The Power of Fun: How to Feel Alive Again
If you’re not having fun, you’re not fully living. The author of How to Break Up with Your Phone makes the case that, far from being frivolous, fun is actually critical to our well-being—and shows us how to have more of it.
“This delightful book might just be what we need to start flourishing.”—#1 New York Times bestselling author Adam Grant
Journalist and screen/life balance expert Catherine Price argues persuasively that our always-on, tech-addicted lifestyles have led us to obsess over intangible concepts such as happiness while obscuring the fact that real happiness lies in the everyday experience of fun. We often think of fun as indulgent, even immature and selfish. We claim to not have time for it, even as we find hours a day for what Price calls Fake Fun—bingeing on television, doomscrolling the news, or posting photos to social media, all in hopes of filling some of the emptiness we feel inside.
In this follow-up to her hit book, How to Break Up with Your Phone, Price makes the case that True Fun—which she defines as the magical confluence of playfulness, connection, and flow—will give us the fulfillment we so desperately seek. If you use True Fun as your compass, you will be happier and healthier. You will be more productive, less resentful, and less stressed. You will have more energy. You will find community and a sense of purpose. You will stop languishing and start flourishing. And best of all? You’ll enjoy the process.
Weaving together scientific research with personal experience, Price reveals the surprising mental, physical, and cognitive benefits of fun, and offers a practical, personalized plan for how we can achieve better screen/life balance and attract more True Fun into our daily lives—without feeling overwhelmed.
Groundbreaking, eye-opening, and packed with useful advice, The Power of Fun won’t just change the way you think about fun. It will bring you back to life.
“This delightful book might just be what we need to start flourishing.”—#1 New York Times bestselling author Adam Grant
Journalist and screen/life balance expert Catherine Price argues persuasively that our always-on, tech-addicted lifestyles have led us to obsess over intangible concepts such as happiness while obscuring the fact that real happiness lies in the everyday experience of fun. We often think of fun as indulgent, even immature and selfish. We claim to not have time for it, even as we find hours a day for what Price calls Fake Fun—bingeing on television, doomscrolling the news, or posting photos to social media, all in hopes of filling some of the emptiness we feel inside.
In this follow-up to her hit book, How to Break Up with Your Phone, Price makes the case that True Fun—which she defines as the magical confluence of playfulness, connection, and flow—will give us the fulfillment we so desperately seek. If you use True Fun as your compass, you will be happier and healthier. You will be more productive, less resentful, and less stressed. You will have more energy. You will find community and a sense of purpose. You will stop languishing and start flourishing. And best of all? You’ll enjoy the process.
Weaving together scientific research with personal experience, Price reveals the surprising mental, physical, and cognitive benefits of fun, and offers a practical, personalized plan for how we can achieve better screen/life balance and attract more True Fun into our daily lives—without feeling overwhelmed.
Groundbreaking, eye-opening, and packed with useful advice, The Power of Fun won’t just change the way you think about fun. It will bring you back to life.
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Community Reviews
This book sparked our friends to start our book club. I feel like am already a fun focused person who makes time for hobbies, friends and new experiences, so this book was "preaching to the choir" for me. I don't think I learned much, but I liked it, I completely agreed with it, I would recommend it.
Easy to read and well researched. I don't know how much better non-fiction can get. Price has thoroughly examined and researched the concept of fun and provides some thought provoking and realistic suggestions for discovering what your 'fun magnets' are. Filled with anecdotes and insightful syntheses of research into happiness and fun, the ideas here will stick with me for a long time. Hopefully, I will be able to implement them regularly, with more success than my snow angel today revealed. I fell into a patch of snow and made my angel, but then realized that I couldn't get up! I was wearing snowshoes, lying spread eagled in the powder snow in my yard, and as I pushed down to get myself upright, I couldn't touch the ground - or anything firm! Hilarity ensued. My husband waded out in snow deeper than his knees and gave me a hand... it will be a memory for sure. And yes, it was fun. But note to self - don't make snow angels in really deep snow!
I'm still not sure how I'm going to make big fun happen in my life, but I am persuaded that I need to. "The reason that it is essential for us to address our metaphorical deadness, is that it won't be long, decades at the most, before we are all literally dead." - Catherine Price
There were some really great points and anecdotes throughout this book. I’d like to get a physical copy of the book so I can really think about and contemplate my answers to the fun quiz. Since reading this book, I’ve found myself more aware of the amount of time I spend on my phone. I also have the words, “playfulness, connection, and flow” on repeat in my brain. Catherine is a great writer (and verbal reader). I like her candidness in sharing real, not always pretty, moments from her life. Especially liked her line that interests make you interesting.
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