Works by
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
(Writer)
[September 29, 1934 -]

Non-fiction

• Finding Flow: The Psychology of Engagement With Everyday Life (1998)
  Part psychological study, part self-help book, Finding Flow is a prescriptive guide that helps us reclaim ownership of our lives. Based on a far-reaching study of thousands of individuals, Finding Flow contends that we often walk through our days unaware and out of touch with our emotional lives. Our inattention makes us constantly bounce between two extremes: during much of the day we live filled with the anxiety and pressures of our work and obligations, while during our leisure moments, we tend to live in passive boredom. The key, according to Csikszentmihalyi, is to challenge ourselves with tasks requiring a high degree of skill and commitment. Instead of watching television, play the piano. Transform a routine task by taking a different approach. In short, learn the joy of complete engagement. Thought they appear simple, the lessons in Finding Flow are life-altering.

• Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention (1996)
  Creativity is about capturing those moments that make life worth living. The author's objective is to offer an understanding of what leads to these moments, be it the excitement of the artist at the easel or the scientist in the lab, so that knowledge can be used to enrich people's lives. Drawing on 100 interviews with exceptional people, from biologists and physicists to politicians and business leaders, poets and artists, as well as his 30 years of research on the subject, Csikszentmihalyi uses his famous theory to explore the creative process. He discusses such ideas as why creative individuals are often seen as selfish and arrogant, and why the tortured genius is largely a myth. Most important, he clearly explains why creativity needs to be cultivated and is necessary for the future of our country, if not the world.

• The Evolving Self (1994)
  The author of the bestselling Flow (more than 125,000 copies sold) offers an intelligent, inspiring guide to life in the future.

• Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience (1990)
  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.

• Beyond Boredom and Anxiety: Experiencing Flow in Work and Play (1975)
  Now in a special 25th anniversary edition and filled with brilliant wisdom and insights, Beyond Boredom and Anxiety offers a timeless introduction to the concept of flow and the scientific basis behind it-all through the work of one of the field's great scientists, Mihaly Csikzentmihalyi. Through real-life examples, discover how enjoyable activities provide a common experience-a satisfying, often exhilarating, feeling of creative accomplishment and heightened functioning-and under what conditions 'serious' work can also provide this intrinsic enjoyment.

• Optimal Experience: Psychological Studies of Flow in Consciousness (1988), Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and Isabella Selega Csikszentmihalyi,  eds.
  What constitutes enjoyment of life? Optimal Experience: Psychological Studies of Flow in Consciousness offers a comprehensive survey of theoretical and empirical investigations of the "flow" experience, a desirable or optimal state of consciousness that enhances a person's psychic state. "Flow" can be said to occur when people are able to meet the challenges of their environment with appropriate skills, and accordingly feel a sense of well-being, a sense of mastery, and a heightened sense of self-esteem. The authors show the diverse contexts and circumstances in which flow is reported in different cultures (e.g. Japan, Korea, Australia, Italy), and describe its positive emotional impacts. They reflect on the concept of flow vis-à-vis modern social structures, historical phenomena, and evolutionary biocultural selection. The ways in which the ability to experience flow affects work satisfaction, academic success, and the overall quality of life are suggested; and the childrearing practices that result in the ability to derive enjoyment from life, considered.

Other

• Good Business: Leadership, Flow, and the Making of Meaning (2004) by Howard Gardner, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and William Damon
  Since the publication of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s Flow in 1990, the notion of "flow"—the state of optimal experience in which one loses oneself in a task or activity—has become a household word. It has been endorsed by political leaders such as President Bill Clinton and Prime Minister Tony Blair, as well as sports coaches, business leaders, and the Wall Street Journal, which listed it as one of six books "every well-stocked business library should have." With Good Business, Csikszentmihalyi applies the proven principles of Flow to the business world, revealing the specific values that have served visionary leaders who have succeeded in running businesses that are both successful and humane. Good Business is a key text for managers and for anyone seeking to find meaning, enrichment, and satisfaction on the job.

• Good Work: When Excellence and Ethics Meet (2002) by Howard Gardner, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and William Damon
  This groundbreaking book, by three world-renowned psychologists, reveals how professionals succeed in carrying out work that is both expert and socially responsible in relentlessly market-driven times.
  
  What does it mean to carry out "good work"? What strategies allow people to maintain moral and ethical standards at a time when market forces wield unprecedented power and work life is being radically altered by technological innovation? These are the questions at the heart of this important collaboration by three leaders in psychology. Enlivened with stories of real people facing hard decisions, Good Work offers powerful insight into one of the most important issues of our time and, indeed, into the future course of science, technology, and communication.

See also:

• Loving in Flow: How the Happiest Couples Get and Stay That Way (2003) by Susan K. Perry

• Writing in Flow: Keys to Enhanced Creativity (1999, 2001) by Susan K. Perry