When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing
4.4 | 4,099 ratings
Price: 13.78
Last update: 01-04-2026
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- Gary Moreau, AuthorThe "When" side of the "What" coin. It's more important and controllable than you think.Daniel Pink has already written a couple of best-selling books, and it’s safe to say this one will be his latest. It’s a book about timing, the “when” side of the “what” coin. When is a lot more critical than most of us assume. And it’s importance is naturally underscored simply because “when” seems less controllable than “what”.
But both assumptions are generally wrong. Or at least a bit myopic. We can adapt the what to the when in most cases. And we can control the when, perhaps by starting over, or taking a short break, or even a nap (“Zambonis for our brains”), far more than we may currently imagine.
The key is to understand “when” in a more expansive context. And, in the end, that’s what the book strives to do, and does well. Pink puts when in the context of the waves of the day (your chronobiology), the events of the day (the importance of lunch, breaks, naps), the when of getting on track (sometimes you need to re-start), the meaning of when milestones (the importance of midpoints and poignant endings), and the important role of timing in becoming synchronized with the people and the world around us, which, in turn, fosters belonging and a sense of purpose.
As is the current trend in books of this genre, the prognosis and the recommendations are scientific, which essentially means that Pink and his researchers have scoured a lot of literature looking for patterns.
The problem with patterns, however, is that it is often difficult to know if you are witnessing a causal pattern or a resulting pattern. Pink is clearly aware of the problem and has taken as many steps as can be practically taken to differentiate one from the other. Nonetheless, even in a thorough and responsible research effort such as this, the patterns discerned are ultimately probabilistic, not certain.
A related problem is determining which patterns are truly natural and which are acquired. A night owl behaves and performs like the night owls in the study but were they born that way or did they acquire the pattern through prior habit, ingrained out of necessity, not choice? And can those patterns be altered or redefined? (Maybe the stuff of a future book?)
Pink, however, is well aware of both of these limitations to research such as is chronicled here. And in addition to navigating around them he makes it work by not over-promising on the conclusions. While the book is inspirational, therefore, it stops short of promising an end to world hunger. And that, compared to many popular books in the genre, I think, gives the work even more credibility and importance.
In the beginning, I might warn you, many of the observations and recommendations may strike some readers as plainly intuitive. As a sexagenarian I have to admit that I had, through trial and error, already come to some of the same conclusions the book identifies without the benefit of the scientific research. That’s no claim to fame or attempt to dissuade you from reading it, however. I lost a lot of time getting there on my own and, in the end, Pink does what great researchers and historians ultimately do by rising above the facts and figures. He puts it all into a larger perspective that draws it all together and enhances the impact in a way that I never had.
While it’s a minor footnote in the book’s premise, the money line for me has less to do with timing and more to do with the bandwidth of time itself. Pink notes, “By now, it’s well known that 99 percent of us cannot multitask.”
I could not agree more. Multitasking, I believe, or attempts to multitask, are killing productivity in the American workplace and, in fact, causing a lot of harm (e.g., texting while driving). Multitasking is a myth and we do people a grave injustice by encouraging it. If your boss tells you that you are good at multi-tasking I strongly recommend you find a new boss.
I also agree that contrary to what we are frequently told by our personal coaches and advisors, “living in the present” is a lot less important than understanding the present in the larger context of who we are and why we’re here.
All told, this is a very easy and quick read. The writing is crisp and clear and the author has a good sense of humor. It should take no more than a few hours and there are plenty of study guides and worksheets to help you translate the research into actual behavior.
Very well done. - Jijnasu ForeverCircadian rhythms meets behavioral science to offer an interesting thought framework (and some practical advice) 4.5Pink is a great story-teller. This book reinforces that reputation. Starting with an example from WWI era (Lusitania), Pink posits that time at which decisions are made has a significant impact; After poring over various theories, Pink, in a surprising oversimplification argues that "may be the decisions (made by the Captain) were bad because they were made at noon". Thankfully, the rest of the book doesn't stay that superficial.
With a thorough introduction to various research methods involving sentiment analysis and techniques such as DRM, Pink clearly demonstrates why a reader should pay attention to the time at which decisions are made; the narrative of the discovery of circadian rhythms itself is a fun read.
The rest of the book highlights various insights (and strategies) associated with starts, endings and "in-betweens" - the power of breaks, an interesting look at motivation and its residual effects, etc. Pink then channels Kahneman's work and defines strategies on synchronization/group coordination.
Pink sticks to a narrative style that has been well-received - a collection of motivating examples, an introduction to the core research method/project, simplified interpretation, and then a practical suggestion based on that insight. Here, he takes it a step further and creates almost a parallel book (Time Hacker's Handbook) that focuses on providing practical advise and self-tests. This allow a reader to quickly refer to these tips at a later day without having to hunt for them. The parallel-book approach is an interesting narrative device. In addition, the detailed notes/citations and suggested readings makes it a useful resource for the more curious reader.
At times, the book seems a bit drawn out; the core message and premise is a simple one; various examples seem to mostly reemphasize the core premise than substantially add or qualify. While Pink mentions the challenges of such research, one keeps wondering how representative these insights are (for example, Twitter analysis was consistent across different cultures, but it assumes Twitter users are representative of the world). Despite such minor academic squabbles one can create, the book provides a useful framework to evaluate one's routines and explore if there are ways in which timing of decisions have any impact. One would have benefited from more explanations or hypotheses from areas that have tried biofeedback mechanisms (day traders, air traffic controllers, ...etc) that could've triggered more reading/research. 4.5* - Whitney JohnsonLoved this book -- thoroughly researched, clever, and always engagingWe all need strategies to make our finite resources work harder and stretch farther—why not
also time, the most rigidly finite resource of all? While there are the same 24 hours in a day for
each of us, those 24 hours are not created equal. Some of them are more productive than
others, brimful with potential; some are best reserved for naps. Dan Pink has combed the
science and synthesized the results to help us elasticize our seemingly most inflexible
constraint. We can’t make more time, but we can make more out of it by understanding how it
works for and against us depending on where we are in the daily, monthly, yearly dance of the
hours. From when to exercise or imbibe the first cup of coffee, the ideal age to marry and what
month your spouse is most likely to divorce you, what sort of bird your biological clock most
closely mimics, how business (and other critical) decisions can be poisoned by bad timing—it’s
all rolled out in When. Loved this book for the large net it casts over the whole construct of time
and its dominion in our lives, but especially for the tips and hacks to help us take back some of
that power and become the agents of our smarter beginnings, more adept midpoints, and
graceful, grateful endings. Five stars, and then some.