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Morning: How to make time
‘For years now I have been getting up by 5am in winter (and I am just as happy at 4am in summer). It suits me. I like the energy, the awareness before the day wakes. The quiet before dawn in winter, the shift from night to day in summer. I get things done. I garden in soft light. It is my best time of day’
This is a manifesto for morning.
There is an energy in the earlier hours, an awareness that Allan Jenkins enjoys. In the modern world we tend to get up as late as we can before we have to leave. But we don't have to chase the day.
In Morning, Allan shows how waking earlier even once a week or month can free us to be more creative, to read, to walk, to think. He talks to other early risers such as Jamie Oliver and Meera Sodha, poets and painters. He interviews a neuroscientist about sleep, an ornithologist about song, a philosopher and a fisherman about light. He gets up early, he listens, he looks. He introduces us to his secret world.
It is a celebration of dawn and morning: the best time of day.
This is a manifesto for morning.
There is an energy in the earlier hours, an awareness that Allan Jenkins enjoys. In the modern world we tend to get up as late as we can before we have to leave. But we don't have to chase the day.
In Morning, Allan shows how waking earlier even once a week or month can free us to be more creative, to read, to walk, to think. He talks to other early risers such as Jamie Oliver and Meera Sodha, poets and painters. He interviews a neuroscientist about sleep, an ornithologist about song, a philosopher and a fisherman about light. He gets up early, he listens, he looks. He introduces us to his secret world.
It is a celebration of dawn and morning: the best time of day.
176 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 2018
33 people are currently reading
406 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 55 reviews
June 24, 2018
Allan Jenkins has woken up by 5 a.m. for years. Through chronological extracts from his morning diaries over a year and short interviews with other early risers (such as Jamie Oliver and Linda Grant), he attempts to convey what is so special about being awake before the rest of the world. “Early morning gives me time, hope, space. At a moment when they are all at a premium. The city (largely) sleeps. Interference is low, distractions minimal. My day opens up. Stretches languidly. My mind is clearer.” His writing is annoyingly choppy like that throughout, but his arguments are convincing.
It certainly is an appealing thought that there could be whole hours just to oneself before the working day needs to start. I have fond memories of registration day at college, the only time when I would wake up at 5 a.m. and cross the quad in the dark to line up outside the registrar’s office to hand in my course selections for the next semester and cross my fingers that I’d get my first choices. (Yes, even in 2001–5 this was still done on paper!) It felt like a privilege to experience the campus at a novel time of day. Afterwards I could watch the sun rise and then reward myself with a filling breakfast of hardboiled eggs and biscuits at the dining hall. But we’re talking about something I had to do twice a year at the most. Apart from having to catch a few morning flights or boats, I’ve hardly been up before 6 a.m. in the last 15 years. I like the idea of early mornings, and they can be very special when I’m forced into them, but it doesn’t seem to be my natural pattern (one’s “chronotype” – for more on this see Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker).
Most of the early risers Jenkins profiles go to sleep by 10 p.m. so they can still get nearly seven or eight hours of sleep. He encourages readers to get up early one day a month, and then increase that to once a week; if possible, one should try not to fill the extra hours with Internet nonsense but instead devote it to the things you say you don’t have time for: outdoor activity, exercise, hobbies, and reading and/or writing.
It certainly is an appealing thought that there could be whole hours just to oneself before the working day needs to start. I have fond memories of registration day at college, the only time when I would wake up at 5 a.m. and cross the quad in the dark to line up outside the registrar’s office to hand in my course selections for the next semester and cross my fingers that I’d get my first choices. (Yes, even in 2001–5 this was still done on paper!) It felt like a privilege to experience the campus at a novel time of day. Afterwards I could watch the sun rise and then reward myself with a filling breakfast of hardboiled eggs and biscuits at the dining hall. But we’re talking about something I had to do twice a year at the most. Apart from having to catch a few morning flights or boats, I’ve hardly been up before 6 a.m. in the last 15 years. I like the idea of early mornings, and they can be very special when I’m forced into them, but it doesn’t seem to be my natural pattern (one’s “chronotype” – for more on this see Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker).
Most of the early risers Jenkins profiles go to sleep by 10 p.m. so they can still get nearly seven or eight hours of sleep. He encourages readers to get up early one day a month, and then increase that to once a week; if possible, one should try not to fill the extra hours with Internet nonsense but instead devote it to the things you say you don’t have time for: outdoor activity, exercise, hobbies, and reading and/or writing.
December 4, 2018
Most mornings follow the same pattern; I wake at the angry insistence of the alarm, then ablutions, head downstairs, empty the dishwasher, make lunches and take a coffee up at 7 am to wake my wife. Then it is the fun job of waking the dead, or teenagers as they are otherwise known… That said, there is something about waking early on a bright clear day at the weekend, before anyone else in the household has woken, getting a coffee and sitting outside with a book. It is a rare treat.
This is Allan Jenkins perspective too. He is in bed early to enable him to rise very early in the morning, sometimes as early as 4 am. In this magical time as night shifts today, he uses it to walk, read, garden on his allotment or just to enjoy the moment. He talks to others who love this time of the morning, asking the same set of questions and eliciting very different responses for each participant. I liked the diary format, the chart of sun rises over the course of a year and the exploration of various subjects concerned with mornings and just thought that this was a really well-written celebration of mornings and dawn.
This is Allan Jenkins perspective too. He is in bed early to enable him to rise very early in the morning, sometimes as early as 4 am. In this magical time as night shifts today, he uses it to walk, read, garden on his allotment or just to enjoy the moment. He talks to others who love this time of the morning, asking the same set of questions and eliciting very different responses for each participant. I liked the diary format, the chart of sun rises over the course of a year and the exploration of various subjects concerned with mornings and just thought that this was a really well-written celebration of mornings and dawn.
May 25, 2018
The most middle class book I have ever read.
April 22, 2019
Torn as to whether I like or dislike this book. My general feeling is warm, and I am inspired to try out a very early morning one day soon. But I was also quite bored of a whole year's worth of mostly samey diary entries, and irritated by poor editing in the interviews ("What do you like best about being awake early? - I've already answered this, I think.")
April 4, 2021
Overview: Allan Jenkins talks through the energy and awareness which the early hours bring him, giving a diary account of his 4am/ 5am starts and by interviewing other early risers, including Jamie Oliver.
Likes: Inspiring, uplifting, light and easy reading, realistic as Jenkins encourages early rising as and when makes sense, rather than pushing yourself to do it every day. I always love books about the topic of early mornings and morning routines. Also, what a beautiful book cover! Overall, Morning is a beautifully quiet little book. It doesn’t preach, it doesn’t judge – it just makes you feel like getting out of bed.
Dislikes: I would have liked more detail around the science of early rising, it is very light and doesn’t get into much detail. Also would have liked more juice in the interviews with other early risers.
Recommend For: This book won't be for everyone. The diary entries are very simplistic about the authors own observations. It is lightly uplifting, however, for someone looking for morning routine inspiration. Other books on this topic which I have enjoyed are The 5AM Club by Robin Sharma and The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod.
Format: Audio via BorrowBox (3hrs 32mins)
Favorite Quote: “There is an energy in the earlier hours, an awareness I enjoy. In today's world we tend to wake as late as we can, timed to when we have to work. But we don't need to chase the day.”
The 20 Rules of Early Rising:
1. Try not to turn on bright light, you may not need it, try to wean yourself away
2. Try to steer clear of email and social media
3. Try to listen
4. Try to see
5. Try to get outside
6. Try to be aware of your breathing
7. Try to lose track of time
8. Try not to do the same stuff that you already do during the day
9. Try to be creative
10. Try to read (perhaps a poem)
11. Try to write (perhaps a diary)
12. Try to draw
13. Try perhaps to paint
14. Try to grow flowers and/or food
15. Try to cook
16. Try to walk, do yoga or other exercise
17. Try to do the things you’ve always wanted but don’t have time to do
18. Try to protect the opportunity
19. Try not to worry at all if it doesn’t work out, there’s always another time
20. Try to remember there are no rules if no one else is around
Likes: Inspiring, uplifting, light and easy reading, realistic as Jenkins encourages early rising as and when makes sense, rather than pushing yourself to do it every day. I always love books about the topic of early mornings and morning routines. Also, what a beautiful book cover! Overall, Morning is a beautifully quiet little book. It doesn’t preach, it doesn’t judge – it just makes you feel like getting out of bed.
Dislikes: I would have liked more detail around the science of early rising, it is very light and doesn’t get into much detail. Also would have liked more juice in the interviews with other early risers.
Recommend For: This book won't be for everyone. The diary entries are very simplistic about the authors own observations. It is lightly uplifting, however, for someone looking for morning routine inspiration. Other books on this topic which I have enjoyed are The 5AM Club by Robin Sharma and The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod.
Format: Audio via BorrowBox (3hrs 32mins)
Favorite Quote: “There is an energy in the earlier hours, an awareness I enjoy. In today's world we tend to wake as late as we can, timed to when we have to work. But we don't need to chase the day.”
The 20 Rules of Early Rising:
1. Try not to turn on bright light, you may not need it, try to wean yourself away
2. Try to steer clear of email and social media
3. Try to listen
4. Try to see
5. Try to get outside
6. Try to be aware of your breathing
7. Try to lose track of time
8. Try not to do the same stuff that you already do during the day
9. Try to be creative
10. Try to read (perhaps a poem)
11. Try to write (perhaps a diary)
12. Try to draw
13. Try perhaps to paint
14. Try to grow flowers and/or food
15. Try to cook
16. Try to walk, do yoga or other exercise
17. Try to do the things you’ve always wanted but don’t have time to do
18. Try to protect the opportunity
19. Try not to worry at all if it doesn’t work out, there’s always another time
20. Try to remember there are no rules if no one else is around
May 25, 2018
This book was a disappointment, but surprisingly very fabulously delicious one. So why I say disappointment? Cause I was picking it up, for some unknown reason, as a self-help book, a manual for those who have problems with getting up early, a guide to what to do and how to do it. I'm not sure why I thought that, there's nothing that would suggest it in the blurb, maybe I was tired and sleepy. :D
Even though this book isn't a manual, it can actually help you, motivate you to try your best to get up early, how? Well, you'll find in it author's journal entries introducing you to his many mornings, as well as short interviews with various people (some famous, some not so much) about their mornings and their thoughts about morning time. Interviews are a cool addition, it's really interesting to hear about various reasons and various routines, but author's entries are what makes this books so enticing. They are full of thoughts, emotions, poetic scenes, that make morning so alluring, you want to just jump to bed at 9 p.m. to be able to get up at 4 or 5 a.m. to be fully enwrapped in the morning magic.
Even though this book isn't a manual, it can actually help you, motivate you to try your best to get up early, how? Well, you'll find in it author's journal entries introducing you to his many mornings, as well as short interviews with various people (some famous, some not so much) about their mornings and their thoughts about morning time. Interviews are a cool addition, it's really interesting to hear about various reasons and various routines, but author's entries are what makes this books so enticing. They are full of thoughts, emotions, poetic scenes, that make morning so alluring, you want to just jump to bed at 9 p.m. to be able to get up at 4 or 5 a.m. to be fully enwrapped in the morning magic.
April 13, 2018
I loved this wee book. It's like a meditation on the joys of getting up early in the Morning; a manifesto for Morning. Part diarist excerpts, part interviews with early risers, I found myself inspired to celebrate the 'Lark' in me again! I could relate to interviewees who spoke of the 'delicious melancholy' of being the only own awake and the sense of 'stealing time'. Enjoyed too the references to nature -especially birds & birdsong- foxes too and allotments. I wanted to write so much of it down as a plethora of nice phrases e.g. 'monastic solipsism', 'a little island that is neither night nor day', a productive & creative time of day (for some!) when you may be 'closer to dream-state' with 'space that is not filled with must-dos', 'setting your day like the rudder of a boat'. Of course one of the down sides can be the 'slouching dip' in the afternoon or aching for early bed in evening! I'd highly recommend to those who love to get up early.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 29, 2020
This book is an absolute joy! I didn’t expect the turn of phrase, or the beautiful descriptions of simple things. It’s inspired me to get up earlier and reading about why others do this is interesting. This book makes you feel like you’re missing a gift, the gift of quiet time.
It’s not for everyone, but I loved this book. I’ve never read anything like it, a beautiful book.
It’s not for everyone, but I loved this book. I’ve never read anything like it, a beautiful book.
May 15, 2021
Jeg er gået lidt til og fra ‘Morning’. Glemt, jeg var i gang med den, haft den i baghovedet og vendt tilbage til den. Bogen består af Jenkins’ dagbogsnotater og små interview med folk, der står tidligt op. Refleksioner over, hvilken frihedsfølelse, der kan ligge i timerne før andre mennesker er vågne og betydningen af lys. Bogen handler ikke om at få mere tid til pligt, men om at få mere tid til tanker og følelser.
På nogle måder er den utroligt banal, særligt dagbogsnotaterne, men alligevel har den siddet i kroppen, siden jeg begyndte at læse den sidste sommer. Hvis du holder af morgener, så kan den anbefales.
På nogle måder er den utroligt banal, særligt dagbogsnotaterne, men alligevel har den siddet i kroppen, siden jeg begyndte at læse den sidste sommer. Hvis du holder af morgener, så kan den anbefales.
April 29, 2019
Feeling Inspired
July 11, 2018
I've recently read quite a few books about appreciation of place (Robert Macfarlane, Nan Shepard, Annie Dillard), but this is the first book I've read about appreciation of a place in time. Allan Jenkins' collection of journal excerpts guide us through early morning through seasons in different locations. Interspersed are interviews with early risers from all walks of life who explain their love of early morning hours. I've become an early riser in recent years and the book resonates. One of my favourites this year.
January 6, 2021
This is a book for speed readers - I found myself slowing down to appreciate the beautiful words, an imagining myself in his position as he traces the tiny details of his mornings. Many a times we rush through our readings, in the excitement to uncover the next chapter. There's something beautiful about the quiet, extra time to yourself & your Creator in the morning. Perhaps it was easy to captivate me because i too love mornings and didn't need any convincing to begin with, but it did encourage me to appreciate the quiet time more, before the hustle and bustle of life begins.
January 1, 2021
I loved all of the interviews with their diverse lifestyles and motivations. And Jenkins' own dawn diary entries all appear very natural and not something strict and regimented such as these certain other morning books.
December 13, 2018
I didn't know what to expect when I picked up this book. I have a loving relationship with mornings; I sleep between 4 and 6 hours a night and when I hit the sack on time I wake up at 5-ish feeling energized. And like most people who were interviewed in this book, I always feel special around this time of day. Most people are still in their beds, dreaming while I'm working on my dreams. I hear the early birds, feel the morning dew and, depending on the time of year, I can see a beautiful sunrise while I do some writing or reading. It's like a bonus-time.
So the title, 'Mornings' caught my eye and I just had to read the book. It didn't disappoint at all. I enjoyed the interviews and his journals.
The book reads like a poem or a very peaceful meditation - calming and warm.
I just found the audio version, and so far it sounds very good.
So the title, 'Mornings' caught my eye and I just had to read the book. It didn't disappoint at all. I enjoyed the interviews and his journals.
The book reads like a poem or a very peaceful meditation - calming and warm.
I just found the audio version, and so far it sounds very good.
January 9, 2020
The morning is a special time (although fluid, what's morning for Allan may be the middle of the night for many) and he relates this in a way I find very appealing. I don't enjoy flowery. bloated, descriptions which I feel are written more to massage egos (of writer and reader) than to paint a picture (though this may be down to my intellect, or simply lack of patience). I bought this because I am a Lark, rising as early as Allan, and wanted to discover another's opinion of the world at these times. It did not dissapoint and finally prompted me to buy Plot 29 (which I can also recommend). Both books have left a mark on me as few others have (Roger Deakins books have also made a huge impression). Anyway, I can't recommend it enough.
June 30, 2023
An unique book about waking up early
I have always been curious of what it is like to wake up before dawn. All the other books that talk about waking up early focuses mostly on finding success and time management but they hardly ever describe the beauty of waking up early. That’s exactly what this book did. The book highlighted the beauty of waking up early(watching the sun rise, feeling good about waking up before others, finding time to relax and have a fresh start). The featured guests were a very interesting addition as well.
I have always been curious of what it is like to wake up before dawn. All the other books that talk about waking up early focuses mostly on finding success and time management but they hardly ever describe the beauty of waking up early. That’s exactly what this book did. The book highlighted the beauty of waking up early(watching the sun rise, feeling good about waking up before others, finding time to relax and have a fresh start). The featured guests were a very interesting addition as well.
January 31, 2021
The layout of this book is not what I was expecting, between interviews of fellow early risers are dated entries of Jenkin’s routine and thoughts in the early morning. I understand his point, there is something lovely and peaceful about being up early when you can savour the morning and don’t have to dash off to work or other commitments, having said that it feels like this message was hugely padded out in order to make it into a book.
July 1, 2018
Turns out I'm a bit of an Allan Jenkins fan. Loved Plot 29, and loved Morning. Although I've yet to do get up early since I read the book, I've been inspired by his descriptions of the early morning, and been reassured that getting up early doesn't necessarily mean not hopping back into bed for an extra kip.
December 29, 2020
I usually get up early for work but would sleep late if you let me. This book has a gentle rhythm to it and ebbs and flows through the course of a year's short diary entries. Although I'm not very good at getting up super early, it did make me appreciate my 6am cup of tea in the garden, barefoot and listening to the birds.
December 23, 2019
Beautiful prose. A book which takes you by the hand and encourages you to look, hear, smell and to look inwards even as you look at the horizon, waiting for the sun to rise. I am an early riser and this book has helped me appreciate what a gift this habit is. It’s helped me notice and encouraged me to write again after a long absence. One of my favourites of 2019.
April 22, 2019
A very beautiful and inspiring book. I have always loved waking up early, but I have always loved sleep too. After having read this book, I feel more inspired and inclined to get up from bed, when I first open my eyes in the morning.
April 26, 2020
Gentle and inspiring look at the benefits of getting up a bit earlier. Interviews with various 'larks' and delicious, descriptive snippets of Allan's mornings over a year, observations and intimations.
Very easy to dip in and out of and quite nourishing.
Very easy to dip in and out of and quite nourishing.
May 8, 2018
Lovely book
April 30, 2019
Wow.....really inspiring!
July 16, 2019
Perfect. Inspired to try and see dawn more and more over the next few months 💛💛
September 17, 2019
I read morning again a year after the first time, still magic and athmospheric, will probably read it again.
December 21, 2022
The subtitle of this book is "how to make time." That would, I presume, suggest that this is a how-to book. A book informing readers how they can create more space by waking up early.
It is, on the contrary, a series of poetic musings on morning, interspersed with a few similarly poetic interviews with other early risers. It's all staccato sentences and pithy descriptions of nature, with constant birds chirping. If you enjoy nature writing and literary descriptions, this is a lovely, contemplative book. If, however, you were looking for any sort of "how to," it's utterly useless.
One of the most frustrating elements of the book was the central contradiction that Jenkins never acknowledges. He says, multiple times, that he embarked on this journey as a way of finding out why he is "a lark," which he defines as a person who naturally wakes early (and Jenkins wakes VERY early indeed, often around 3am, which, to me, seems less like getting up in the morning and more like insomnia). However, after calling himself "a lark," he then writes a poetic conclusion in which he tells the reader to try getting up early because, "if I can do it, anyone can." So, is Jenkins naturally inclined to getting up early, or is he not? This point seems to be relatively important for a book encouraging its readers to be like its author, but it's never made clear.
Similarly, the whole idea of "making time" in the morning is just wishful thinking. The people in Jenkins' book aren't making time, they're just shuffling it around. If you go to bed at 10 and wake up at 5, that's the same as going to bed at midnight and waking at 7. You just get to feel smug about it, apparently. (There's a lot of smugness in this book, with early risers feeling superior to those still sleeping, which gets a little annoying at times). Alternatively, it seems like many of the people in this book simply don't sleep enough. Many of the interviewees get fewer than six hours of sleep a night, so by encouraging readers to wake up similarly early Jenkins just seems to be promoting sleep deprivation. As someone who goes to bed at ten every night in order to get the full eight hours I really need, being told to wake up earlier is a unhealthy suggestion.
In short, as a series of musings on early mornings, this is a beautifully-written book. As any sort of how-to guide, with direct suggestions for the reader, however, it's poorly-argued and under-researched. I feel a little bad critiquing it so harshly when it's clearly not a book meant to be engaged with on an intellectual level, but when a book calls itself "how to" and explicitly urges its readers to change their lifestyle, it really needs to be more than poetry.
It is, on the contrary, a series of poetic musings on morning, interspersed with a few similarly poetic interviews with other early risers. It's all staccato sentences and pithy descriptions of nature, with constant birds chirping. If you enjoy nature writing and literary descriptions, this is a lovely, contemplative book. If, however, you were looking for any sort of "how to," it's utterly useless.
One of the most frustrating elements of the book was the central contradiction that Jenkins never acknowledges. He says, multiple times, that he embarked on this journey as a way of finding out why he is "a lark," which he defines as a person who naturally wakes early (and Jenkins wakes VERY early indeed, often around 3am, which, to me, seems less like getting up in the morning and more like insomnia). However, after calling himself "a lark," he then writes a poetic conclusion in which he tells the reader to try getting up early because, "if I can do it, anyone can." So, is Jenkins naturally inclined to getting up early, or is he not? This point seems to be relatively important for a book encouraging its readers to be like its author, but it's never made clear.
Similarly, the whole idea of "making time" in the morning is just wishful thinking. The people in Jenkins' book aren't making time, they're just shuffling it around. If you go to bed at 10 and wake up at 5, that's the same as going to bed at midnight and waking at 7. You just get to feel smug about it, apparently. (There's a lot of smugness in this book, with early risers feeling superior to those still sleeping, which gets a little annoying at times). Alternatively, it seems like many of the people in this book simply don't sleep enough. Many of the interviewees get fewer than six hours of sleep a night, so by encouraging readers to wake up similarly early Jenkins just seems to be promoting sleep deprivation. As someone who goes to bed at ten every night in order to get the full eight hours I really need, being told to wake up earlier is a unhealthy suggestion.
In short, as a series of musings on early mornings, this is a beautifully-written book. As any sort of how-to guide, with direct suggestions for the reader, however, it's poorly-argued and under-researched. I feel a little bad critiquing it so harshly when it's clearly not a book meant to be engaged with on an intellectual level, but when a book calls itself "how to" and explicitly urges its readers to change their lifestyle, it really needs to be more than poetry.
May 10, 2020
This was a rec in Time Management for Writers (The Productive Writer Book 1) by Katie Forrest. I tried my library app and they had it - in pdf. [I am never going to work out my local library purchase strategy, but I always check things before buying them myself or adding them to a wish list. Saved me sooo much money…]
It really is a selection of his journal entries of the morning and some interviews with other morning people.
Full confession: I am not a morning person. I get the attraction of having done your One Thing first, eaten the big frog first and so on. I have read all the self help books on this… but *squirms* I love having the house to myself, but honestly one of my housemates is just going to bed when I get up now. Any earlier and I’d get NO time to myself.
I laughed at another GR review that called it very middle class - I guess it is, but it’s also very English - the birds, the tea, the bus trips to weed the allotment garden, the short trips over to Denmark…
I’m not sure that it has transformed me into an early riser, though.
3 stars
It really is a selection of his journal entries of the morning and some interviews with other morning people.
Full confession: I am not a morning person. I get the attraction of having done your One Thing first, eaten the big frog first and so on. I have read all the self help books on this… but *squirms* I love having the house to myself, but honestly one of my housemates is just going to bed when I get up now. Any earlier and I’d get NO time to myself.
I laughed at another GR review that called it very middle class - I guess it is, but it’s also very English - the birds, the tea, the bus trips to weed the allotment garden, the short trips over to Denmark…
I’m not sure that it has transformed me into an early riser, though.
3 stars
July 26, 2021
A beautiful manifesto to rising early, experiencing the magic offered by the quiet dawn hours and those around it.
As someone who often dreams about regular early rising but rarely finds the will to make those dreams reality, it is a wonderful sharing of a habit, secret ways I may never get to experience - being far too fond of the hours that lie beyond the moments of early waking, when you return to sleep and it's dream-filled adventures.
Allan writes concisely and poetically easily transporting the reader into the early-morning mindset, all the joys and benefits that can ensue for those with the ability to follow the calling. It is written along the time-line of a year including time spent in Scandinavian countries where the days go on all day and long into the night-time hours too.
He spends time with other morning folk such as mosque worshippers, bird watchers, writers and so on and intersperses his own experiences with interviews detailing what early morning means to others too.
It's a charming, inspiring book, one I'm sure I'll dip into again in the future.
As someone who often dreams about regular early rising but rarely finds the will to make those dreams reality, it is a wonderful sharing of a habit, secret ways I may never get to experience - being far too fond of the hours that lie beyond the moments of early waking, when you return to sleep and it's dream-filled adventures.
Allan writes concisely and poetically easily transporting the reader into the early-morning mindset, all the joys and benefits that can ensue for those with the ability to follow the calling. It is written along the time-line of a year including time spent in Scandinavian countries where the days go on all day and long into the night-time hours too.
He spends time with other morning folk such as mosque worshippers, bird watchers, writers and so on and intersperses his own experiences with interviews detailing what early morning means to others too.
It's a charming, inspiring book, one I'm sure I'll dip into again in the future.
November 1, 2025
An interesting mix of interviews, journal entries and to break even that up, sunrise charts. The journal entries read very poetically and quite beautifully, although I struggled to relate my own morning experiences to them. I was also a bit confused at first as I thought that they were the journal entries of each interviewee which preceded them but it seemed to be the author’s experiences (I do think the former option might have been a bit more interesting!).
The interviews were a great way to get a look at the mornings of other people, but there was a great focus on creatives - I did wish there was perhaps a greater diversity just to cover the variety of different morning routines. After a few interviews and journal entries, it all kind of read much the same. Nonetheless, I was inspired by the notion of taking charge of your mornings to set aside time for yourself, so that’s an objective well achieved.
The interviews were a great way to get a look at the mornings of other people, but there was a great focus on creatives - I did wish there was perhaps a greater diversity just to cover the variety of different morning routines. After a few interviews and journal entries, it all kind of read much the same. Nonetheless, I was inspired by the notion of taking charge of your mornings to set aside time for yourself, so that’s an objective well achieved.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 55 reviews