The antidote : happiness for people who can't stand positive thinking / Oliver Burkeman.
Material type:
TextPublication details: New York : Faber and Faber, 2012.Edition: 1st American edDescription: 236 p. ; 22 cmISBN: - 0865479410 (hbk. : alk. paper)
- 9780865478015
- 9780865479418 (hbk. : alk. paper) :
| Item type | Home library | Collection | Call number | Materials specified | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item holds | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Adult Book
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Main Library | NonFiction | 158 B959 | Available | 33111007463355 |
Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:
Self-help books don't seem to work. Few of the many advantages of modern life seem capable of lifting our collective mood. Wealth--even if you can get it--doesn't necessarily lead to happiness. Romance, family life, and work often bring as much stress as joy. We can't even agree on what "happiness" means. So are we engaged in a futile pursuit? Or are we just going about it the wrong way?
Looking both east and west, in bulletins from the past and from far afield, Oliver Burkeman introduces us to an unusual group of people who share a single, surprising way of thinking about life. Whether experimental psychologists, terrorism experts, Buddhists, hardheaded business consultants, Greek philosophers, or modern-day gurus, they argue that in our personal lives, and in society at large, it's our constant effort to be happy that is making us miserable. And that there is an alternative path to happiness and success that involves embracing failure, pessimism, insecurity, and uncertainty--the very things we spend our lives trying to avoid. Thought-provoking, counterintuitive, and ultimately uplifting, The Antidote is the intelligent person's guide to understanding the much-misunderstood idea of happiness.
"Originally published in 2012 by Canongate Books, Great Britain"--T.p. verso.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
On trying too hard to be happy -- What would Seneca do? : the Stoic art of confronting the worst-case scenario -- The storm before the calm : a Buddhist guide to not thinking positively -- Goal crazy : when trying to control the future doesn't work -- Who's there : how to get over your self -- The safety catch : the hidden benefits of insecurity -- The Museum of Failure : the case for embracing your errors -- Memento mori : death as a way of life -- Negative capability.