my mind on books

Today’s featured new release received a starred review from Kirkus Reviews:

The Thinking Life: How to Thrive in the Age of Distraction by P.M. Forni (St Martin’s Press, 2011)

(kindle ed.), (amazon.co.uk – 17 Oct)

Book description from the publisher:

Professor Forni, founder of The Civility Initiative at Johns Hopkins, is America’s civility expert. In his first two books, Choosing Civility and The Civility Solution, he taught readers the rules of civil behavior and ways of responding to rudeness. Now, in The Thinking Life, he looks at the importance of thinking in our lives: how we do it, why we don’t do enough of it and why we need to do more of it.

In twelve short chapters, he gives readers a remedy for the Age of Distraction, an age fuelled by the internet, Blackberries and cellphones, all of which make constant demands on our attention, diverting it from one thing to another. After suggesting ways we can find time to think more, Forni shows readers how we can improve our abilities of:

—Attention
—Reflection
—Introspection
—Self-control
—Positive thinking
—Proactive thinking
—Effective decision-making strategies
—Creative thinking
—Problem-solving strategies

Just as he did with civility, he puts the importance of good thinking front and center in a book as simple and as profound as his earlier works.

See also: Author’s website, Google Books preview