How to Live on 24 Hours a Day, by Arnold Bennett (Book Review)

How to Live on 24 Hours a Day

by Arnold Bennett

Short review:

Clever book, British theming. Worth a read because it is short. Requires application to today's culture, but has some excellent points and challenges about how we live our lives.

"Nothing in life is humdum." In everything, there is a cause and effect. Instead of focusing on the effect, if we will but study out the cause, we can find interest in the most humdrum parts of life.

Review

For some odd unexplained reason, I was expecting a semi-sophisticated thrust against the modern busy American life. I say, but my expectations were quickly dispatched. For this is actually an old book, written to a British audience that was widely frittering away time. For a brief 7 1/2 minutes, I doughted that the book would be of any value to me at all. But again, I was wrong.

With cleverly written 7 1/2 minute chapters, Bennett applies British wit and humour to humans, life, and time. It is definitely worth a read. The entire book is roughly 1 1/2 hours. There is one major downside to this book: The ability to extract principles and reapply them is essential. The book does not directly apply to most Americans I know. However, the priciples and many of the ideas and challenges he presents certainly strike home!

In addition to dealing with some of our general assumptions about time, Bennett also presents an extremely doable schedule to follow to gain more from your week. He teaches a simple course on enhancing concentration and improving every aspect of life. As an added bonus, he deals with how to study subjects, specifically the arts, to gain knowledge, learning, and appreciation.

With something so short, it's hard to go wrong. You may say, "I haven't the time!" But you just read this, my friend.

After all, you could have read the first chaper by now.

I have decided to adopt Bennett's challenge regarding poetry. I have a general apathy regarding poetry. Yet, he recommends an approach for the beginner, and I wish to try it.

Free Book:

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2274/2274-h/2274-h.htm

Free Audio Book:

http://librivox.org/how-to-live-on-twenty-four-hours-a-day-by-arnold-bennett/