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A review by badmc
The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can't Stand Positive Thinking by Oliver Burkeman
The life coaches and guru-s seem to be popping left and right lately. The horror of positive thinking! The toxicity of "you are what you make of yourself" messages! So, this book seemed interesting.
My beef with this book is that Burkeman is not a professional therapist, or anything. He is a journalist. So, he wrote this book accordingly. He writes down excerpts of other doctrines juiced up with some of the real-life investigation of people who still live (or die) by them. If you look at it like that, then it's fine. But alas, this book's title is then not just misleading, but insulting. It's nice to have a summary of, let's say, stoicism. But it's still watered down and infused with Burkeman's interpretation of it. Somehow, I feel cheated. Frankly, if you want to read about Ellis's shame inducing experiments, you are better off reading his book upon the subject.
I feel like the title of the book should have "A journalist's introduction" somewhere. Then I would applaud it for what it is: a glimpse of doctrines that embrace uncertainty, recognize that emotions are not "bad" or "good" but just "are", and hold death as a natural part of life.
My beef with this book is that Burkeman is not a professional therapist, or anything. He is a journalist. So, he wrote this book accordingly. He writes down excerpts of other doctrines juiced up with some of the real-life investigation of people who still live (or die) by them. If you look at it like that, then it's fine. But alas, this book's title is then not just misleading, but insulting. It's nice to have a summary of, let's say, stoicism. But it's still watered down and infused with Burkeman's interpretation of it. Somehow, I feel cheated. Frankly, if you want to read about Ellis's shame inducing experiments, you are better off reading his book upon the subject.
I feel like the title of the book should have "A journalist's introduction" somewhere. Then I would applaud it for what it is: a glimpse of doctrines that embrace uncertainty, recognize that emotions are not "bad" or "good" but just "are", and hold death as a natural part of life.