The Antidote

Happiness for People Who Can't Stand Positive Thinking

By: Oliver Burkeman

Narrated by: Oliver Burkeman

Length: 6 hrs and 13 mins

Publisher's summary

The Antidote is a series of journeys among people who share a single, surprising way of thinking about life. What they have in common is a hunch about human psychology: that it’s our constant effort to eliminate the negative that causes us to feel so anxious, insecure, and unhappy. And that there is an alternative "negative path" to happiness and success that involves embracing the things we spend our lives trying to avoid. It is a subversive, galvanizing message, which turns out to have a long and distinguished philosophical lineage ranging from ancient Roman Stoic philosophers to Buddhists. Oliver Burkeman talks to life coaches paid to make their clients’ lives a living hell, and to maverick security experts such as Bruce Schneier, who contends that the changes we’ve made to airport and aircraft security since the 9/11 attacks have actually made us less safe. And then there are the "backwards" business gurus, who suggest not having any goals at all and not planning for a company’s future.

Burkeman’s new audiobook is a witty, fascinating, and counterintuitive listen that turns decades of self-help advice on its head and forces us to rethink completely our attitudes toward failure, uncertainty, and death.

©2012 Oliver Burkeman (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

One of the best books I've ever read

If you only read one book this year, or this decade, read this one. It unlocks all of the underlying logic behind many of the social science presented on npr. I found it to be life changing and I only started reading it 3 days ago.

Changed my perception about day to day situations

Excellent narration and very helpful topic with several takeaways. I found myself examining situations I've encountered recently and a long time ago and this book has helped me realize that handling stress in a different way would have made a lot more sense and I would have been better off had I done so.

an introduction to a perfectly backwards worldview

With biting critiques of the modern cult of optimistic thinking and a distinctly and proudly British presentation, Burkeman offers, in a charmingly cynical fashion, an alternate route to a content life.

Excellent!

The research behind this book flowed effortlessly. It helped me make sense of things I had known, but may have not been able to fully verbalized. Very grateful for it!

Refreshing look at the power of negativity!

Wow! The explanations of stoicism, Buddhism, and embracing of death are eye-opening in light of our ever positively pushing contemporary society. Excellent listening! Highly recommended for any stage of life.

Interesting, thought provoking, entertaining, and useful.

I would recommend this book to anyone interested in new perspectives. New ways to regard the ordinary and the profound. I would especially recommend this book to people who want to be happy but are disillusioned by claims perfect positivity.

Thought invoking.

I found think view on positive a negative thoughts refreshing in a sea of positive goal oriented self torture. Off to learn more about stoicism. -John

Excellent narration. Interesting point of view.

The book offer some different views and is well narrated. The ending was a bit of a let down with no clear actionable take aways.

Good read

The Book was so good I listened twice. I highly recommended this for young adults

No advice here

Everyone wants a simple answer, especially to unanswerable questions. This book addresses the limitations of the" positive" (ie. logical,intellectual,step-wise,optimistic) perspective on life and spins the problems and us around to view adversity from multiple different viewpoints. This buffet of ideas offers you the flexibility to address your challenges creatively and with a individualized approach. Your dance in life can shift with the music.