Wait: The Useful Art of Procrastination by Frank Partnoy

Wait: The useful art of procrastination: Frank Partnoy: Books ISBN: 184668594X ISBN-13: 9781846685941

What can a former investment banker teach me about timing and procrastination? I held Frank Partnoy’s book, Wait: The Useful Art of Procrastination, and turned it over in my hands as I meditated on the question.

“Wait: The Useful Art of Procrastination” by Frank Partnoy talks about the reasons why slowing down when making decisions is better than speeding through the process. He explores the benefits of delay in decision making and the usefulness of timing in all things. While I believe these are good premises for writing a book, I feel this book did fall short in convincing us about the merits of “procrastination”.

From the example of stock trading companies’ “high-frequency trading” to the timing of tennis players’ ball serves, Partnoy’s argument for procrastination seems weak and contrived. Most of his explanation seems as if he was arguing for something other than procrastination. For example, delaying gratification for a greater good in a course of decision-making has little to do with procrastination, as the author would have us believe, and more to do with discipline.

There are many more issues Frank Partnoy raises in this book that has nothing to do with the title in any way.
Simply put, this book is not fun to read and is misleading with the title. Looking at the fairly bulky book in my hands, it is my decision that Frank Partnoy has very little to reach me about timing and procrastination.