02 Amateurs in the Art of Living

The Human Machine

by Arnold BENNETT (1867 - 1931)

Bennett asks us to consider our brains as the most wonderful machine, a machine which is the only thing in this world that we can control. As he writes: "I am simply bent on calling your attention to a fact which has perhaps wholly or partially escaped you -- namely, that you are the most fascinating bit of machinery that ever was."As ever, his prose is honeyed, his thoughts inspired, and his advice as relevant today as when it was written.

Listen next episodes of The Human Machine:
03 The Brain as a Gentleman-at-Large , 04 The First Practical Step , 05 Habit-forming by Concentration , 06 Lord over the Noddle , 07 What 'Living' Chiefly Is , 08 The Daily Friction , 09 'Fire!' , 10 Mischievously Overworking It , 11 An Interlude , 12 An Interest in Life , 13 Success and Failure , 14 A Man and His Environment , 15 L. S. D. , 16 Reason! Reason!