On Form

The Times Book of the Year

Author: Mike Brearley

From English first-class cricketer turned psychoanalyst Mike Brearley, comes a thought-provoking look at being 'on form'. This book will help people in all walks of life reflect on the kinds of conditions that can obstruct or free us.

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Summary

Description

Mike Brearley describes some of the elements of being on form in many fields, not only in cricket and psychoanalysis, but also in drama, music, teaching and business. It includes a range of states of mind, conjoined with action, from the courage to face dangerous or difficult challenges to an almost spiritual state for which words like 'inspired' or 'spiritual' come to mind. Achieving it requires us to be able to hold different tendencies, different tensions in mind, to tolerate ambivalence and ambiguity. For example, there is the need for hard work, but hard work can be misguided or limiting; there is a need to let go of conscious control, and to allow things to come up involuntarily. It involves giving house-room to different aspects of the mind, finding a balance between doing and watching oneself, as indeed between work and play.

He suggests that though one can't guarantee form, or creativity, in any area, we do have some understanding of how we might make it more likely. We have to give space to ourselves and our projects. We have to learn to tolerate emotions and work on them so that they don't inhibit our freedom to think and act. There is no easy recipe; but this book will help people in all walks of life to reflect on the kinds of conditions that can block us or free us.

Awards

Long-listed for William Hill Sports Book of the Year 2017 (UK)
Long-listed for Cricket Society and MCC Book of the Year Award 2018 (UK)

Critic Reviews

Fascinating -- Ivo Tennant The Cricketer
Engaging -- Martin Chilton Daily Telegraph
Endlessly curious and unapologetically intellectual The Times
Accessible -- William Joll The Oldie
Fascinating Choice
Interesting New Statesman
This is a book that offers insight not just into cricket, but into every walk of life; not just into the state of being on form itself, but into everything that surrounds it; and not just into the reader, but into the author himself All Out Cricket
Epic journey of a book -- Dominic Lawson Sunday Times

About the Author

Mike Brearley OBE was educated at Cambridge, where he read classics and moral sciences, and captained the university. He played for Middlesex County Cricket Club intermittently from 1961 to 1983, captaining the side from 1971 to 1982. He first played for England in 1976 and captained the side from 1977 to 1980, winning seventeen test matches and losing only four. He was recalled to the captaincy in 1981 for the Ashes home series, leading England to one of their most famous victories. Since retiring from cricket in 1982, he trained and continues to work as a psychoanalyst, and is a lecturer on leadership and motivation. He is the author of the bestselling The Art of Captaincy, and has written on cricket and the psychology of sport for the Observer and most recently The Times. He lives in London.

More on this Book

What is being on form? How does it relate to feeling 'in the zone'? Are these states in the lap of the gods, a matter of which side of the bed we got out of that morning? Or can we do something to make its arrival more likely? Mike Brearley describes some of the elements of being on form in many fields, not only in cricket and psychoanalysis, but also in drama, music, teaching and business. It includes a range of states of mind, conjoined with action, from the courage to face dangerous or difficult challenges to an almost spiritual state for which words like 'inspired' or 'spiritual' come to mind. Achieving it requires us to be able to hold different tendencies, different tensions in mind, to tolerate ambivalence and ambiguity. For example, there is the need for hard work, but hard work can be misguided or limiting; there is a need to let go of conscious control, and to allow things to come up involuntarily. It involves giving house-room to different aspects of the mind, finding a balance between doing and watching oneself, as indeed between work and play. He suggests that though one can't guarantee form, or creativity, in any area, we do have some understanding of how we might make it more likely. We have to give space to ourselves and our projects. We have to learn to tolerate emotions and work on them so that they don't inhibit our freedom to think and act. There is no easy recipe; but this book will help people in all walks of life to reflect on the kinds of conditions that can block us or free us.