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	Mohrbooks Literary Agency Sebastian Ritscher

DEDICATED

Pete Davis

The Case for Commitment in the Age of Infinite Browsing

A profoundly inspiring and transformative argument that purposeful commitment can be a powerful force in our age of restlessness and indecision.

Most of us have had this experience: browsing through countless options on Netflix, unable to commit to watching any given movie - and losing so much time skimming reviews and considering trailers that it's too late to watch anything at all. In a book borne of an idea first articulated in a viral commencement address, Pete Davis argues that this is the defining characteristic of the moment: keeping our options open. We are stuck in "Infinite Browsing Mode" - swiping through endless dating profiles without committing to a single partner, jumping from place to place searching for the next big thing, and refusing to make any decision that might close us off from an even better choice we imagine is just around the corner. This culture of restlessness and indecision, Davis argues, is causing tension in the lives of young people today: We want to keep our options open, and yet we yearn for the purpose, community, and depth that can only come from making deep commitments. In Dedicated, Davis examines this quagmire, as well as the counterculture of committers who have made it to the other side. He shares what we can learn from the "long-haul heroes" who courageously commit themselves to particular places, professions, and causes - who relinquish the false freedom of an open future in exchange for the deep fulfillment of true dedication. Weaving together examples from history, personal stories, and applied psychology, Davis's candid and humble words offer a meaningful answer to our modern frustrations and a practical path to joy. Pete Davis is a writer and civic reformer from Falls Church, Virginia. His Harvard commencement speech, delivered last May, "A Counterculture of Commitment," has over 27 million views. Pete's writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, Aeon, The Guardian, Fast Company and America Magazine. He hosted the Harvard Law Forum from 2016-2018 and is currently the co-host of the Current Affairs podcast. Pete has co-founded a variety of civic projects, including CommonPlace, a web platform for local community engagement; Strong Returns, a prison reform project; Getaway, the nation's first-ever venture-backed tiny house startup (and a featured startup on ABC's Shark Tank); and The Democratic Alternative, a policy network for insurgent Democrats.

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Book Published 2021-05-04 by Avid Reader / Simon & Schuster

Comments

In real life, it's not big, brave moments that we tend to be given, but a stream of little, ordinary ones out of which we must make our own meaning. As has been made so clear in this grueling past year, what most of us confront is simply normal morning after normal morning, where we can decide to start working on something, or keep working at something - or not. This reality calls for a different type of heroism: the long-haul heroism of day-in, day-out, year-in, year-out work. Read more...

This is the book we need right now, more than ever. There's no useful forward motion without enrollment, and that requires commitment. Pete Davis knows that it's up to each of us to choose to matter.

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Pete Davis's Dedicated is a magisterial book on the moral Counterculture of Commitment in our shallow culture of money and fear. His depth of wisdom and scope of knowledge are astonishing. And his powerful vision of decency and democracy are compelling.

his is a brilliant book about one of the defining predicaments of our time: the temptation to keep our options open. Pete Davis is the fresh voice of wisdom that our culture desperately needs - DEDICATED is required reading for the 21st century pursuit of happiness and success.

How to Stop Living in 'Infinite Browsing Mode' - interview with Pete Davis Read more...

In a society of endless possibilities, I've long felt there was something radical about commitment. Instead of letting that insight take the form of a passing thought, Pete Davis devoted himself to exploring the same intuition, and the result is a thoughtful, original, erudite, and inspiring manifesto. We can scroll through life and stay in the shallows, or limit our options and connect on a deeper more satisfying level. Devoting your attention to the wisdom in these pages is a good way to begin.

Pete Davis is one of America's most creative and inspiring young writers - sparkling with enthusiasm, yet profound beyond his years. In Dedicated, he challenges his peers to change America and themselves for the better by committing themselves to something greater than self. It's a sermon, all right, but it's far too lively to be just a sermon. And those of us a bit older could learn a thing or two by eavesdropping.

Well-versed in the current zeitgeist, Davis is insightful without being preachy, and his wise guide to commitment should be on everyone's reading list.

The most countercultural act you can do today may be committing to something for a long period of time, maybe forever. That's the word that married couples tend to balk on these days - not 'love,' 'honor,' or even 'obey,' but 'forever' or 'all my life.' In his provocative new book, Pete Davis shows us why commitment is so difficult for people today, but why it is also not only beneficial, but necessary, if we are ever to accomplish anything of value or live lives of depth.

If you have ever struggled to cross the Rubicon and commit to an endeavor that would foreclose other options, then this book is for you. Pete Davis provides a provocative countercultural thesis for our time, explaining why resolve and stamina are in such short supply and how we can, in an era of infinite browsing, learn to be dedicated.

Can life advice be called "self-help" if it might take decades to work, help others more than you, and/or make you intermittently miserable along the way? Davis argues that it can. We spoke recently about the shortcomings of traditional self-help advice, Davis' decision to move back to his hometown, and how totally annoying collaboration can be. Read more...

An earnest invitation to reassess personal priorities.

Good things, Davis realized, don't just appear from thin air. It takes serious commitment, time, and energy to, for example, report on every little league game in the weekly newspaper, or make sure the farmers' market runs smoothly. Davis terms these kinds of people - who commit to a particular cause and follow through - long-haul heroes.' What troubles Davis says is that we are in an age when people are constantly moving between places, jobs, and relationships. This is a state of what he calls 'infinite browsing mode.' Read more...