Bored and Brilliant by Manoush Zomorodi is about how we engage with technology and the affect on our minds.

I must apologise for not being able to review this book after you so kindly accepted my request. I have had an unfortunately challenging time, but am now free to resume reading and reviewing. I hope that you will not hold my difficulties against me in future requests

An interesting concept - untethering yourself from technology in order to unlock your potential. We live in a society where smartphones are glued to our hands and may actually be making us dumb. The book presents you with a series of exercises in order to detach yourself from your social feeds. I found the concept interesting but unfortunately didn't have a massive surge of brilliance. I read the book while listening to the By The Book podcast in which the hosts read self help books and try the exercises themselves which I found useful.

Seneca said “The abundance of books is distraction” ‘Bored and Brilliant’ by Manoush Zomorod addresses the distraction of today: our abundance of digital information. Zomorod hosts a podcast called “Note to Self’ a tech show about being human. In 2015 she challenged her listeners to sign up to the ‘Bored and Brilliant Project’ which was actually a challenge on how to live smarter and better within a digital world (This may be a better book title). Bored and Brilliant isn’t a digital detox it is a lesson in controlling technology and not letting it control you. It is a seven step program and it is in the final step where the participant can use their ‘powers of boredom to make sense of their life and set goals.’ Throughout the book she writes of mindfulness and mind wandering - two mental states that help boost our creativity and problem solving skills. We can only achieve these states when we are not distracted.
This is a great book that has changed my perspective on my phone and social media use as well as on my children’s screen time and their gaming habits. All are engaged with much more mindfully now. As Zomorod says: “the internet will be just fine without you”

I don't know what I was expecting but it wasn't this. I can appreciate how this book would be invaluable to some readers but don't believe I was exactly the right audience. I believed this would deliver advice on creativity and the cultivation of it in life. Instead this was a guide on how to rely less on the distraction of your smart phone. Whilst I can see the benefit of this book I found this not to be an issue I had as I already restrict my social media and smart phone usage, throughout the course of the day. I found nothing of interest in this book for me and, whilst well written, this was, sadly, not for me.