The slow fix Solve problems, work smarter, and live better in a world addicted to speed

Carl Honoré

Book - 2013

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Subjects
Published
New York, NY : HarperOne [2013]
Language
English
Main Author
Carl Honoré (-)
Edition
First edition
Physical Description
x, 262 pages ; 24 cm
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN
9780061128820
  • Introduction: Pulling the Andon Rope
  • 1. Why the Quick Fix?
  • 2. Confess The Magic of Mistakes and the Mea Culpa
  • 3. Think Hard Reculer Pour Mieux Sauter
  • 4. Think Holistic Joining the Dots
  • 5. Think Long Tackling Tomorrow Today
  • 6. Think Small Devil in the Details
  • 7. Prepare Ready for Anything
  • 8. Collaborate Two Heads Are Better than One
  • 9. Crowdsource The Wisdom of the Masses
  • 10. Catalyze First Among Equals
  • 11. Devolve Self-Help (in a Good Way)
  • 12. Feel Twiddling the Emotional Thermostat
  • 13. Play Solving Problems One Game at a Time
  • 14. Evolve Are We There Yet?
  • Conclusion: Slow Fixing the Future
  • Acknowledgments
  • Notes
  • Resources
Review by Booklist Review

Journalist Honore observes that our society is hooked on the quick fix as we seek the maximum return for the minimum effort. He offers a practical and entertaining guide to what he calls the slow fix for problem solving: hard work requiring humility to admit we do not have all the answers and we need time and help. The self-help industry encourages the quick fix, and Honore acknowledges the media's role, too, as it immediately leaps into a crisis and demands instant answers and remedies. Steps in the author's slow fix for solving complex problems include taking time to admit mistakes and finding what is really wrong, focusing on details, thinking long, building holistic solutions, seeking ideas from others and sharing the credit, acquiring expertise while remaining skeptical of experts, tapping emotions, enlisting a leader, consulting those closest to the problem, treating problem solving as a game, following hunches, adapting by trial and error, and embracing uncertainty. This is a sound, thought-provoking book.--Whaley, Mary Copyright 2010 Booklist

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

No more shortcuts, argues this scattershot primer on taking the hard way out. Journalist Honore (In Praise of Slowness) deplores society's addiction to the cheap, facile, shortsighted, cliched "quick fix," and insists that solving our knottiest problems requires long horizons, focused effort, complex strategizing, and deep thought. He applies this perspective to a slew of business and public policy case studies, including corporate turnarounds, the rehabilitation of chaotic ghetto schools, and Bogota, Colombia's celebrated bus system. Honore's readable but sketchy summaries glean useful insights from these examples, but no coherent approach gels from his contradictory mishmash of managerial buzz-concepts; readers are enjoined to both think holistically and fixate on details, to simultaneously embrace egoless collaborative teams, solitary introspection, and charismatic leaders. Disconcertingly, many of the nostrums he touts sound very much like cursory quick fixes: companies seeking technical breakthroughs can crowdsource them on a Web site instead of funding R&D programs; an online game called Chore Wars magically convinces kids and husbands to do their share of housekeeping; and "research suggests that just two minutes of reasoned reflection can help us look beyond our biases." Honore's slowness paradigm feels like just another glib, split-second substitute for serious analysis. Agent: Patrick Walsh, Conville & Walsh (U.K.). (Feb.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review

Journalist and best-selling author Honore advances his advocacy outlined in his slow-movement paradigm In Praise of Slowness as he examines how complex problems are best solved, this time with an emphasis on practicing patience. He argues that humans are natural problem solvers and are inclined to act quickly, to avoid danger, and to meet their immediate needs. Society's addiction to instant gratification encourages and rewards these instincts, but, he maintains, quick actions don't solve long-standing and multifaceted dilemmas. Honore investigates how institutional and societal problems can benefit from applying the principles he identifies as elements of the "slow fix." Covering situations from failing schools in Los Angeles and the prison system in Norway to the crime-ridden city of Bogota, Colombia, and the coffee farms of Costa Rica, he proposes the ingredients for long-term solutions. VERDICT Readers wishing for a problem-solving formula won't find it here. Instead, Honore's challenge is to slow down, analyze, assess, and explore how others have turned around failing organizations and systems with lasting results.-Carol Elsen, Univ. of Wisconsin, Whitewater Libs. (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.