A helpful read regarding the psychology of happiness in terms of how we choose to spend our time, though I would have liked more practical discussion. Seems to be a shorter, more layman's edition of the original Flow book. Slight tinge of privileged perspective and questionable generalizations on topics outside of psychology (e.g. religion). ( )

Finding Flow is a more engaging and practical view of the ideas Csikzentmihalyi introduces in [b: Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience|66354|Flow The Psychology of Optimal Experience|Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi|http://images.gr-assets.com/books/1432253110s/66354.jpg|64339]. Definitely treading the fine line between good general psychology book and self-help. When I'm feeling in a bit of an existential funk, it's nice to pick this book up and become inspired by the stories and research on 'flow'. It reminds me of what's important to a good life: engagement and challenge that can make time seem to melt away.

( )

Flow is a state of mind where one is completely concentrated towards one challenging activity. Flow is achieved mostly in situations with clear and unquestioned goals, such as games, sports, and music, or also on the job.

The book sums up the scientific findings of the author and puts them into a broader context. The topic of flow is the prominent one, but is is only one among several psychological and sociological topics such as leisure, family and relationships, and spirituality.

The insights are partially quite interesting; the author is extremely knowledgeable in a diverse range of domains. The writing is generally nuanced, such that the casual reader sometimes has the impression that there are minor inconsistencies.

The book is based on good science, namely studies based on the Experience Sampling Method pioneered by the author, where participants report their feelings etc at random times during the day. It could be based on even better science by also taking into account controlled experiments.

The author briefly criticizes the psychological finding that extroverts are more happy than introverts: This may just be due to more enthusiastic reporting. The author suggests that quantifying flow experiences may thus be a more accurate measure of happiness than using questionnaires. ( )

> Babelio : https://www.babelio.com/livres/Csikszentmihalyi-Mieux-vivre--En-maitrisant-votre...

> Dans cette suite de "Vivre", Mihaly (c'est comme un ami maintenant) nous propose des pistes pour maitriser notre energie psychique et experimenter le Flow. Alors il est vrai qu'il peut parfois être redondant avec "Vivre" mais je le qualifierai plus de complémentaire.
—Danieljean (Babelio)

• MIHALY CSIKSZENTMIHALYI, Psychologue, un des fondateurs du mouvement de «psychologie positive». Après avoir enseigné à l'Université de Chicago pendant trente ans et dirigé son département de psychologie, il est professeur au Claremont College, en Californie.
- Vivre la psychologie du bonheur, 2006, Editions Pocket, 377 pages
- Mieux vivre en maîtrisant votre énergie psychique, 2006, Editions Pocket, 212 pages.
- La créativité, 2009, Editions Robert Laffont. ( )

The more I read about psychology, the more I wonder how people can't smell the snake oil. I'm in a management development program and Csikszentmihalyi's work was recommended. Perhaps I got the wrong one. This was certainly a load of rubbish.

Opinions as fact, conclusions tailored to support the thesis, odd references to ESP and spirituality, the only thing I can recommend is he has a really cool name.

I pulled the thread on a few of the topics and felt my skin crawl reading up on "psychic entropy." I studied thermodynamics and can only feel sadness if these guys have to borrow terms from real science to legitimize the flimsiness of theirs.

Habitual readers of self-help tripe might like this book. Nuff said. ( )