Calm: A Practical Guide to Mindfulness Based on the Popular App―Simple Meditation Habits for a Busy Life
About this product
Based on the popular iPhone app, a visually exciting, practical, and playful interactive guide to twenty-first century meditation that provides simple tools, tricks, and habits to find tranquility and focus, improve creativity and productivity, achieve better mental and physical health, and ultimately transform your life. Achieving mindfulness doesn’t require a huge lifestyle shift or special training. It’s about mastering simple habits that work with the demands of your busy life. It uses the abilities you’re born with: creativity, spontaneity, and awareness of the world around you. There are no rules to follow or break. Everyone can achieve calm—including you. In Calm, Michael Acton Smith combines fascinating neurological research, ancient wisdom, and real-life experiences to demystify meditation and show you the many simple ways to be mindful everyday. Crafted to resemble a journal, filled with beautiful and inspiring artwork, and divided into eight life-balancing sections—Nature, Work, Creativity, Children, Travel, Relationships, Food, and Sleep— Calm can help you change your perspective and rediscover the pleasures of the world. Each section blends fascinating research, creative prompts, activities, instructions, and insights that will stimulate your senses and inspire you. Calm can be used multiple times a day or whenever you need it to find a little peace. Take a walk without a fixed destination, savor a piece of chocolate on the tip of your tongue, plant a seed, doodle aimlessly, turn off your mobile phone for five short minutes. Smile, breathe, and go slowly. Calm your mind—and change your world. Read more
Editor's Take
Amazon reviewers and Goodreads readers generally describe Calm as a visually appealing, practical mindfulness guide that is easy to dip into for short meditation habits. Goodreads reviews for the book are mixed overall, with many readers praising its friendly tone, design, and accessibility for beginners, while some note that it feels lighter on depth than they expected.
Review coverage around the Calm brand also reinforces the book’s central appeal: approachable mindfulness for busy people. Healthline’s Calm app review highlights that users value the app’s sleep stories, breathing exercises, and beginner-friendly structure, which aligns with the book’s “simple habits” positioning.
On YouTube, the search surfaced a couple of real videos tied to the Calm brand and Michael Acton Smith, including an audiobook preview and an interview/presentation about Calm’s origins and mindfulness approach. These are directly about the same ecosystem, though not all are third-party product reviews.
- Goodreads readers praise the book’s design and beginner-friendly guidance.
- Some Goodreads reviewers want more depth and more advanced meditation content.
- Healthline coverage of Calm emphasizes strong user satisfaction with sleep stories and calming features, but notes subscription cost concerns.
Price History
Specifications
| Topic | Mindfulness |
Product Details
| Publisher | Harper Paperbacks |
| Publication date | January 5, 2016 |
| Edition | Illustrated |
| Language | English |
| Print length | 224 pages |
| ISBN-10 | 0062439170 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-0062439178 |
| Item Weight | 1 pounds |
| Dimensions | 5.88 x 0.64 x 8.25 inches |
| Best Sellers Rank | #1,158,645 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #688 in Sleep Disorders #1,843 in Yoga (Books) #1,898 in Consciousness & Thought Philosophy |
| Customer Reviews | 4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars (845) |
