Slow Is Beautiful: New Visions of Community, Leisure and Joie de Vivre

The best most meaningful book I have read in a long time. I have shared it with freinds and family. A must read for the thinking person you'll be a better human being for it.

Cacile Andrews offers a compelling alternative to the hustle and bustle of modern society. She speaks to the recognition that we have become too fast-paced and ignorant of what makes us happy. Andrews provides strong arguments on why we should work a little less, appreciate our lives a little bit more, and improve our culture in the process. The reader would benefit from a bit more reassurance that Andrews' suggestions are realistic and attainable in our culture. While her discussion on the "slow life" is articulate, and her arguments are sound, readers may be left with concern. Can I survive on a lower income? Has the "slow life" worked for other Americans, besides the small handful of case studies Andrews includes? Are there statistics to assert the argument that we can get by on much less consumption? (By the way, there are many to be found!). I would have given the book a 5/5, if not for a strong concern, which is echoed by most of the other reviewers. Andrews takes a *very* strong and unnecessary political stance throughout the book. She continually ridicules the Republican party, and repeatedly demonstrates her disapproval of right-wing politics/policies. The message of her book would be no less effective if she omitted her political opinions, or at least showed greater tolerance for the opposite. I began reading the book a year ago, and put it down after two chapters because of the unnecessary (and occasionally inappropriate) political banter. I might add, I'm a Moderate. I was ready to write off the book as a poor purchasing decision. I'm glad I gave it another shot.

Dispite many negative references to the "evil right wing" this book is a must read to understand where we can go as a society if we just slow down and really see what is happening to us and our world.

This book offers compelling and contemporary commentary on the ubiquitous, rampant, relentless drive to consume in America ...and the resulting time impoverishment in so many of our lives. Andrews shows how our life/work merry-go-rounds have spun out of control. Accelerated by the information age, spurred on by the corporate culture, many of us who are rushed, stressed, and separated from our true selves perceive no way to get off. Through research and witty descriptions of her own experiences, Andrews reveals how an obsession with professional status and commercial/material success can be antithetical to joyful living. She peels back the shallow surface of these cherished "values" and exposes them as surface intoxications, spurred by corporate culture -- and ultimately unsustainable. This builds her compelling case for the often repeated (but hitherto unheeded) message: personal happiness is more likely to emerge via simplicity than via complexity.... more likely to emerge via community than via self promotion. For most of us to slow down, we need to make priorities adjustments and philosophy shifts, and we need to acquire new habits. Fortunately, Andrews' vision offers numerous alternatives and antidotes to the greed trap and the speed trap, reminding us that, with sufficient creativity, the choice of how to live is really ours. And when we do slow down, Andrews convincingly concludes, we can be effective members of a "subversive" (slow) counterculture. This burgeoning community will, with sufficient time, wield powerful influences....and powerful delights.

I love the message of this book, including the political views. In many ways this is about a cultural/politcal issue, so this aspect of how we extracate ourselves from living on fast forward needs to be included. Thanks for a great book.