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.

Best Self Book On The Market

I listen to multiple books a week. Most are non fiction, of the success, self help, business, life hacking, variety. While most are well structured and present great arguments, few are original or efficacious. This book is the only book that I've immediately listened to a second time because of the insights and positive changes it engendered.

Great insights

there were some amazing insights in this book. I found it fascinating and enjoyed the read very much. the narration is awesome. I find it a bit difficult to apply the philosophes discussed in a practical way but that is just me. My only complaint was occasional politically tinged statements and a lack of practical application for myself. the book red I've been extremely well with me mini philosophy course. I really enjoyed it

I don't buy it. but...

It helps to read & think about opposing viewpoints. I don't buy it. The logic seems flawed but I recognize that my biases are in play. Maybe for some this works. To me much of it feels like running away

Nice change of pace

Tired of all the "get happy" books out there? Then try this. I enjoyed listening to Oliver Burkeman's narration and appreciated his dry sense of humor and his sincerity. His main point is that trying too hard to be happy can actually result in being less happy. It's truly a novel idea that you don't have to love what you are doing at all times every day, or that you can make the pain, sadness and disappointments in your life just magically disappear by following one method or another. Or that it is necessarily good to always look on the bright side. Burkeman's isn't telling us that we all have to go around being grumps, but when things go wrong or we get too attached to the right way for things to be, we are running away from thoughts and emotions that if we felt them and didn't resist them, would help us grow and maybe reset our whole idea of what "happiness" is.

A genuinely different approach

I would (and already have) strongly recommend this book to anyone who is skeptical or down-right sickened by your typical "motivational" or "positive thinking" speech.

I am extremely hard-pressed to be impressed by any book or philosophy, and very naturally cynical & skeptical. If you don't like having to bury your personality and mask it with "positive thoughts & affirmations" or FORCING yourself to "be optimistic";

This book will help you understand why those things don't work, that you need not feel guilty about your cynical/skeptical ("negative") way of thinking - and that in fact it can be largely beneficial that you have a knack for seeing things as they are! (and how to accept and embrace that school of thinking)

GREAT BOOK - VERY WORTHWHILE LISTEN/READ

Loved it!

This is a book that I will listen to over and over again!
Humorous and enlightening, especially as a person that finds it very hard to think positively on a daily basis. Thank you!

Interesting read

It was good, I can't stand fake positive thinking, but might be more in line with someone more pessimistic than me.

A nice compendium of concepts to help one reflect

As some who gave this book 1 or 2 stars have said, this does rehash concepts already touted by other self help books. But I like the journey this author took, without hubris, along these concepts. I listened to it during my daily commute, giving me a half hour or so to pause and ponder on these assorted varied ideas. If you are not into self help books, and want to know the meat of this book, just jump to the Epilogue where he nicely sums every thing up, then you can go back to chapters if you want more details.

buy this book!

loved this book! It was so refreshing to hear an opinion that wasn't sugarly upbeat. I learned more than I thought I would.

Bold

I enjoyed it very much, narrated by the author, which I surprisingly enjoyed, and it brought a level of authenticity , a great book for a practicing Stoic like me.