November 14, 2022
This wonderful outing by University of California, Berkeley psychology professor Keltner (The Power Paradox) lays out a scientific overview of awe. He contends that awe is a “basic human need” that’s good for one’s well-being and produces a transcendent sense of dissolving boundaries between the self and the wider world. Pondering why awe sometimes produces tears, Keltner suggests that adults might tear up as a learned reaction from childhood when one cried while feeling “small and lacking agency,” an emotion similar to the overwhelming sensation that accompanies awe. The feeling has practical applications, the author posits, detailing scientific studies that found awe to be associated with lower levels of inflammation and capable of mitigating perceptions of political polarization. He outlines the “eight wonders of life” that are most likely to induce awe: moral beauty (e.g., courage in battle), collective effervescence (e.g., participating in a political rally), nature, music, visual art, spirituality, mortality, and epiphanies. Their power, he writes, stems from their likelihood to remind the beholder that “we are part of many things that are much larger than the self.” Eye-opening science and Keltner’s appropriate sense of wonder add up to an enlightening take on the importance and potency of awe. Readers will be enchanted.
Starred review from November 1, 2022
Keltner's (psychology, Univ. of California, Berkeley; Born To Be Good) book considers what awe is and the contexts in which it arises. It looks at how awe transforms thoughts of self, one's relationship to the world, and physical reactions to it. The author analyzes personal stories in which his participants exhibited awe at the beauty they discovered in libraries, art institutions, and scientific explorations. He looks at finding collective effervescence in activities like dance, professional basketball, and other collective movements. He also examines nature and how it has been used as a source to heal the traumas of combat, loneliness, and poverty. The richness of nature has been used to open eyes, minds, and hearts, and lets people see their problems on a smaller scale, enabling them to sort out solutions to their problems. Finally, Keltner explores awe in music, visual arts, religion, and spirituality. He also probes life and death, while positing eight wonders of life where awe reveals personal insights into the meaning of life. VERDICT This book is destined to become a classic and should be included in any behavioral and social sciences library.--Claude Ury
Copyright 2022 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
December 1, 2022
How and why the sensations of awe create deeply memorable moments in modern life. In this insightful report, Keltner--a psychology professor and director of the Greater Good Science Center at the University of California and author of Born To Be Good and The Power Paradox--parlays his two-decade career teaching the nuances of happiness into a focused guide to discovering awe and bliss in the human experience. Through stories from a wide variety of careers, callings, situations, and perspectives, the author explores the kind of deeply embedded first-person spiritual and emotional truths that "science simply cannot capture." These anecdotes include his own brush with the enduring grief of losing his younger brother, who had colon cancer and died via assisted suicide, an event the inspired him to write this book. Keltner identifies four recognizable aspects, or "stories," of awe. In early chapters, the author probes scientific and theoretical viewpoints, and he examines how awe is defined and measured, why it occurs, and the methods uniquely exhibited by individuals who experience it. This research is bolstered by Keltner's firm belief in the eight wonders of life, which include simple gifts like collective effervescence ("human waves of awe"), nature, music, personal epiphanies, and the marvels of life and death. Most compelling are the personal stories, which demonstrate a fascinating assortment of opinions and perspectives on what people individually consider awe-inspiring. The author's interest in restorative justice brought him to San Quentin State Prison, where inmates shared the things that bring them awe from behind bars as well as how music, visual art, and nature contribute to stress-relieving, growth-inducing sensations. Through his work as an expert in the science of goodness and human emotions, Keltner ably renders these transformative, defining moments with illuminative prose and encouragement for readers seeking their own awe-inspired deliverance. A timely reminder to appreciate the awe-inspiring everyday wonders flourishing all around us.
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