Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience (Harper Perennial Modern Classics)

“Flow is important....The way to happiness lies not in mindless hedonism, but in mindful challenge.” (New York Times Book Review)

“Rethinks what motivates people.” (Newsweek)

“Explore[s] a happy state of mind called flow, the feeling of complete engagement in a creative or playful activity” (Time magazine)

Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's famous investigations of "optimal experience" have revealed that what makes an experience genuinely satisfying is a state of consciousness called flow. During flow, people typically experience deep enjoyment, creativity, and a total involvement with life. In this new edition of his groundbreaking classic work, Csikszentmihalyi demonstrates the ways this positive state can be controlled, not just left to chance. Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience teaches how, by ordering the information that enters our consciousness, we can discover true happiness and greatly improve the quality of our lives.