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  • Notes on a Nervous Planet

  • By: Matt Haig
  • Narrated by: Matt Haig
  • Length: 5 hrs and 14 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (239 ratings)

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Notes on a Nervous Planet

By: Matt Haig
Narrated by: Matt Haig
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Publisher's summary

A follow-up to Matt Haig's internationally best-selling memoir Reasons to Stay Alive, a broader look at how modern life feeds our anxiety, and how to live a better life.

The societies we live in are increasingly making our minds ill, making it feel as though the way we live is engineered to make us unhappy. When Matt Haig developed panic disorder, anxiety, and depression as an adult, it took him a long time to work out the ways the external world could impact his mental health in both positive and negative ways. Notes on a Nervous Planet collects his observations, taking a look at how the various social, commercial, and technological "advancements" that have created the world we now live in can actually hinder our happiness.

Haig examines everything from broader phenomena like inequality, social media, and the news; to things closer to our daily lives, like how we sleep, how we exercise, and even the distinction we draw between our minds and our bodies.

©2019 Matt Haig (P)2019 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"Readers who have experienced anxiety without a tangible cause will find comfort in Haig’s words and vulnerability. Haig articulates much of what isn’t working for humans in today’s world while refraining from being too cynical." (Salon)

Notes on a Nervous Planet contains lists, imagined conversations, essays, and personal stories that critique the damage that worry - about the environment, politics, the news, and everything else that demands our attention on a daily basis - wreaks on our ability to live a full life. Haig artfully, powerfully counters these challenges with battle-tested advice from his own hard-won experience.” (Booklist)

“In this illuminating follow-up to his memoir, Reasons to Stay Alive, novelist and children’s author Haig (How to Stop Time, 2018, etc.) continues to explore how the rapid pace of our modern world can adversely affect our psyche.... In bite-sized chapters, the author considers the various issues that plague us, including our increasing addiction to smartphones and social media, the emotional impact of absorbing 24-hour cycles of often grueling international news events, and our collective lack of sleep.... [An] often wise and inspiring self-help title strengthened by the author’s very personal experiences and acquired insight.” (Kirkus)

“A primer for how to live in the present moment, this book will find grateful readers everywhere.” (Nigella Lawson, author of How to Be a Domestic Goddess and Nigella Bites)