How To Live On 24 Hours A Day (2006) - Plot & Excerpts
I am not normally drawn to philosophy, which seems to me, like religion, to get caught up in eddies of meaningless dispute. Nor am I drawn to self-help, which seems to be one or two good sentences surrounded by a tremendous amount of padding. Sometimes, not even one good sentence. Anyway, I had gotten the idea that this was funny (I don't know where I came by that idea), so that's why I started it. "It'll make a nice little palate cleanser," I thought.Ha! This is brilliant stuff. Okay, Bennett was clearly a product of his time, and he's writing rather pointedly to a white, middle-class adult male, working in the City. The premise is straightforward: sure, you probably hate your job, but that's only 40 hours out of your week. If you really wanted to, you could devote some serious time to thinking. About anything really. Books are good (Bennett likes poetry and essays, but considers novels to be to easy if they're written well). But there's also music, and history, and the natural sciences. They're all good, too.In 1912 college education was still pretty restricted. Public schools, lecture series, libraries, the mass publishing of books were among some of the many ways intended to improve the common people. Bennett isn't particular, he doesn't care what people devote themselves to as long as it is an intellectual hobby. He doesn't care much for your body, although you're welcome to give it some exercise now and then. Crafts won't do, you understand. He doesn't want you to take up playing an instrument, we wants you to take up music appreciation.Really, Bennett wants you to blog. He wants you to develop a narrow fascination with something specific, learn everything about it that you can, and devote time to really thinking about it; there's no better thinking that, as he mentions, preparing to write on a topic. From this effort, Bennett assures you, will derive numerous benefits in life enjoyment and a decrease in boredom. So, get to work blogging or reviewing: it'll make you a better man.*Seriously, I do think it would be a good idea to make this required reading in high school, followed by in depth discussion. For most people, whatever satisfaction they derive from work, it isn't the main focus of happiness. For most of us it is the time spent gardening, or reading, or solving sudoku, or building trains, or directing community theater, or blogging about hideous cakes; that is what *really* satisfies us. Growing up, we are constantly asked what kind of job do we want to have, but "bureaucrat", though necessary, isn't defining. Maybe we should be clearer on that.* Woman doesn't enter into it. Women are presumably too busy taking care of all the other stuff that needs to happen in order for the men to be free to pursue intellectualism.
Flowery and funny self-help from the turn of the (last) century, this little book was an uncanny, spot-on description of my daily routine and how I often think of it. It was slightly shocking to hear my modern quotidian hang-ups called out by a guy addressing "clerks" in a time of 36-cent round-trip train tickets, since I tend to think of them as my personal hang-ups. As in, they're my cross to bear and no one else could possibly understand, yadda yadda yadda.It was pleasantly deflating to be shown in no uncertain terms that my problems weren't new.Some of my favorite quotes:"I will continue to chat with my companions in distress—that innumerable band of souls who are haunted, more or less painfully, by the feeling that the years slip by, and slip by, and slip by, and that they have not yet been able to get their lives into proper working order.""But he will not be tormented in the same way as the man who, desiring to reach Mecca, and harried by the desire to reach Mecca, never leaves Brixton.""[Our aspiration] springs from a fixed idea that we ought to do something in addition to those things which we are loyally and morally obliged to do.""Until an effort is made to satisfy that wish [to do something more], the sense of uneasy waiting for something to start which has not started will remain to disturb the peace of the soul.""There is no magic method of beginning. If a man standing on the edge of a swimming-bath and wanting to jump into the cold water should ask you, 'How do I begin to jump?' you would merely reply, 'Just jump. Take hold of your nerves and jump.'""[Ardour] is eager to move mountains and divert the course of rivers. It isn't content till it perspires. And then, too often, when it feels the perspiration on its brow, it wearies all of a sudden and dies, without even putting itself to the trouble of saying, 'I've had enough of this.'""A failure or so, in itself, would not matter, if it did not incur a loss of self-esteem and of self-confidence.""In the cultivation of the mind one of the most important factors is precisely the feeling of strain, of difficulty, of a task which one part of you is anxious to achieve and another part of you is anxious to shirk."
What do You think about How To Live On 24 Hours A Day (2006)?
This book is not amazing, in fact the advice it offers is often outdated and not even applicable in a world where work, study, fun and even love evolve online. What was amazing, however, was the deep sense of comfort and understanding it gave me. I simply love Bennett in a strange, religious kind of way. He sounds so soothing and wise to me, I could follow him to the end of the world and never doubt a word of his. Or maybe it is just that he somehow manages to articulate many things I feel inside. Like this one for example:'Imaginative poetry produces a far greater mental strain than novels. It produces probably the severest strain of any form of literature. It is the highest form of literature. It yields the highest form of pleasure, and teaches the highest form of wisdom. In a word, there is nothing to compare with it. I say this with sad consciousness of the fact that the majority of people do not read poetry.'
—Speranza
Arnold Bennett’s „How to live on twenty-four hours a day” is the hint, the tip, yes, the epiphany we’ve all been seeking. It deals with one of our most serious problems: Not having enough hours in the day to do those things our souls tell us we should be doing. It deals also with the reverse side of this problem, which is having too much time to do the things that mean nothing to us at the close of day. We all get our fair share of time—24 hours and if there ever has been a better example of Equalism (if that’s a term) I have not come across it. I recommend this book to those who need help in the area of time management. It’s a “how to book” that tells you a lot more than just how to. Have fun….
—Cassildalouis428
I really enjoyed this self-help book from 100 years ago for multiple reasons. It's a jolly good read because of the author's style, though I'm biased towards the British style. Also the author have very good insights into how people really work and can express things very clearly.There were quite a few expressions that I should still look up (the language changed a lot since 1910) and many of the contemporary authors mentioned are unknown to me, but that does not take away from the message.It is a very short book, one could get it from its Project Gutenberg page, read it, decide what you want to do with it, then you can revisit the Wikipedia summary to revise it any time you feel the need.
—Gergely
