Finding Flow: The Psychology of Engagement with Everyday Life (Masterminds Series)

Csikszentmihalyi's concern in this book is centered around achieving states of human existence characterized by flow. The flow state is one in which the individual finds challenges to be high but is also able to bring to bear on these challenges a high level of skill.
As a scientist, he is able to bring to consideration of this state the objectivity of his discipline. He has studied human behavior empirically using an objective approach through a statistical procedure he calls ESM (Experience Sampling Modeling). Over years of serious consideration, he was led not only to identify the flow state as one that is achieved (quite surprisingly) in mundane activities like driving, but he was also led to regard such a state as one of "excellence". (However, he does make it abundantly clear that this state of human existence is not one that is necessarily going to be experienced as happy.)
He argues in his book that this state is desirable, that it is beneficial for our species (by reducing entropy), and that it fits into the evolutionary context of our species. He points out that humans in the course of time have learned to develop "myths" appropriate to the conditions of human life (and that in their day could certainly be regarded with respect and as part of the truth about the world).
This type of book is certainly valuable over reading his scholarly work, and it gives him an opportunity to view his scientific work in a large perspective that one cannot usually find in specialized research articles. On the other hand, he takes on so much in the span of his short book, that, while he does a rather splendid job and his book is definitely worth reading, he does not address some of the issues in the depth to which they merit.

If you've read his first book on Flow, this book isn't going to offer anything substantially different from the first one. It's a rehash of what he already wrote, albeit a more concisely written rehash. What I don't see is anything substantially new or different. It's a good book to read if you want to familiarize yourself with the concept of Flow, but if you have already read his previous works, save yourself your money and time on this one.

It's a very interesting read and one that makes you think. It serves very well as motivation/inspiration for finding more flow in your life. But if you already have that desire, it won't do much to help you actually find more flow. As I read it I came up with a few ideas for improving the amount of flow in my life, but no great breakthroughs.

In short, it's an interesting and motivating read but it's not a practical guide to implementing it.

It does give you the basics, though, if you can figure out how to apply them. The basics are no secret, though: eliminate distractions and focus even if you don't want to. Easier said than done, of course.

I'd recommend it to anyone, especially those who may not have figured out that happiness is in the doing not the getting.

This book is billed primarily as a psychology/self-help book. I found it to be more of a sociological, semi-ethnographic look "at what creates barrenness in a materialistic, floundering culture of leisure - leisure that consists of empty self-indulgent non-participatory entertainment".

The author examines what the state of 'flow' consists of. He considers flow "that non-static state of being where one is actively participating in a state of being that is at once consuming, participatory, exploratory, passionate and even at times exuberant". It consists of many things but it flows from our core outwards.

Those with a real sense of their core selves, who utilize their time and lives actively and interactively, are most likely to find flow. Flow is a timeless way of being, acting and participating through oneself, into oneself, and outwards from oneself.

This is an interesting and important book for anyone interested in how to prioritize time and balance their lives so that they don't get lost in the massive stream of sensory stimuli that we face daily. The reader learns how to make choices on how to use their time wisely in order to create positive and meaningful life experiences.

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