This Wiki is licensed ■"Life in the Slow Lane: The world is spinning
a little too fast, says the author
of this European best seller,"
by Joseph Contreras, Time, 29 November 2004, p. 46.
His name is Carl Honore, and his book is entitled, In Praise of Slowness. He has sold something like 60,000 copies and landed on four bestseller lists in Europe (hmmm, I've sold over 50,000 and landed on two lists in the U.S. maybe I should be in Time too!)
His vision is a simple and very attractive one, and it all starts with the right implied question: "I'm attacking the whole cultural assumption that faster is better and we must cram every waking hour with things to do."
Frankly, it's what drove my spouse and I out of DC, and it will probably drive us soon off the East Coast and back to the Midwest.
Weird, but the book hasn't sold much yet here in the States, although you'd think a two-page spread with a huge photo of the rather good-looking author would help (hmm, that gives me another idea . . .), because if there is one country in dire need of this message, it is of course-the U.S.
And yet, the U.S. is the U.S. simply because we're that way, and frankly, we always have been. Why? We keep attracting the same people to the same dream. You want to hang and go slow? Then don't come to America unless you're Amish or something because no one here will get what the blue-blazes you're talking about!
Funny thing about the article (and something I deal with every day) is that now the guru of "slow down" totally lives in the fast lane.
His biggest complaint? The constant stream of emails wanting answers now.
I tell you though, some techies at the college recently offered to replace my stolen Blackberry, and as handy as that was, I haven't made any real effort to take them up on their offer. That damn thing was too addicting, too time-consuming, and just too connected.
My kids started complaining about my not being there even when I was there.
Will I go back? Not sure yet. Taking some time to think about it . . .
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Comments (1)
Bob-RJ Burkhart said
at 10:00 pm on Nov 30, 2009
In a PowerPoint presentation Professor Barnett talked about developing a global perspective that integrates political, economic and military elements in a model for the post-September 11 world. He argued that terrorism and globalization had combined to end the great-power model of war that has developed over 400 years, since the Thirty Years War.
Instead, he divided the world into an increasingly expanding "functioning core" of economically developed, politically stable states integrated into global systems and a "non-integrating gap," the most likely source of threats to U.S. and international security. Professor Barnett used this map to call for a new system for deployment of the U.S. armed forces. Following his remarks he answered questions from military officials in the audience.
Professor Barnett is the author of The Pentagon's New Map: War and Peace in the Twenty-First Century, published by Putnam Publishing Group. In the book he described the changing natures of war, security, and foreign policy in the post-Cold War era.
He explained a theory of the effects of globalization that combines security, economic, political, and cultural factors to forecast future military needs. He also uses autobiographical elements to explain the behind the scenes workings of the Pentagon and how his PowerPoint presentation has been used.
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