In Praise of Wasting Time
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Narrated by:
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Alan Lightman
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By:
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Alan Lightman
About this listen
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 & SchusterListeners also enjoyed...
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What is genius? The word evokes iconic figures like Einstein, Beethoven, Picasso, and Steve Jobs, whose cultural contributions have irreversibly shaped society. Yet Beethoven could not multiply. Picasso couldn’t pass a fourth grade math test. And Jobs left high school with a 2.65 GPA. The Hidden Habits of Genius explores the meaning of this contested term, and the unexpected motivations of those we have dubbed "genius" throughout history, from Charles Darwin and Marie Curie to Leonardo Da Vinci and Andy Warhol to Toni Morrison and Elon Musk.
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Click-bait title, minimal substance inside
- By James S. on 11-27-20
By: Craig Wright
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Autopilot
- The Art & Science of Doing Nothing
- By: Andrew Smart
- Narrated by: Kevin Free
- Length: 3 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Andrew Smart wants you to sit and do nothing much more often - and he has the science to explain why. At every turn we’re pushed to do more, faster, and more efficiently: That drumbeat resounds throughout our wage-slave society. Multitasking is not only a virtue, it’s a necessity. But Andrew Smart argues that slackers may have the last laugh. The latest neuroscience shows that the “culture of effectiveness” is not only ineffective, it can be harmful to your well-being.
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Not worth it.
- By B Lee on 04-30-14
By: Andrew Smart
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Unlocking Greatness
- The Unexpected Journey from the Life You Have to the Life You Want
- By: Charlie Harary, Mark Dagostino
- Narrated by: Charlie Harary
- Length: 7 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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More often than not, our own mental obstacles are holding us back from the joy, fulfillment, and meaning that we all crave, but by retooling our perspectives, we gain the ability to see the path toward the life we truly desire. Charlie Harary, business executive, professor, speaker, and radio host, combines the wisdom of science, spirituality, and personal growth in practical and understandable terms so you can take the life you have and make it the life you want.
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A great reminder of what's important
- By Amazon Customer on 07-25-21
By: Charlie Harary, and others
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A Portrait of the Scientist as a Young Woman
- A Memoir
- By: Lindy Elkins-Tanton
- Narrated by: Lisa Flanagan
- Length: 8 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Deep in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, three times farther from the sun than the Earth is, orbits a massive asteroid called (16) Psyche. It is one of the largest objects in the belt, potentially containing the equivalent of the world’s total economy in metals, though they cannot be brought back to Earth. But (16) Psyche has the potential to unlock something even more valuable: the story of how planets form, and how our planet formed.
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Inspiring
- By SLL on 12-03-23
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Finding Your Way in a Wild New World
- Reclaim Your True Nature to Create the Life You Want
- By: Martha Beck
- Narrated by: Heather Henderson
- Length: 12 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Many people feel called to help others and change the world, but they just don’t know how to fulfill their potential. They have the creativity and passion, but often get lost, not knowing how to direct their energies. Now, popular life coach Martha Beck shows how readers can find their calling in service and healing - while realizing their destiny. With a sparkling, compassionate, and often irreverent style, Beck draws from a combination of ancient wisdom and modern science to help readers consciously embrace vital skills that may be embedded in our DNA and are now made accessible again.
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Wow! This is a fun book!
- By m on 08-25-12
By: Martha Beck
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The ADHD Advantage
- What You Thought Was a Diagnosis May Be Your Greatest Strength
- By: Dale Archer MD
- Narrated by: Walter Dixon
- Length: 8 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Sharing the stories of highly successful people with ADHD, Dr. Archer offers a vitally important and inspiring new way to recognize ADHD traits in oneself or in one's loved ones, and then leverage them to great advantage - without drugs. As someone who not only has ADHD himself but also has never used medication to treat it, Dr. Archer understands the condition from a unique standpoint.
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This guy doesn't understand ADHD – at all
- By Oliver Nielsen on 02-25-16
By: Dale Archer MD
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Simplicity Parenting
- Using the Extraordinary Power of Less to Raise Calmer, Happier, and More Secure Kids
- By: Kim John Payne, Lisa M. Ross
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 9 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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From internationally renowned family consultant Kim John Payne comes an eloquent guide that seeks to help parents reclaim for their children the space and freedom that all kids need for their individuality to flourish.
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A worthwhile listen for new parents
- By Kathy K on 07-30-12
By: Kim John Payne, and others
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Effortless
- Make It Easier to Do What Matters Most
- By: Greg McKeown
- Narrated by: Greg McKeown
- Length: 6 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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As high achievers, we’ve been conditioned to believe that the path to success is paved with relentless work. That if we want to overachieve, we have to overexert, overthink, and overdo. That if we aren’t perpetually exhausted, we’re not doing enough. But lately, working hard is more exhausting than ever. And the more depleted we get, the more effort it takes to make progress. Stuck in an endless loop of “Zoom, eat, sleep, repeat”, we’re often working twice as hard to achieve half as much.
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Laced with mistakes!
- By LEE on 04-28-21
By: Greg McKeown
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Worker in the Light
- Unlock Your Five Senses and Liberate Your Limitless Potential
- By: George Noory, William J. Birnes
- Narrated by: George Noory
- Length: 5 hrs and 11 mins
- Abridged
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George R. Noory is the host of America's top late-night talk show, Coast to Coast AM, broadcast to nearly 500 radio stations in the United States and Canada. Noory truly believes that there are forces, both good and evil, at work on Earth and beyond. Fueled by a transcending experience at a very young age, he's turned his life into an investigation of the possibilities and influences of such forces, and how we can use them to enhance our lives.
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Almost as good as Coast to Coast AM.
- By Sharri Lorraine on 12-06-12
By: George Noory, and others
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In Pursuit of Elegance
- Why the Best Ideas Have Something Missing
- By: Matthew E. May
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 5 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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In this thought-provoking exploration, Matthew May defines elegance as the elusive combination of unusual simplicity and surprising power, and pinpoints the four key elements that characterize it: seduction, subtraction, symmetry, and sustainability. In a story-driven narrative that sheds light on the need for elegance in design, engineering, physics, art, urban planning, sports, and work, May offers a surprising array of stories that illustrate why what's "not there" often matters more than what is.
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I love elegance, but this book isn't elegant
- By Oliver Nielsen on 06-26-11
By: Matthew E. May
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Now You See It
- How the Brain Science of Attention Will Transform the Way We Live, Work, and Learn
- By: Cathy N. Davidson
- Narrated by: Laural Merlington
- Length: 13 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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When Duke University gave free iPods to the freshman class in 2003, critics said they were wasting their money. Yet when the students in practically every discipline invented academic uses for the music players, suddenly the idea could be seen in a new light - as an innovative way to turn learning on its head. Using cutting-edge research on the brain, Cathy N. Davidson show how attention blindness has produced one of our society's greatest challenges.
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3 Reasons to Read
- By Joshua Kim on 05-06-12
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A Mind at Play
- How Claude Shannon Invented the Information Age
- By: Rob Goodman, Jimmy Soni
- Narrated by: Jonathan Yen
- Length: 11 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Claude Shannon was a tinkerer, a playful wunderkind, a groundbreaking polymath, and a digital pioneer whose insights made the Information Age possible. He constructed fire-breathing trumpets and customized unicycles, outfoxed Vegas casinos, and built juggling robots, but he also wrote the seminal text of the Digital Revolution. That work allowed scientists to measure and manipulate information as objectively as any physical object. His work gave mathematicians and engineers the tools to bring that world to pass.
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I wanted more information about Information Theory
- By Bonny on 05-08-18
By: Rob Goodman, and others
What listeners say about In Praise of Wasting Time
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Marcus Davis Jr
- 11-11-18
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.
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- Tofi Loves Lina
- 05-01-21
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...
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- Tom
- 07-08-23
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. *****
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- Anonymous User
- 04-30-24
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.
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