Book Review
How to Live Twenty-Four Hours a Day is a non-fiction written by Arnold Bennett. By showing us an ordinary office staff’s life which is typical in the world and revealing how time-wasting, humdrum and even disgusting that kind of life can be, the author manage to stress the significance of living effectively instead of just existing tediously and guide readers to manage their time properly.
This book’s structure is special. It firstly indicates that most individuals are complaining about the lack of time and money, and yet, they are wasting a huge amount of time doing nothing meanwhile. Then it shows us a fact that human have the desire of exceeding the program, which means every person have the impulsion of changing their life for the better. All human beings are constantly haunted by a suppressed dissatisfaction with their own arrangement of your daily life. However, as the author said, there are very few people who can actually become the master of their time. And there is no such thing as ultimate secret to tell you what exactly to do. Later, the author gave the example of previously mentioned staff. The author analyzed his daily budget of time and make adjustment to it. So far, it is obvious that this is not a psychological literature, but some personal thoughts from the writer. From his perspectives, Arnold told readers his own definition of “managing time properly”, which is creative especially in the age he was living in, but also limited in my view. After all, he is a merely a writer in 1900s. The limitations come from 2 aspects. One is time. During his time there was no phone and transportations were very slow. People at that time had more continuous time and life pace was much slower. Therefore, the way he managed time can’t be applied to our modern society without any change. Second is about career. He is a classic writer who knows little about psychology and other field apart from art and literature. Hence, his theory can’t be effective for many other people. However, he is still right about many things. For example, he knew about the human nature, which won’t change. He told readers that the path to that success is a hard one and also a long one so you should take it as slow as you can, because even a small failure can have a catastrophic effect on your confidence. What matter is doing instead of saying or planning. I have to say I can’t agree to them more according to my experience. You can also feel the humor, or more likely, ridicule through the author’s words. When you are reading the book, you become that poor staff and the author become a god. Arnold taught his readers as if he was standing on their heads. In a word, I think he showed Narcissistic and arrogant purposely in his book so as to make people believe and take actions.
After showing that poor man’s life and the adjustment, naturally the author gave us some practical approach to take actions in the next chapters. As for me, I believe the most marvelous part is chapter 8, from which the author strikes me the benefits of reflection. Reflection allows you to become more rational, helps you determine what is truly time-wasting and what is meaningful. Reflection can let you recognize the cause and effect more clearly which cut down your chances of doing something stupid and regretful. At the end of the books, it repeats again many dangers when you begin to arrange your time properly.
Throughout the books, there aren’t any ultimate secret to follow. You read, think, get what you need, get what is suitable for you and abandon what is outdated. Although this is not a psychological literature about time management at all, you can still find something to enlighten you and help you arrange your time more properly.
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