Soon: An Overdue History Of Procrastination, From Leonardo And Darwin To You And Me
by Andrew Santella /
2018 / English / PDF
121.1 MB Download
[Read by Roger Wayne]
[Read by Roger Wayne]
An entertaining, fact-filled defense of the nearly universal
tendency to procrastinate, drawing on the stories of history's
greatest delayers, and on the work of psychologists,
philosophers, and behavioral economists to explain why we put off
what we're supposed to be doing and why we shouldn't feel so bad
about it.
An entertaining, fact-filled defense of the nearly universal
tendency to procrastinate, drawing on the stories of history's
greatest delayers, and on the work of psychologists,
philosophers, and behavioral economists to explain why we put off
what we're supposed to be doing and why we shouldn't feel so bad
about it.
Like so many of us, including most of America's workforce, and
nearly two-thirds of all university students, Andrew Santella
procrastinates. Concerned about his habit, but not quite ready to
give it up, he set out to learn all he could about the human
tendency to delay. He studied history's greatest procrastinators
to gain insights into human behavior, and also, he writes, to
kill time, ''research being the best way to avoid real work.''
Like so many of us, including most of America's workforce, and
nearly two-thirds of all university students, Andrew Santella
procrastinates. Concerned about his habit, but not quite ready to
give it up, he set out to learn all he could about the human
tendency to delay. He studied history's greatest procrastinators
to gain insights into human behavior, and also, he writes, to
kill time, ''research being the best way to avoid real work.''
He talked with psychologists, philosophers, and priests. He
visited New Orleans' French Quarter, home to a shrine to the
patron saint of procrastinators. And at the home of Charles
Darwin outside London, he learned why the great naturalist
delayed writing his masterwork for more than two decades.
He talked with psychologists, philosophers, and priests. He
visited New Orleans' French Quarter, home to a shrine to the
patron saint of procrastinators. And at the home of Charles
Darwin outside London, he learned why the great naturalist
delayed writing his masterwork for more than two decades.
Drawing on an eclectic mix of historical case studies in
procrastination -- from Leonardo da Vinci to Frank Lloyd Wright,
and from Old Testament prophets to Civil War generals -- Santella
offers a sympathetic take on habitual postponement. He questions
our devotion to ''the cult of efficiency'' and suggests that
delay and deferral can help us understand what truly matters to
us. Being attentive to our procrastination, Santella writes,
means asking, ''whether the things the world wants us to do are
really worth doing.''
Drawing on an eclectic mix of historical case studies in
procrastination -- from Leonardo da Vinci to Frank Lloyd Wright,
and from Old Testament prophets to Civil War generals -- Santella
offers a sympathetic take on habitual postponement. He questions
our devotion to ''the cult of efficiency'' and suggests that
delay and deferral can help us understand what truly matters to
us. Being attentive to our procrastination, Santella writes,
means asking, ''whether the things the world wants us to do are
really worth doing.''
