Book Review Mondays

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Creativity: Flow and the psychology of discovery and invention
by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Book Review by Richard L. Weaver II, Ph.D.

Mihaly’s last name is pronounced chick-sent-mih-high, and the intent of his book is to describe how different people create meaning in life with full intention and focus and thereby achieve an ongoing state of satisfaction and sense of fulfillment. It is, thus, not a recipe book for self-improvement, but Csikszentmihalyi offers general concepts — principles (a flexible framework) — that can be applied to yourself and your life. Although he is a professor of psychology at the University of Chicago, this is not a textbook, and it is not about psychology alone. With psychology, he interweaves philosophy, anthropology, and sociology as well. It is written for everyone, and it explains an important concept. The major components of the flow experience include: 1) There's clarity of goals, 2) Feedback is immediate. You know moment-by-moment how well you're doing, 3) The challenges of the activity are matched with the skills of the person, 4) There's a feeling of focus on what you're doing, 5) Everyday frustrations are removed from your attention, 6) You feel that you can be control of your life, 7) You also lose a sense of self-consciousness, 8) And, finally, a sense of time is transformed. His discussion of "the zone" or the state of "Flow" is thorough, comprehensive, and clear. This is an engaging, thought-provoking, eye-opening book by a knowledgeable, educated man who offers readers a popularized examination of the intellectual bases for the concept of flow. He doesn’t use long lists of scholars, rather, he uses copious "real life" examples to illustrate the concepts he introduces — how to achieve optimal experience. This is not a "fun" read unless you like critical analysis of psychological processes, but his approach is logical, linear, and well illustrated. Once you read it, you will want to save it and re-read it from time-to-time. As an author who has experienced flow many times in his life, I can tell you that it is wonderful having this book as a mental reference for understanding the entire process.

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When Men Become Gods: Mormon Polygamist Warren Jeffs, His Cult of Fear, and The Women Who Fought Back
by Stephen Singular

Book Review by Richard L. Weaver II, Ph.D.

This is a fascinating book. My sister lives in Kanab, Utah, as I am writing this, and I have driven past Colorado City, Utah, where much of this book takes place, so I know the area. Singular, a New York Times bestselling author, is an excellent writer. This book is educational, gripping, and detailed. Singular traces the rise to power of Warren Jeffs, self-proclaimed prophet of the fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, a sect of Mormonism based in isolated southern Utah, and the effort involved that led to his downfall. Effort involved? It took law enforcement, private investigators, the Feds, and a group of former polygamous wives seeking to liberate young women from arranged marriages to bring him down. To his twenty to thirty thousand followers, Jeffs wasn’t merely their pastor but their Prophet, “the only person on earth who took orders directly from God” (p. 3). The prologue of the book discusses his final arrest, but the chapter titles alone give you a hint of the great read ahead: 1) Sex and terrorism, 2) One-man rule, 3) The resistance, 4) In the shadows of Zion, 5) Fallen prophet, 6) Outlasting the sun. In addition, there is a short epilogue and a brief afterword as well. There are no notes, bibliography, nor index. To reveal a taste of his writing style, here Singular explains benefits of polygamy from some of the women he interviewed: “Some of the women mentioned the specific psychological benefits of polygamy. Plural marriage had helped them come to terms with difficult feelings like jealousy, insecurity, competition, and thinking that they ‘owned’ their spouse. Instead of denying these complex emotions, they’d been forced to confront them in order to make their marriages work. They saw all this as a growth experience — a lifestyle that was not only tolerable, but preferable” (p. 81). This is truly an excellent book, and although you may not like the central character, the subject matter, nor the beliefs and values held by this group, the book offers a solid, well-drawn, footnote not just in the history of this country but in how people like David Koresh, Jim Jones, and Warren Jeffs are able to accomplish their feat of control. Jeffs was a reader of Hitler and Napoleon, wrested leadership from his father, discharged all those who opposed him, and maintained absolute and total control by eliminating all outside influences, thus, if you are born into that belief system, and isolated enough so that contrary views are never presented to you, it is difficult or close to impossible to get out. This is really an incredible read.

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Through our reading, researching, and writing, And Then Some Publishing (and our extended family of readers) mine volumes of books representing a wide variety of tastes. We use the books in our writing, test and try suggested techniques, and we read for enjoyment as well. We wouldn't spend the time reviewing the books if we didn't get something out of it. Read more reviews on other fantastic books at our BookWorksRules.com website.