A review by missmansanas
The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can't Stand Positive Thinking by Oliver Burkeman

4.0

"For one thing, who says happiness is a valid goal in the first place? Religions have never placed much explicit emphasis on it, at least as far as this world is concerned; philosophers have certainly not been unanimous in endorsing it, either."

Originality: 5/5
Content: 4/5
Language, style and readability: 3/5
Impact: 4/5

Overall rating: 4/5

An anti-self-help book with immersive research into happiness from the perspective of diff philosophies. The thesis: it's the very frenzied pursuit of happiness that actually deters us from it, and there is an alternative, "negative path" that will lead us to true fulfillment.

Burkeman writes as an antagonist to what he calls "the cult of optimism," summed up in the opening chapter by an image of a large-scale, motivational seminar declaring that the key to success is to "Remove the word 'impossible' from your vocabulary."

A lot of optimism apologists will find themselves deeply uncomfortable with this book, so it's not for even the faintly closed-minded. Keep an open mind and heart, however, and you'll gather a lot of insight from The Antidote. The text takes apart "positive thinking" habits that are ingrained in us, even the most self-proclaimed negative thinkers. It takes down, for example, positive visualization, the law of attraction, focusing on the good, and even goal setting.

Even if it will likely be shelved with other self-help books, it's hard to classify it as one of them because it runs counter to every self-help book you've ever read about happiness. It's fun to see a book criticize its own genre, reaching a new level of insight and entertainment.

Burkeman mixes in anecdotes and study citations, but can't keep it consistent. I found myself wishing he'd break the research analysis a little more often with his own perspectives just to make it feel a lot less like reading a thesis paper. There are also sections I found myself passionately agreeing with and sections I found myself dismissing, "Eh. To each her own."

Each chapter is illuminating with a different school of thought to approach what the author calls "the negative path to happiness." And while they're all good, sometimes Burkeman forgets to return to the point of what this has to do with happiness and positive thinking. Some arguments also go so far as to be extremist and absolutist. My favorite portions were the philosophical aspects, and my least favorites were the more corporate-leaning perspectives.

One of the best parts of the book, now that I think about it, is his use of examples. Burkeman is good at noting down relatable and deeply human, everyday examples to illustrate his points.

I guess it makes sense that the chapters begin with philosophy and then dwell into scientific/corporate examples, but I found the transition somewhat anticlimactic. I quickly got bored sometime during or after the chapter on goal setting, which was pretty underdeveloped itself.

I first picked it up because I thought the subheading was funny and very "me," but it turned out to be seriously important and relevant. I tried in the past to hop on the positivity bandwagon, hoping it will relieve some of the depression in me, but it never really stuck. I'd kept the law of attraction, positive visualization and affirmations on my Future Things To Try list, but they remained there because I never felt any confidence that they might work. This book confirmed so, and also gave me some rationale as to why.

For sure, the book achieved its goal of dismantling the current takes on happiness, but how it did so gets a bit confusing. For starters, I think (and I'm going to have to re-read to confirm this) the book doesn't quite establish the parameters of happiness, sometimes alternating between individual happiness and the collective happiness of a group or society. It hints at fulfillment and tranquility but doesn't quite decide which one definition it's sticking with. I think this made it harder for me to take the later concepts and make them actionable.

I'd for sure still highly recommend this book to anyone in the realm of reading non-fiction and self-help books.