59 Seconds

Think a Little, Change a Lot

By: Richard Wiseman

Narrated by: Jonathan Cowley

Length: 8 hrs and 18 mins

Publisher's summary

A psychologist and best-selling author gives us a myth-busting response to the self-help movement, with tips and tricks to improve your life that come straight from the scientific community.

Richard Wiseman has been troubled by the realization that the self-help industry often promotes exercises that destroy motivation, damage relationships, and reduce creativity: The opposite of everything it promises. Now, in 59 Seconds, he fights back, bringing together the diverse scientific advice that can help you change your life in under a minute, and guides you toward becoming more decisive, more imaginative, more engaged, and altogether more happy.

From mood to memory, persuasion to procrastination, resilience to relationships, Wiseman outlines the research supporting the new science of “rapid change” and, with clarity and infectious enthusiasm, describes how these quirky, sometimes counterintuitive techniques can be effortlessly incorporated into your everyday life. Or, as he likes to say: “Think a little, change a lot”.

©2009 Richard Wiseman (P)2009 Random House

entertaining and straight to the good stuff

this book starts with the authors personal story. it then seems to lead him into a ton of research that cuts through all the bs and presents to the reader a short version of many studies in a fun way.

Praise for effort and not results

You hope for a major take away from every book you read and this book provides this. Some part of his book as an audio book are a little to follow (lists) but the reader did a great job.

Very interesting on happiness and other topics.

Dull at times, but brilliantly enlightening. People interested in self-improvement would benefit from this book. I might recommend getting the paper edition, to make it a quicker read.

Good book, bad title.

I enjoyed this book but it was 8 hours long, NOT 59 seconds long like the title would indicate.

Great practial ideas for living a better life!

I love this book! It is full of great ideas that you can use immediately to improve your life. Based on scientific studies, it gives 100's of easy strategies to improve many areas of your life; from relationships to motivation, happiness, parenting, and diet. I've listened to this book 3 times, and each time I have more ideas I can use in my life. It's not a new age feel good book, but a treasure chest full of practical, scietifically proven strategies for a better life.

This book is really underrated !

A lot of profound scientific studies from our day-to-day, designed for us to implement quickly and simply into our lives!
The "Pareto" of "what\how to", proving wrong myths we may have.

Awesome

Where does 59 Seconds rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Great book, with a lot of scientific studies cited.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Yes, It did!

What does Jonathan Cowley bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Nice voice

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Not for one sitting. It has heavy content. But for long periods is a good book.

Any additional comments?

Great book!

Good except for the questionnaires

Many useful tidbits of knowledge. The only real bad parts are the questionnaires. They are read out line-by-line in an excruciatingly boring fashion. Several minutes are sometimes spent reading the questionnaires ("One. Strongly disagree. Two. Disagree. Three. Somewhat disagree. Four. Somewhat agree. Five.... " over and over and over again... ). It seems like a stupid way to narrate a smart book. It is definitely a waste of the listener's time.

Not bad

Not bad, not great. Lots of old stuff here presented in a rather structured way: 59 Second Exercises. I think that Malcolm Gladwell and Johah Lehrer do a much better job of articulating some of the background and original research of these concepts. I may return to the book again and perhaps there will be more but for now, it's just above average.

Great tips

Entertaining read I've read this 3 times now and recommend it to my friends. The science references are very helpful.