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A review by micardican
Emotional: How Feelings Shape Our Thinking by Leonard Mlodinow
2.0
Heavy on the anecdotes. Light on the helpful advice.
It provided a good summary of how our limbic and executive functions work together to give rise to emotions and how we experience and make sense of them. I found the part on epigenetics most interesting regarding DNA and activation and how we still have the ability to overcome it when it comes to improving our emotional profile. I was hoping the chapter on Managing Emotions would have been more developed with some helpful steps or actionable advice to incorporate into daily life. It just gives a quick summary of why the methods of Acceptance, Reappraisal, and Expression are effective, which I guess is nice to know. I couldn't help but wonder with the Expression method if there is a tipping point between venting and ruminating/dwelling, where expressing the emotion for too long or too often actually results in magnifying and extending a negative emotion. The book didn't delve into that, however.
Overall, a quick read with high level introduction to the physiology of emotions but not enough meat to give any aha moments or actionable tips for what to do next after learning all of this.
It provided a good summary of how our limbic and executive functions work together to give rise to emotions and how we experience and make sense of them. I found the part on epigenetics most interesting regarding DNA and activation and how we still have the ability to overcome it when it comes to improving our emotional profile. I was hoping the chapter on Managing Emotions would have been more developed with some helpful steps or actionable advice to incorporate into daily life. It just gives a quick summary of why the methods of Acceptance, Reappraisal, and Expression are effective, which I guess is nice to know. I couldn't help but wonder with the Expression method if there is a tipping point between venting and ruminating/dwelling, where expressing the emotion for too long or too often actually results in magnifying and extending a negative emotion. The book didn't delve into that, however.
Overall, a quick read with high level introduction to the physiology of emotions but not enough meat to give any aha moments or actionable tips for what to do next after learning all of this.