Essay on Book Review The Thinking Life

Danielle Anders
February 16, 2015
IDST 301 Human Inquiry
Professor Williams- Fall 2015

The thinking life is a book that navigates its readers through an introspective look into different aspects of our lives. Aspects that vary from what we find to be import, to how we manage our time and maybe most importantly how frequently or infrequently we make time to think about our lives, decisions and the happenings of the world around us and more significantly within us. The thinking life is filled with insightful prose on the advantages to be gained thru acquiring knowledge of self, living a purpose driven life and being accountable for ones eventual outcomes and learned lessons. The book suggests that in society today we are so busy Tweeting, Sharing and Liking that we have lost the ability to properly think about and process our own lives. Furthermore as we value communicating, the value of what we are communicating has become almost irrelevant. –Powerful thoughts to make mental notes of. The major features of the Thinking Life are those that show us how to move forward, toward living the “good life” by remembering that you cannot achieve your goals without preparing your mind for the task. There seems to have been a great deal of research and collaborative efforts by author P.M. Forni. There were references throughout the book, to the great minds and thinkers through the history of our society. There were nods to many different people and references to many different situations as well, which help the reader make modern world connections to what’s being examined, and what has worked best. Amongst the many notable thoughts explored in the thinking life, one that struck me was that in today’s scoety we “often communicate because we can, not because we need to. Furthermore it is important for us to rediscover the notion that communicating is only as good as what is being communicated. The notion gave me pause to maul over that ideal. So much of what is said are simply idle words, that neither serve a purpose or a have necessity to be spoken. Idle words should neither go without thought or be taken lightly and the book’s mention of this thought process was note worthy for me. The fact that The Thinking Life, invokes one to think about life, our thought process (or lack thereof) and our communicative trends in our current society are just a few of the things that set this book apart from others similar to it, or those works within the self-help genre. One of the most thought provoking truths touched upon was our disdain for “waiting” within our society. We hate to wait, become quickly impatient and quickly reach for some form of technology to provide us entertainment and distraction, should we find ourselves having to wait for any given length of time. It was so discerning to read how improperly we think of “waiting” and how negatively having a negative view of “waiting” effects our opportunities for everyday growth and productive outcome producing thinking. One of the central and focal ideals of the Thinking Life is that “Reflection is the stuff of which decisions should be made of.” Having to wait should be seen as a time for us to reflect on issues, occurrences and happenings in our everyday life but more often is regarded as something to avoid at all costs. Because so many of us fail to set aside time to reflect “we are often unprepared for the important decisions upon which our future well-being depends.” This concept is definitely food for thought.
The ideals produced in this book are such that many people will become more introspective, perceptive and understanding of the world around and most importantly within themselves after having read The Thinking Life. Being directed towards thoughts about oneself, ones path in life, and ones’ motivations or lack thereof, are extremely well serving. The book also helps guide readers toward the path of success, critical thinking and introspection by touching upon 6

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