
How to Live on Twenty-Four Hours a Day (1910) - kamaal
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2274/2274-h/2274-h.htm
======
nkurz
An interesting essay from 1910 about making the best use of one's time on
earth. Taking from it a single self-referential idea:

"I know people who read and read, and for all the good it does them they might
just as well cut bread-and-butter. They take to reading as better men take to
drink. They fly through the shires of literature on a motor-car, their sole
object being motion. They will tell you how many books they have read in a
year.

Unless you give at least forty-five minutes to careful, fatiguing reflection
(it is an awful bore at first) upon what you are reading, your ninety minutes
of a night are chiefly wasted. This means that your pace will be slow."

~~~
ohwp
Reminds me of the book Ecclesiastes
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecclesiastes>

_"While Qoheleth clearly endorses wisdom as a means for a well-lived earthly
life, he is unable to ascribe eternal meaning to it. In light of this
perceived senselessness, he suggests that one should enjoy the simple
pleasures of daily life, such as eating, drinking, and taking enjoyment in
one's work, which are gifts from the hand of God."_

~~~
jtheory
Why? That seems to be making a very different point (and not a very valuable
one, in my opinion).

~~~
ohwp
Gaining knowledge (or wisdom if you like) can be "vain" if you forget to live
;)

Imho that is a very valuable lesson.

~~~
jtheory
It doesn't say that, though -- he perceives "wisdom" as senselessness and
something with no "eternal meaning", in contrast to the simple pleasures of
daily life, which (apparently unlike wisdom) have supernatural approval and
eternal value.

That's not helpful. True wisdom doesn't ignore physical reality. It doesn't
deny basic pleasures; it illuminates them. And it's the only way to find sense
in the world -- directly, not just mouthing the words provided by a human
authority.

------
jodrellblank
Discussion from LessWrong a couple of years ago, the first comment is a
condensed tl;dr summary:

<http://lesswrong.com/lw/37y/how_to_live_on_24_hours_a_day/>

~~~
wging
I recommend reading the original; the summary doesn't capture its style (and
may not capture its substance, for all I know). This is interesting as a piece
of rhetoric as well as advice.

~~~
readme
At a glance, this is a book about productivity and time management. Any self-
respecting productive manager of time would not waste an entire day reading
such outdated and overly verbose prose.

TL;DR FTW

[EDIT]

I'm back, I just read the tl;dr version and I'm absolutely pumped! That really
hit the spot. Going to listen to some of these film scores:
<http://songza.com/listen/action-movie-scores-songza/> and do what I thought
would take a day in 4 hours.

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rnernento
I don't think Bennett would approve of the tl;dr's lol.

Not only should you take the time to read it, you should be spending another
45 minutes reflecting.

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chalimacos
I translated the Spanish version:

[http://www.amazon.co.uk/Como-Vivir-Veinticuatro-Horas-
melusi...](http://www.amazon.co.uk/Como-Vivir-Veinticuatro-Horas-
melusina/dp/8496614905/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1363609399&sr=8-1)

------
WalterGR
I have this book on my bookshelf! It's a small volume with very large margins.
Seeing it laid out on a single web page made me check if the Gutenberg version
really is the whole thing. It is.

IIRC, it's pretty good.

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ekr
This is one of the best pieces of writing in English I have ever read. While
it doesn't completely qualify as a self-help book (it discusses mainly the
philosophy of life), it is miles ahead anything available today.

~~~
jtheory
You should sample the work of writers who take pride in the quality of their
writing & ideas, not just the latest "100 tips to success in business" book.

So much of the writing we read is written by amateur writers who are
professionals in some other realm.

I should probably offer suggestions, which is hard; but try this recent
nonfiction essay by novelist & essayist Hilary Mantel:

<http://www.lrb.co.uk/v35/n04/hilary-mantel/royal-bodies>

Or read the first few pages of The End by Salvatore Scibona (click "look
inside the book" on Amazon):

[http://www.amazon.com/The-End-Salvatore-
Scibona/dp/B0035G02D...](http://www.amazon.com/The-End-Salvatore-
Scibona/dp/B0035G02DQ)

These are both fiction-writers; I'm struggling to think of really high-quality
non-fiction writing, but that's just because I haven't read any recently... An
example, at least -- Christopher Hitchens covers some of the same territory as
Richard Dawkins, but his writing is head & shoulders above.

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ktf
I liked this a lot, though I disagree with his position on fiction (i.e. "if
it's difficult it's not worth reading"). I get his point though.

And speaking of difficult literature, many points in this little book reminded
me of David Foster Wallace's awesome commencement speech from some years back,
which you can listen to (un-idly!) in two parts, here:

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vET9cvlGJQw>

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEjVnB7AeBQ>

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ianstallings
I feel like I'm reading about the time cube and I'm educated stupid.

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rkroondotnet
I help run a leadership conference where there is a significant portion of the
time devoted to small group reflection. I find personal reflection greatly
rewarding and practice it weekly now, this has made me consider a daily
practice. There is something to be said for a led reflection with someone you
trust. They will ask the questions that you know you should ask yourself and
it really kickstarts the process.

------
rm999
It's interesting to read his opinion on sleep. tldr: most people sleep too
much because they don't have enough to do, and most people would be healthier
if they slept less.

I'm curious what has changed, I've heard you should sleep as much as your body
wants (and to consult a doctor if that's more than 8-9 hours a day). Is it
just that people sleep less today and the advice is relative?

~~~
jtheory
The advice is relative to the sleeping habits of the target audience.

The author talks about servants as if they are assumed, and in his example
case of an average day, the person gets up at 9am, and goes to sleep by
midnight.

That's NINE hours of sleep that he's saying is too much.

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PaulAlvares
TL;DR please

~~~
andrewnez
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_to_Live_on_24_Hours_a_Day>

~~~
PaulAlvares
cheers, this was also posted - a summary of each chapter
<http://lesswrong.com/lw/37y/how_to_live_on_24_hours_a_day/>

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asciimo
You can get it on your Kindle for free: [http://www.amazon.com/How-Live-Hours-
Day-ebook/dp/B0084AHN6C...](http://www.amazon.com/How-Live-Hours-Day-
ebook/dp/B0084AHN6C/)

Interesting that there's no original publication date on public domain works
in the Amazon store.

------
psionski
Am I the only one that thinks 90 minutes a day is horribly inadequate?
Personally, I aim for something like 8 hours... Is this just because the book
was written a hundred years ago and there wasn't that much to learn back then?

~~~
lilsunnybee
How do you have time for anything else?

~~~
psionski
Eight hours for work, eight hours for reading and learning, eight hours for
sleep and commute. I relax on the weekends - sleep a bit more, play some
games, go out with friends, etc. I guess I'm just a boring person...

~~~
peterwwillis
It's only boring if it's boring to you. But if you're spending eight hours on
reading without any time spent reflecting on it, it's just words in your head.

~~~
psionski
"Boring" would be the last thing I'd call it, but you have to admit - it's a
pretty short list.

It depends mostly on what I'm reading, if I'm reading a math textbook I
usually do more "reflecting" than actual reading, I create small programs like
imaginary number calculators, function plotters, etc. that let me play with
the thing I'm reading about. With programming books I always try to write
something, but make it something different than the examples in the book.
Sometimes I wander off to Google and then find out the thing I needed was
covered in the next chapter, but you get the idea :)

I usually read fiction only before I go to bed, so when I'm finished reading I
have some quiet time. Your brain gets really weird right before you fall
asleep, but I guess at least it's something.

------
natex
Librivox recording (audiobook) here:

[http://librivox.org/how-to-live-on-twenty-four-hours-a-
day-b...](http://librivox.org/how-to-live-on-twenty-four-hours-a-day-by-
arnold-bennett/)

