Publisher's Weekly Review
Time is our most valuable possession: we are obsessed with schedules and multitasking to save time, say the authors of this insightful study of the importance of time in our lives. Yet people spend time less wisely than money. Zimbardo (The Lucifer Effect), professor emeritus of psychology at Stanford, and Boyd, research director for Yahoo!, draw on their two decades of research to explain why people devalue time. They blend scientific results into a straightforward narrative exploring various past-, present- and future-oriented ways of perceiving time and argue against becoming imprisoned or obsessed by any one of these. Zimbardo and Boyd have cogent insight into all of time's elements and show how they can be used for success, better health and greater fulfillment. For instance, understanding the role of time in investment can lead to wiser financial decisions, and a relationship will not work if one partner is focused on today's pleasure while the other wants to plan for the future. This is a compelling and practical primer (filled with quizzes and tests) on making every moment count. (Aug. 5) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved All rights reserved.
Library Journal Review
What can explain the behavior of suicide bombers, successful investors, and depressives? According to psychologists Zimbardo (emeritus, Stanford Univ.; The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil) and Boyd (director of research, Yahoo!), it's their attitude regarding time--past, present, and future. Here, Zimbardo, a past president of the American Psychological Association renowned for his 1971 Stanford Prison Experiments, and research partner Boyd describe six major time perspectives. Through a questionnaire called the Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory, readers can determine whether they are primarily driven by concerns with the past, the present, or the future as well as whether they view each time period positively or negatively and how that perspective might be influencing their behavior. The authors further explore what has been learned to date about how to achieve a set of perspectives that seems most likely to help people become happy and successful. So little self-help material based on real science is published that, when something like this comes along, we owe it to our patrons to make sure it is readily available. For all public and most academic libraries.--Mary Ann Hughes, Neill P.L., Pullman, WA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
