able to get much more out of our lives if we learn how to control our conciuosness better. A book that most readers who are intrested in this subject will find a valuable read, even ifthey don't agree with all of C;s views. I strongly recommend! Even for younger readers like myself (20).
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
This book is terrible. I'm amazed at the rambling jibberish
Talk about a rambling piece of garbage. Mr. Csikszentmihalyi (who came up with that rediculous spelling? Read more
Published on 2 Sep 1999
looking for the meaning of life?
if you have ever wandered in the wastelands of mental illness and depression; and wondered what is the point of it all, and why its worth doing anything at all, just take a little... Read more
Published on 16 April 1999
Happiness Defined
Of all the great comments, nobody seems to mention the core of this book is a realistic look at the ever elusive "happiness". Read more
Published on 18 Mar 1999
An outstanding analysis of the creative experience.
Professor Csikszentmihalyi takes a difficult concept and makes it accessible. The ramifications of his work are virtually limitless. Read more
Published on 15 Mar 1999
An inspiring book not only in Transforming Work...
Flow and flow dynamics, dissipative self-organization in complexe systems have attracted me more than 10 years ago. Read more
Published on 21 Feb 1999
excellent insight into personal and social motivation
excellent insight into personal and social motivation; a valuable empirical study of happiness
Published on 13 Feb 1999
Willie Loman takes up zen philosophy
I enjoyed the first few chapters of this book but became increasingly frustrated with the shallowness of the author's research and thought. Read more
Published on 13 Dec 1998
One of the most important books of our age
If you've ever wanted to achieve happiness in life -- not just fun or pleasure but true, profound happiness -- you should read this book. Read more
Published on 6 Dec 1998
Insightful and worthwhile
Ignore any reviews which denegrate Csikszentmihalyi's work as "obvious" or the pop-culture equivalent of Zen. Read more
Published on 18 Sep 1998
Pop Zen
If you are familiar with Zen thought, 'Flow' will have a familiar ring to it. Csikszentmihalyi pretty much just condenses and modernizes Zen philosophy, then restates it. Read more
Published on 7 May 1998
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