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3.99 AVERAGE
3.99 AVERAGE
One of my favorite books this year.
Derren discourses about how we experience life, death, and many things in between.
It’s a guide on how to make sense of our experiences, about ancient philosophy and psychology.
Derren discourses about how we experience life, death, and many things in between.
It’s a guide on how to make sense of our experiences, about ancient philosophy and psychology.
This was a great book to read. I’m interested in stoicism and Browns understanding of it makes it enjoyable to read. This isn’t a self help book. It actually discredits those and doesn’t have a secret formula by which to make yourself happy. I’m re-reading the book just to make sure I haven’t missed anything. 😀
Darren Brown is a British magician who pulls off some amazing social experiments. Here he relates some of his experiences from his broader productions into fraud, happiness, and the narratives we tell ourselves that are fictional bullshit. I liked the way he took an approach and framed things in terms of the stoic philosophy and the anecdotal stories he had that relayed his point. I found it hard to get through the book which I was surprised by because I've seen many of Brown's TV material and found it interesting and enjoyable. Brown highlights that despite the difficult challenges we can face in life, overall how we handle the stresses, the disappointments, the death of friends and family, and everything in between is based less on "luck" or money or success and more on our own approach and views on it. Happiness is there for all of us and despite everything terrible or everything awesome that can happen, we'll be fine and we can all be more or less happy.
An exploration that is endlessly useful, thought-provoking and supportive. From here I've been reading Marcus Aurelius and thinking about Stoicism, but the point is there is no one answer, the point is it's important to dig down towards what you really hold important, how we can alter unhelpful views on life, how we can create solace for ourselves in exactly the way it works for us.
An extremely thought provoking and useful book for those of us searching for a way to live a 'better life'. Mainly based on Stoic wisdom Derren Brown walks us through a history of happiness and presents the basic Stoic precepts in a way that make sense to a modern audience but lose none of their ancient wisdom and power. Definitely not a how-to book but a series of profound questions, queries and examples that help you use your own powers of reasoning to see things from a different and more helpful perspective. I didn't know much about the Stoics on starting this book but can see how their philosophies for living a better life are every bit as relevant now and perhaps even more necessary to find a way of living a good life in this crazy world. I found the chapters on death to be interesting, enlightening and strangely comforting and certainly changed my thoughts on the afterlife, undoubtedly for the better. All in all an excellent and worthwhile read that could serve as a springboard to other works and hopefully a 'better life'.
challenging
informative
slow-paced
This book does not feel very accessible which is a shame as I'm a big Derren Brown fan and interested in psychology. I had hoped to enjoy this book but it felt like a long drawn out chore. The book is very intellectual and either assumes or requires quite a good fundamental understanding of certain topics, namely philosophy and the beginnings of psychology. If you don't already have this fundamental understanding then you instead require the ability to retain lots of small pieces of historical information in a short period that are later replayed out over again in different chapters. As someone who struggles to retain lots of information in this way it lost me in lots of sections.
The book has a very male perspective, despite the authors clear attempts to make it my inclusive with the regular occurrence of 'she' pronouns when sharing examples. The nature of the history of philosophy and psychology is from a male viewpoint. There is very little reference to more modern-day experts and very little to no references to female experts.
The main interesting part for me is when we hear Debra's story as it was something more engagable. I also enjoyed some of Derren's own personal stories. The reference sections however were long and laborious.
One of these chapters totals 90 pages and the book is over 500 pages in length. It's not one you can dip in and out of.
The book has a very male perspective, despite the authors clear attempts to make it my inclusive with the regular occurrence of 'she' pronouns when sharing examples. The nature of the history of philosophy and psychology is from a male viewpoint. There is very little reference to more modern-day experts and very little to no references to female experts.
The main interesting part for me is when we hear Debra's story as it was something more engagable. I also enjoyed some of Derren's own personal stories. The reference sections however were long and laborious.
One of these chapters totals 90 pages and the book is over 500 pages in length. It's not one you can dip in and out of.
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
sad
medium-paced
Incredibly thought provoking and exceedingly interesting. You will learn so much reading this book and will also create moments whilst reading that will trigger a bit of self reflection.
One of the most influential books that I have ever read.
Update from my re-read of the book 3 years later: This book is even better than I remember!!
Update from my re-read of the book 3 years later: This book is even better than I remember!!
Books on being happy and happiness have become very popular. Perhaps, because more and more people feel pulled away from the possibility of it being an outcome. This was not one of the better ones for me. I didn't know the author and after reading his criticism of another work early on in this book, I paused to look him up. I admit I am not a fan when authors spend their words on criticism of others, concepts, or philosophies. This book is way too long and ponderous. Too much time spent on the history of philosophy and too many quotes. It needed to be tighter and more focused. It wanders around a lot and feels disjointed. I didn't experience any magic; only the illusion of it, but that's perhaps where the author's true expertise lies.
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced