A Tale of 'Whoa!'

In This Mile-a-Minute World, Some Folks Are Resisting the Hurry-Up Offensive

Carl Honore talksveryfast.

He drives his words along like so many race cars, and sometimes they crash into one another. He chats on his cell phone and reaches for a daybook. He's got a schedule to keep.

Strange behavior for the author of "In Praise of Slowness: How a Worldwide Movement is Challenging the Cult of Speed," published last month by HarperSanFrancisco.

But Honore is moving swiftly because he passionately believes this:

We.

All.

Need.

To.

Just.

Slow.

Down.

On this day he's in Washington spreading the word.

"We have to choose the right amount of time for each thing," he says. He is sitting down to a plate of fresh fruit at the Grand Hyatt. He's a thin guy, 36, with dark hair, missionary-intense dark eyes, red polo shirt and blue pants.

In his book, he puts it this way: "In this media-drenched, data-rich, channel-surfing, computer-gaming age, we have lost the art of doing nothing, of shutting out the background noise and distractions, of slowing down and simply being alone with our thoughts."

He's not alone in his zeal. In fact, he is discovering that he is in the middle of a global movement. There are people in this country and around the world who are trying to decelerate their approach to the important things: food, work, family, play and sex.

"Everyone is rallying around the word 'slow,' '' he says. "I'm sort of the guru. By default."