Awe

From a foremost expert on the science of emotions, a groundbreaking exploration into the history, psychology and meaning of awe

Award-winning social psychologist Dacher Keltner has spent his career speaking to different groups of people, from schoolchildren to prisoners to healthcare workers, about happiness and the good life. These conversations and his pioneering research into the science of emotion have convinced him that happiness comes down to one thing: finding awe.

In Awe, Dacher Keltner presents a radical investigation into this elusive emotion, which allows us to collaborate with others, to open our minds to wonder, and to see the deep patterns of life. Drawing on his own scientific research into how awe transforms our brains and bodies, alongside an examination of awe across history, culture, and within his own life during a period of immense grief, Keltner shows us how cultivating wonder in our everyday life leads us to appreciate what is most humane in our human nature. The book includes intensely moving, deeply personal stories of awe from people all over the world-doctors and veterans, environmentalists and poets, indigenous scholars and hospice workers, ministers and midwives.
At turns radical and profound, brimming with enlightening and practical insights, Awe is our field guide for how to uncover everyday wonder as a vital force within our lives.

Penguin Random House UK

Uncertain: How to Turn Your Biggest Fear into Your Greatest Power

How much do we reply upon certainty? And, how does the way we deal with uncertainty impact our future and our lives?

Uncertainty is one of the defining issues of our time. The stability we once had is disappearing, and fast. Vast changes in society are shifting our realities: extraordinary numbers of immigrants and refugees are upsetting the demographic, and the cultural and religious foundations of nations. Changing attitudes and approaches to employment, with an increase in freelance and temporary work undermines people’s ability to plan for the future. And, there is an ever decreasing sense of trust in what once hallowed: the government, the media, in education, religion, in medicine. Instead, the internet provides us with a wave of conflicting advice.

When we can no longer make sense of the world together, insecurity takes over. We develop anxiety and confusion about our purpose, and in searching for certainty find it in autocratic leaders and populism. Democracy begins to fade as our uncertainty grows.

If we are aware of our need for certainty, and understand why we behave instinctively in the way that we do, we can better understand how stress and pressure affects our decisions. We can shed light not only on historical trends but understand how we change those trends for the future.

Penguin Random House UK

It’s OK to Be Angry About Capitalism

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A progressive takedown of the uber-capitalist status quo that has enriched millionaires and billionaires at the expense of the working class, and a blueprint for what transformational change would actually look like

It’s OK to be angry about capitalism. Reflecting on our turbulent times, Senator Bernie Sanders takes on the billionaire class and speaks blunt truths about our country’s failure to address the destructive nature of a system that is fueled by uncontrolled greed and rigidly committed to prioritizing corporate profits over the needs of ordinary Americans.

Sanders argues that unfettered capitalism is to blame for an unprecedented level of income and wealth inequality, is undermining our democracy, and is destroying our planet. How can we accept an economic order that allows three billionaires to control more wealth than the bottom half of our society? How can we accept a political system that allows the super rich to buy elections and politicians? How can we accept an energy system that rewards the fossil fuel corporations causing the climate crisis? Sanders believes that, in the face of these overwhelming challenges, the American people must ask tough questions about the systems that have failed us and demand fundamental economic and political change. This is where the path forward begins.

It’s OK to Be Angry About Capitalism presents a vision that extends beyond the promises of past campaigns to reveal what would be possible if the political revolution took place, if we would finally recognize that economic rights are human rights, and if we would work to create a society that provides a decent standard of living for all. This isn’t some utopian fantasy; this is democracy as we should know it.

Penguin Random House UK