The antidote : happiness for people who can't stand positive thinking
Burkeman, Oliver2012
Book
Countering the conventional self-help focus on relentless cheerfulness, Oliver Burkeman introduces us to a diverse range of people who share one big, surprising insight into happiness - that trying hard to be positive is the problem, not the solution. Whether experimental psychologists or terrorism experts, Buddhists, anthropologists or hard-headed business consultants, they all recommend an alternative, 'negative path' to happiness and success that involves embracing failure, pessimism, insecurity and uncertainty - the very things we spend our lives trying to avoid...As he travels from Day of the Dead celebrations in Mexico to a slum outside of Nairobi and to a meditation retreat deep in the Massachusetts woods, Oliver Burkeman introduces us to an unusual group of people who share a single, surprising way of thinking about life. Perhaps trying too hard to be happy is what is making us miserable. Instead, he embraces uncertainty, insecurity, pessimism, and failure; and celebrates the power of negative thinking.An exploration of a radically new path to happiness. In an approach that turns decades of self-help advice on its head, Oliver Burkeman explains why positive thinking serves only to make us more miserable, and why 'getting motivated' can exacerbate procrastination. Comparing the personal philosophies of dozens of 'happy' people, among them philosophers and experimental psychologists, Buddhists and terrorism experts, New Age dreamers and hard-headed business consultants, Burkeman uncovers some common ground. They all believe that there is an alternative 'negative path' to happiness and success that involves coming face-to-face with, even embracing, precisely the things we spend our lives trying to avoid. Burkeman concedes that in our personal lives and the world at large, it's our constant efforts to eliminate the negative, uncertainty, unhappiness, failure, that cause us to feel so anxious, insecure and unhappy. Hilarious and compulsively readable, The Antidote will have you on the road to happiness in no time.The antidote is a gem. Countering a self-help tradition in which "positive thinking" too often takes place of actual thinking, Oliver Burkeman returns our attention to several of philosophy's deeper traditions and does so with a light hand and a wry sense of humour -- Daniel H. Pink.
Main title:
The antidote : happiness for people who can't stand positive thinking / Oliver Burkeman.
Author:
Edition:
1st American ed.
Imprint:
New York : Faber and Faber, c2012.
Collation:
236 p. ; 22 cm.
Notes:
Includes bibliographical references (p. [215]-225) and index.Includes bibliographical references and index.Includes bibliographic references (p. [215]-225) and index.Also available online.
Shelving notes:
23846 0000015191 1 24-06-2012 99 nyctro 04-07-2012 7
Contents:
Machine generated contents note: 1.On Trying Too Hard to Be Happy -- 2.What Would Seneca Do? The Stoic Art of Confronting the Worst-Case Scenario -- 3.The Storm Before the Calm: A Buddhist Guide to Not Thinking Positively -- 4.Goal Crazy. When Trying to Control the Future Doesn't Work -- 5.Who's There? How to Get Over Your Self -- 6.The Safety Catch: The Hidden Benefits of Insecurity -- 7.The Museum of Failure: The Case for Embracing Your Errors -- 8.Memento Mori: Death as a Way of Life.1.On Trying Too Hard to Be Happy -- 2.What Would Seneca Do? The Stoic Art of Confronting the Worst-Case Scenario -- 3.The Storm Before the Calm: A Buddhist Guide to Not Thinking Positively -- 4.Goal Crazy: When Trying to Control the Future Doesn't Work -- 5.Who's There? How to Get Over Your Self -- 6.The Safety Catch: The Hidden Benefits of Insecurity -- 7.The Museum of Failure: The Case for Embracing Your Errors -- 8.Memento Mori: Death as a Way of Life.
ISBN:
978184767866997819219226719781922147653 (paperback)9781921921483 (ebook)9780865479418 (hbk alk paper)
Dewey class:
158158.1152.42
LC class:
BF575.H27
Language:
English
Subject:
BRN:
70398
| Location | Collection | Call number | Status/Desc |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kathleen Syme Carlton | -Health | HEALTH 158.1 BURK | Available |
| Library at the Dock | -Health | HEALTH 158.1 BURK | Available |
| Southbank Library | -Health | HEALTH 158.1 BURK | Available |