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 book is a witty, fascinating, and counterintuitive read that turns decades of self-help advice on its head and forces us to rethink completely our attitudes toward failure, uncertainty, and death.
A self-help book for pessimists I really enjoyed reading this book. As a pessimist, I always thought that most of my ideas about life were not shared with mankind. The book showed me that some of my personal strategies are in fact quite common and proved effective also by others.If you hate self-help books I am sure that you will love reading this book, if you love them you SHOULD read this book.
Superior self-help This was certainly a lot more enjoyable to read than most self-help books.I actually liked reading it which is a lot more than you say for the usual change your life, awaken the fear within, visualise success and ask the universe type books.The writing style is quite informal and discursive and despite the modesty of the author it is certainly a lot more rigorous and useful than the usual stuff from the snake oil salesmen. He recognises that what seems to work for him might not work for everyone.It probably isn’t an essential read if you do always look at his column in the Guardian though obviously in this book he gives each subject a more in depth treatment.
Refreshing and insightful Interesting and amusingly much more fun to read than most of the products of the culture of positivity that it critiques. The book does well exploring alternative routes to having a better life (including a discussion about whether “Happiness” and “Success” are really what improves our life). Some of the international tourism was a bit questionable, but overall I really enjoyed the study and particularly (for this book at least) the author follows the core message and never takes himself or his material too seriously.