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.

Transformative

This really helped me reframe my quest for happiness. With insights from several disciplines, and the distillation of these helpful, time-tested ideas, this book is a helpful guide to developing the capability to be negative, and positive for that matter, and a way to begin a more realistic quest toward meaningful, present centered living. A Small good thing that makes a big difference.

the power of negative thinking!

Great research and persuasive evidence/arguments. Loved hearing Burkeman narrate as well! This is indeed a nice remedy for all the treacle about positive thinking (and a good companion to Bootstrapped)

Down With UP

Positive thinking, goal setting, do/be/have anything circles the drain, gurgle, belch, as Burkeman reintroduces us to Stoicism, Zen and human mortality. This well written blend of philosophy, culture criticism, reporting and humor confronts the absurd idea that avoiding awful thinking insures health, wealth and happiness. This is my favorite nonfiction work for 2012.

Actually Life Changing

I have been a member since 2006, and have around 1800 audiobooks. I have written a mere handful of reviews, so this is a big deal when I say life changing. This book for me, altered the way I perceive life’s challenges. I have had a day and a half, and I get that isn’t much time to gauge change, however sometimes there is an unmistakable shift. I have shifted and maybe it is merely this book caught me at a good moment? Not sure, nor do I care the reason behind it, and that is also a big deal. I’m an information seeking junky, and in this case no information is needed. I just feel better. So can’t tell you if this will be the book for you, or if it will shift anything in you, but I can say it has valuable insights and questions that could?

I warmed up to this book...bonus as sleep med

I'm glad I waited a few days after finishing this book before writing a review. The more I reflected on this book, the more I liked it. Performance was great, the writing was great. The story also great, but a wee bit uneven. I confess I had to start it over and over and over again. Not because it was too much to digest in one sitting. More due to the fact it would put me to sleep almost immediately (an undocumented benefit). So in short I have heard this book several times. I guess I learned it's OK not to be positive all the time. You're setting yourself up for failure if you do. An enjoyable listen. Always fun when the author narrates.

Enlightening and Calming

I feel this overwhelming sense of calm as I finished this book. It’s definitely worth 2 listens.

The best way to be happy is not to try to be happy

"Are you happy?" is a question that kills any joy most of us have. In our hopeless and endless pursuit to find happiness, we miss out on the happiness and positivity we might otherwise enjoy.

More a philosophy book than "self help" manual.

Fantastic affirmation of many feelings I already have. Wonderful discovery of even more, new information and ideas that can only help reinforce the habits of thinking that lead to happiness.

An interesting twist on cynicism

I think these concepts are very logically cynical. I try to teach positivity and this gave me a delightfully different platform. Definitely worth the listen.

Surprisingly Good!

I wasn't certain what this book would entail based on the title, but found it to be very good and insightful. I plan on reading it again.