This is the only book I ever remember my dad reading to my siblings and I; I’m not sure that we even finished. But it is an excellent book.

Momo is a young girl who comes to live in an old amphitheater. Everyone in the little village loves her, because she helps them solve their problems. Actually, what Momo does best is listen: she listens patiently, and she listens with interest. Two men who were once friends and have entered a long feud go to see Momo, and with her “help” manage to sort things out.

The main theme of the book, however, is time. The Men in Gray have begun appearing throughout the village and city, although few people notice them. They work for the TimeSavings Bank, where people can deposit the time they save – and, supposedly, withdraw it later. The result of the Men in Gray is that the citizens become obsessed with saving time, whether by converting an inn into a fast food restaurant or by creating “child depots” where children will be out of the way, learning “useful” skills.

Momo is definitely not as intricate a story as Neverending Story, but it is well-written and captivating. The message is clear and applicable. Rating: read it, but read Neverending Story first.

Although I have about 40 pages left to go, I’m really enjoying this book. The brief summary I read beforehand doesn’t really give an accurate idea of what the book is about – as I’ve moved from chapter to chapter, it’s easier to see that the author is explaining more about how the mind works than about happiness. I would say the basic premise of the book is that just as our minds fill in gaps in our past experience (memory) and in our visual experience (sight) with material from the surrounding present, our minds also use that material to build an idea of the future – specifically our future – and that’s why so often we expect to feel one way in a given circumstance and feel quite another way when we have actually experienced it. There are dozens of cited studies that help explain the ideas the author builds upon, and I think it is overall a very well-researched book. Gilbert puts forth some curious theories, but all of them have a lot of support. While I don’t plan on accepting everything he says as pure fact, the book has changed my way of thinking about thinking. At least for a while.

Rating: I’ll probably never read the whole thing through again, but it would be nice to own a copy for reference (and for having a larger library, of course).