The Art of Stillness: Adventures in Going Nowhere (TED Books) Hardcover – November 4, 2014

The ability to consume a book in a brief time is in and of itself a special and rare experience. One easily could have made it much longer, but would it have been any better for the added pages? It is a pearl that resonates and challenges the reader to consider his/her choices and direction.This is an important and valuable book. I find myself often thinking about the glut of information and data we face. I am currently assisting my son in getting his new phone up and running and in the process of converting thousands of his songs on his computer so they can transfer to the new phone. This level of digital consumption was simply not possible for the vast history of our species and is he or we any better for it?In generations past, one did not have to make the choice to do nothing, or be still; that was the state of being for many, much of the time. We lived and died within 30 miles of our birth. Travel abroad was a one way trip or the stuff of adventurers. Today, we are awash in stuff and choices.We as a society face a real challenge in organizing our lives in the face of infinite choices and consumptive options that are so brilliantly marketed and instantly available. This in contrast to the fact that we have not and will not eliminate the essential limits of our consumptive capacity and our finite lives. This book reminds the reader that we exercise choices in our daily norms.Recently on a flight I elected to do as one of the Iyer's fellow passengers did as described in the book - sit quietly and do nothing, . but only for a brief time. I experienced a brief portion of the ride without reading, listening or external engagement. It was remarkable in its novelty for me. Iyer's book has a number of examples of stillness in practice. Many readers may give it a try themselves.There is an inherent challenge in this book that devotes pages discussing some celebrities and celebrated people who have to a degree commoditized their stillness. There is benefit in this as in the cases of Merton or Dickenson; who wrote brilliantly of their experiences. The challenge for most is to find a personal path that is not subsequently commoditized for others, which to a degree defeats the purpose of inner stillness by public declaration. And can there be anything less still than TED conferences (TED published this book) and the acolytes who attend? But at least there is a level of awareness by many attendees and the organizers of their inherent contradictions in actions vs. ideas, and some as Iyer points out are trying to figure out how to reconcile them.An added treat are the interspersed photographs in this lovely book.

Pico Iyer is a travel writer, and a regular contributor to the New York Times, Harpers, Time, and other magazines. His is a lifestyle determined by deadlines and the rigours of travelling for work. “I’m not a member of any church, and I don’t subscribe to any creed; I’ve never been a member of any meditation or yoga group,” he disclaims.The title of the book, The Art of Stillness, is a call to use stillness in a world he accurately describes as “madly accelerating.” If you have any doubts about this description, try recall when last you had nights off, or did no work at all on the weekend. (Reading business literature does qualify as work.)To get the most benefit from this book you should read it slowly and thoughtfully. It is a slim book on an important topic, best appreciated while unwinding on vacation.“More and more of us feel like emergency-room physicians, permanently on call,” says Iyer. We have mastered so many parts of our lives in the last half century, except how to enjoy living. Geography is fast coming under our control; we send messages around the world in seconds, parcels in hours and can talk to people anywhere easily and inexpensively. However, the clock seems to be “exerting more and more tyranny over us.”Iyer advocates regular periods of stillness, daily if possible. Times when we take a journey to “Nothing.” It is a short period when we retreat from our busy-nes, “so that you can see the world more clearly and love it more deeply.”In the second century, the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius pointed out that it is not our experiences that form us, but the way we understand them and respond to them. Being still puts distance between our present and our experience, so we can view experiences with “clarity and sanity” and reap the benefits that comes from that. The opportunity to distance ourselves helps experiences acquire the appropriate importance. All it involves is sitting still. Nothing more.Iyer reports that in his work world, “Every time I take a trip, the experience acquires meaning and grows deeper only after I get back home and, sitting still, begin to convert the sights I’ve seen into lasting insights.”When he attended retreat centres, he met bankers, teachers, real estate agents, people leading normal business lives who came the centres, just to be still for a few days.Kevin Kelly, the founding executive editor of Wire magazine is certainly one of the most articulate representatives for the technologies of our time. His wrote his latest book on the uses of technology to expand human potential while living without a smartphone, a laptop or a TV in his home. He explains that he keeps “the cornucopia of technology at arm’s length so that I can more easily remember who I am.”Many in Silicon Valley observe what Iyer calls an “Internet Sabbath” turning off their devices from Friday evening to Monday morning. It is telling that people who do so much to speed up the world see the benefit of slowing down regularly.At General Mills, a company with revenues of almost $14b offered a seven-week programme to senior executive on “stillness.” 80% reported a positive improvement in their ability to make decisions, and 89% that they were becoming better listeners. It is estimated that programmes like this save American businesses $300b a year!The most telling report Iyer relays is a Stanford peer-reviewed study of the effect of stillness of military veterans. The author’s husband, a Marine Corp Scout Sniper, undertook a 40-day personal trial to see if he has similar results. He reported that his hours of concentrated attention left unusually happy, and worrying him that he was softening.His adviser assured him that he was still hyper-alert only more selective about the “potential threats or targets to respond to.” He reported his surprise that “something so soft could also make me so much harder as a Marine.”On a flight from Frankfurt to Los Angeles Iyer was seated next to a woman who after a few pleasantries, sat in silence, doing nothing, for the next twelve hours. At the end of the journey, she explained that her job was exhausting, and she is beginning a five weeks of vacation in Hawaii. She was using the flight to get rid of the stress ready for her days of rest. Nothing for twelve hours. No reading, no watching movies, nothing.We are living in an age of constant movement that makes being still so much more urgent.The Art of Stillness is an important holiday read. Iyer offers the following summary advice: “Don’t just do something. Sit there.”Readability Light +--- SeriousInsights High +---- LowPractical High ----+ Low*Ian Mann of Gateways consults internationally on leadership and strategy and is the author of Strategy that Works. .

Pico Iyer has defined, in a nutshell and citing references from Ancient philosophers to modern songwriters, the benefits of stillness. This book resonated with me as nothing short of call to action. It's a concise summary of our current understanding of the health and mental health benefits of making time for stillness anywhere we find ourselves. I read it on Kindle and also am using the audio feature to listen to it as well. I will read, listen and repeat many times I'm sure. I recommend this book to everyone. It's short and easy to read. I recommend that if it didn't make sense when first reading it to try it another time. It may make sense then.

Very insightful & helpful.

Inspired by Iyer’s 2013 TED Talk, “The Art of Stillness” examines why stillness is so important in our lives. This emphasis on stillness is pretty ironic, considering the fact that Iyer is a travel writer—he literally makes a career out of NOT staying still! Comprised of really beautiful quotes, pictures, and stories of those who have found stillness, this short book gives off a very powerful message about human nature to crave stillness the more we continue moving in the world.3 stars! It was a nice, quick read, but I didn’t find anything spectacular about it.