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Slow is Beautiful: New Visions of Community, Leisure and Joie de Vivre [Paperback]

Cecile Andrews
3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)

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Book Description

October 1, 2006

We’re hammered, we’re slammed, we’re out of control. Happiness is on the decline in the most affluent country in the world, and Americans are troubled by the destructiveness of a lifestyle devoted to money and status. Yet no one seems to have a clue how to exit from the fast lane.
 
Slow is Beautiful analyzes the subtle consumer and political and corporate forces stamping the joy from our existence and provides a vision of a more fulfilling life through the rediscovery of caring community, unhurried leisure, and life-affirming joie de vivre. The book discusses:
 
• The frantic time poverty plaguing everyone—a poverty that is being challenged by the growing slow life movement whose message is reverberating around the world
• The need to build a culture of connection with both people and the planet by challenging the consumer society and re-creating vibrant life in our local communities
• The creation of a different experience of time where we live life in slower, more reflective ways, savoring our lives and recapturing exuberance and laughter
 
Offering inspiration and concrete ideas, Slow is Beautiful will appeal to a broad audience of baby boomers nearing retirement, harried professionals with a social conscience, the one-time “middle class,” and twenty- to thirty-somethings who are now facing the sobering realities of constricted choices.

Frequently Bought Together

Slow is Beautiful: New Visions of Community, Leisure and Joie de Vivre + Less is More: Embracing Simplicity for a Healthy Planet, a Caring Economy and Lasting Happiness + Choosing Simplicity: Real People Finding Peace and Fulfillment in a Complex World
Price for all three: $36.86

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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Cecile Andrews is a community educator, author of Circle of Simplicity, and contributor to several books on living more simply and taking back our time. She has a doctorate from Stanford and teaches at Seattle University. She and her husband are founders of Seattle's Phinney Ecovillage, a neighborhood-based sustainable community.

Product Details

  • Paperback: 256 pages
  • Publisher: New Society Publishers; First Edition edition (October 1, 2006)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0865715548
  • ISBN-13: 978-0865715547
  • Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 0.7 x 6.1 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,070,611 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Unfortunately, the author's tone makes the book hard to read. Jane  |  5 reviewers made a similar statement
Yet I don't believe it was necessary to bring those views into the discussion here. C. G. La Ferle  |  3 reviewers made a similar statement
The best most meaningful book I have read in a long time. Joe "prime"  |  1 reviewer made a similar statement
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Here's to the slow life: Andrews nails it! January 9, 2007
Format:Paperback
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.
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18 of 22 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars Living slow in TN November 19, 2006
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This book confirmed all my reasons for leaving the big city and raising my family in the country. It is too bad the author has to thrust her political views on the reader. Views that have nothing to do with slow living. I even gave the book to friends and they said her political ranting ruined the book for them. This is too bad because it is a wonderful book full of life changing advice and insightful quotes. I would have given it 5 stars if she had left out her personal hatred (which conflicts with her version of slow living), of certain political ideas. I found it hard to believe in the beauty of the book when it was filled with such negativity.
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14 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I picked up this book because it sounded like something that EVERYONE should read. We definitely need to slow down, become involved in our communities and bring more happiness back into our lives. What I was subjected to in this book, however, was the author's political rants about how Conservatives have ruined this country! I'm an independent and I actually felt sorry for any conservative who might be reading this book - it was harsh. We are ALL a part of the problem, which makes us ALL a part of the solution. She does have some great quotes and some ideas that sound good no matter what your political party may be - hence the two stars. The joy is hidden in the vitriol in this book.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
1.0 out of 5 stars Misinformation: Couldn't get past the first chapter
The title of the book is so nice, "Slow is Beautiful," but several of the author's comments in chapter 1 are not. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Anne M. Wenzel
1.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing!
I was very disappointed in this book. Though it includes some useful summaries of related literature and research, the author's self-aggrandizing and bizarre, long-winded defense... Read more
Published 23 months ago by John T. Urban Md
3.0 out of 5 stars Great idea but tainted by political barbs and jabs
I really wanted to love this book. And I agree with the reviewers who praise it for its basic premise -- and most of the content. Read more
Published on September 13, 2010 by C. G. La Ferle
3.0 out of 5 stars A Missed Chance at Something Great
Like the other reviewers, I felt that I could have done without the arrogant "George Bush stole my bike!" ravings found in the book. Read more
Published on May 24, 2010 by Nicole M. Miller
1.0 out of 5 stars Sweet Poison.
Reading this book was like eating a moist, rich cake with little rocks in it: the presence of the good stuff could not make up for never knowing if the next bite would be... Read more
Published on January 25, 2010 by Treebyleaf Mccurdy
5.0 out of 5 stars A must read
If you are stressed, frustrated, rushed along, read this book. It is straightforward and clear about how to get off that fast track, how to make your life meaningful and... Read more
Published on September 25, 2009 by Anne R. Fitzgerald
5.0 out of 5 stars Slow is Beautiful
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.
Published on May 19, 2009 by Joe "prime"
4.0 out of 5 stars Incredible Change of Pace
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... Read more
Published on July 5, 2008 by tomp2002
1.0 out of 5 stars Simplicity and community? More like an intolerant rant.
Cecile Andrews has some good ideas and good things to say, but these are very difficult to ferret out, as she appears to be consumed by a hatred of all things right-wing, most... Read more
Published on May 18, 2008 by B. Jennings
5.0 out of 5 stars Highly recommended
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... Read more
Published on February 29, 2008 by Anonymous
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