I found the first half of this book really engaging - I loved all the examples of the value of checklists - but found it harder going and increasingly repetitive as I read on. The overall message is important, and it did make me think about time spent on screens etc, but compared to other self-help books I didn't come away with a strong desire to implement the ideas I'd read about.

James Wallman's Time and How to Spend It is a mixed bag. I found the first half a struggle - trying to overlay a book structure onto your holiday arrangements seems great in theory, but in reality no-one does, or would do, that. Plus, the anecdotes seem shoe-horned into places where they didn't belong, with a few even seemingly unrelated to the point being make. The writing was wordy and too chummy for describing intelligent lifestyle improvements where a succinct idea economically stated would have a greater impact - it felt as though he wasn't sure who his audience was. I was on the point of putting the book down, but the second half started resonating with me - topics like status and significance I felt were insightful and helpful. A good read, but you may find like me, some chapters are very skippable.

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest, independent review.

James Wallman focuses on seven rules for a richer, happier life and, using STORIES as an acronym, he explains how we can transform our lifes to make better use of our time, with the following factors: story, transformation, outside & offline, relationships, intensity, extraordinary, status & significance.

Although the book is thoroughly researched with lots of studies to back up the author's points, it did make the book a bit tiresome at times. Yes, these studies are required, but I felt they could have been cut down a bit.

There were quizzes at the end of each chapter. These were also a bit repetitive but fun and interesting to do anyway. However, I found the quizzes hard to do on a Kindle as the answers were at the end of the book so there was a bit of going back and forth.

The basic message of the book is to get out there, live your life and do stuff rather than sit inside, and you'll live a more richer, happier life. Not entirely sure I agree with that, but maybe I'll revisit the book in the future again and I might think differently at another time in my life.

I enjoyed this book and thought it gave some really good ideas and pointers. It definitely made me think about how I spend my time - it's too easy to pass an entire evening sat in from of the TV but there's so many other things that I could do.
Really got me thinking about my leisure time and planning to spend it doing things that add joy to my life.

Really engaging book on how to spend your time and get the most out of life. Good mixture of stories and research, lots of great ideas and questions to get you thinking about your own habits.
An enjoyable read that I will definitely come back to.

Really enjoyed this. A real eye opener to how you spend your time (and how you probably have a lot more than you think once you remove certain distractions). A great shot in the arm to shake up how you order your days.

This is a smart and practical guide about how to stop procrastinating and start living. Looking at sociological and psychological research the writer creates a witty and engaging handbook brimming with ideas on how to get more out of life.

I loved Stuffocation, and like so many people these days I never feel like I have enough time, so I was excited to read James Wallman’s new book. There are some nice ideas here and he’s great at sharing examples from his own life to illustrate a point. Occasionally I wanted something a bit more - there were quite a few discussions/examples that have been quite widely explored already, so it did t always feel super original. There’s not much in the way of how to practically manage your time in order to focus on the things you really want to do, but it did make me think about how I spend my time and what is more worthwhile, and I think that’s the author’s aim

This book caught my attention as we all wish we had more time.
It was insightful and gave great examples to back up his theory, it was easy to follow and gave much to think about.
The questions to answer were interesting and gave you things to consider, it was like the book was interactive. What was also interesting was how my answers I chose changed through the book which was a direct result of reading the chapters and taking it all on board.
The 7 steps are easy to follow, I’m not suggesting I will apply it to all my time but certain points were stayed with me.
The summaries at the end of each chapter made it easy to remember the main points.
This was an insightful and interesting, I would happily recommend this to friends.
Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity of reading this book in exchange of a honest review.

An excellent book full of interesting anecdotes. It's such a good idea to consider how we spend our 'spare' time, and to maximise it. Lots of charts/checklists to keep us on track too.
Highly recommended
Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC

I liked the STORIES approach to how to better spend your time, since reading this book I have started to re-think how I spend my time. Very good approach and a useful book to refer to time and time again.

Chirpy up=beat self-help book. Nothing that different from other recent titles but a good style. I particularly liked the advice on how to get the most out of a holiday - by giving it a good ending in terms of what we remember.

Fantastic book. Fascinating topic and the author brought the information together so it flowed and each chapter built on the one before. It helped me greatly to look back on events in my life and see the positives, and how I can I apply the same principles to my future. This book will change your perspective on how you see life and you will be grateful for what you learn.

I read this book at the beginning of my holiday and I’m so glad I did. It made me think differently about how I ‘spend’ my time and how to create memorable experiences. It is well written, with solid evidence and I loved the summing up of the chapter at the end of each one. A really impressive addition to the field of knowledge on how to spend time wisely and curate your life.

I wanted to like this book more than I did, but I'm afraid I struggled. I found the structure a bit confused, but mainly the advice just felt very out of reach for my circumstances. It definitely didn't feel like the advice was universally applicable, and this was frustrating.

Really interesting, well structured book that made me think about how I am living my life and how I might want to change it. I studied psychology and recognised a lot of the people James referenced but he explained things much better than university books did. I’m delighted that Csikszentmihalyi was often in the book as his work always seemed to resonate to me, and now makes more sense to me after reading this book. I will be reading The author’s other book after reading this one as I am very interested to learn more about experiential consumerism and minimalism.
Highly recommended read!

Time and How to Spend It is really about improving your happiness by using your time more wisely.

The author, James Wallman, uses the word STORIES as an acronym for the elements he thinks can transform our use of time: Story, Transformation, Outside and Offline, Relationships, Intensity, Extraordinary, Status and Significance. As with many uses of these acronyms in self-help guides some feel a little contrived and it’s hard to remember what each element signifies a few days after finishing the book.

It felt quite repetitive at times with the basic message being to get out more and, when out, do something interesting challenging or for the benefit of others. Don’t go and lie in the sun for a week – you’ll remember a trek somewhere unusual much more and it’ll bring more happiness. There was a lot of use of illustrations, many of which were similar – a U curve and inverted U curve – to represent an experience starting and ending well with a high or low point in the middle.

There were quizzes at the end of each chapter which were designed to make you think more about what the right thing to do out of two choices for different scenarios and also to score how you were doing on that particular chapter’s point. I skipped most of these as they were very repetitive and it was hard to see the answers on my Kindle as they were at the end of the book and not immediately after the quiz.

There’s a lot of examples from psychological research which was interesting sometimes but did make the book seem overly long. One long example in the Transformation chapter was about Bruce Jenner in his 1976 Olympic victory, being part of the Keeping Up With The Kardashians reality TV series and then transgendering to Caitlyn Jenner. The sceptic in me did wonder if using the Kardashian name would help sell a few more books.

So, all good ideas, but basically saying get some variety in your life and don’t spend it all on the Internet, watching TV or lying on the beach. Make things happen, get out more, see other people. Have more interesting experiences and you’ll be happier.

With thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Random House UK, Ebury Publishing for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

If you value your time and what to get more out of life this book is definitely worth a read. Even if you don't take all the authors advice or agree with what he is saying, it is thought provoking, and will encourage you to look at your life and how you are spending it. I particularly enjoyed the chapter based on Story, and the references to Joseph Campbell's 'The Hero's Journey', from then on I was hooked on the book. I found it very interesting and enjoyed all the stories and anecdotes. Best of all the book is different it isn't just another self help book, it reaches different corners and definitely leaves you contemplating your own time and what you are going to do with it. Thank You

Most things you can replace, but one of the things which you simply can't replace is time. Even though we know this, we fail to use what we have wisely. We have more leisure time, but that's not how it feels: a high value is put on how we spend our working hours, but there's a low value on leisure. Unfortunately we now know how to work and not how to live: we need to learn how to spend our leisure time wisely and James Wallman has taken on the onerous task of teaching us how to do this.

Historically people have looked to acquire material possessions as they can progress through life. I can understand this : they're tangible and if bought carefully will stand the test of time whereas experiences leave you with (as my father would have said) 'nowt to show for it'. It seems almost counter intuitive to say that rather than looking to accumulate material possessions we should looking to acquire experiences if we want to have a successful life. Wallman explores the relationship between experience, resilience and success as well as experience, happiness and success. Societies are now more interested in well being than wealth so the pursuit of experiences makes sense.

But will just any experience do? No - they have to be selected carefully and wallman gives us an acronym, a seven-point checklist, to use when we select our experiences. It's STORIES. Experiences need to create a story, be transformative, outside and offline, create relationships, have intensity, be extraordinary (and ordinary) and give status and significance. Wallman examines each one in detail, with insights from psychology, economics and culture. Don't worry if that sounds rather worthy - there was nothing which I failed to understand on a first reading and Wallman delivers his knowledge with a light touch and a dry sense of humour.

It took me eight hours and six minutes to read the book and it was time well spent. I've learned to classify holidays as fly and flop, find and seek or go and become - and realised that I was perhaps having more of one sort than was sensible. My feelings that outside and offline was the best way to go are supported and I was surprised to learn that loneliness could be worse for your health than taking up smoking.

I'm sure that there will be people who think that this is fine if you have the money to go on fancy holidays, but what about people who can't afford to do that? I took up walking! All you need is some decent footwear and clothing which is appropriate for the weather conditions you'll encounter. This morning I set off for nothing more adventurous than a quick circuit of the village. I discovered a path I'd never tried before, met two people and had useful chats with them, passed on some spare strawberry plants and arranged for some work to be done on the house at a reasonable price. I was outside for about an hour in the spring sunshine, felt better for the exercise, never even thought about being online, made connections with people and came home with a smile on my face. It cost nothing. It felt good. Without reading the book I would still have gone out for a walk, but it would have been a different route and the yield would have been smaller.

It's a book to keep and reread, to think about. I'd like to thank the publishers for making a copy available to the Bookbag. Shelve next to Atomic Habits by James Clear.

What an interesting book. This isn't just a self help book, it has all the prerequisite sections and promises but is also a kindly wake up call. It is also a British self help book so everything is relevant for a change.

I found myself realising how insidiously outside influences weren't just taking my time but that of those around me, which, of course, is its main remit. I also, however enjoyed it as a book which not only entertained but also linked things together. It is an explanation of how things in all areas of life are linked. For example (slight spoiler) Kurt Vonnegut's lecture which included his discussion about 'man in hole' is mentioned again in different contexts which I found fascinating.

I was able to read an advanced copy of this book thanks to Netgalley and the publishers and would recommend it to anyone who recognises, as I did, how time slips away when doesn't always have to but also to those who want more than just a run of the mill self help book.