Tiffany Watt Smith

Since the term Schadenfreude (literally joy-damage) has had quite a lot of pub lately (Smith notes from her research that this has been called the Age of), this book is a completely engaging and accessible look at the way we (guiltily) take pleasure at others’ misfortune. Though she doesn’t belabor a direct correlation, the prevalence of social media and constant news has contributed significantly. When everything looks rosy in someone’s online life, a comeuppance is sometimes welcome. Special targets are celebrities, bosses, braggarts, and those in positions of power. Smith looks at historical development, psychological roots and social implications all interspersed with short, funny real-world examples of that little tinge of happiness when things go awry for others. Maybe a good New Year’s resolution to rise above? But so hard to keep when the next epic fail goes viral.… (more)

I really enjoyed this book but it takes some reading. It opens with a chapter about the history of modern emotions which was completely gripping. But then after that it is simply an alphabetical list of emotions. The first chapter gives context to what you are reading but the alphabetical index doesn’t which is what made is so jarring to plod through.

But having said that I did plod through and found much to ponder over therein.

I have long known that other languages had emotions that in English we have no direct equivalent for, only approximations. A bit like saying a tulip is like a rose but different. No help to anyone really.

Also if you have read that bit in “The Taboo Against Knowing Who You Really Are” by Alan Watts you also know that there are emotions that we have no inkling of whatsoever and are so alien that we cannot even imagine them.

The real surprises in this book is just how modern many of our emotions are. We think that people have been feeling these things for ever but it just isn’t so. Also how many emotions that we now perceive as “negative” when for most of their lives they have been considered as positive emotions.

The hand of the big pharma companies also shows itself in the reversal, and plain old invention of some of this stuff. For example, the symptoms of depression are described in the DSM without context. so if you are feeling down, short on appetite and not sleeping too well, then you are suffering from depression and need these pills.

BUT, if you feel all those things and you have just: lost your job, or come to the end of a significant relationship, or lost someone dear to you, even a dog, or had your favourite bile stolen THEN those same symptoms are the response of a normal human being to such events and you are not suffering from depression and don’t need those pills. Chilling stuff huh?

And what about emotions that were once common but now we no longer have them? Hard to imagine but true nonetheless. It kinda makes the whole stage of our lives seem a bit shaky if you consider the wider implications of some of this. Like, if we cannot name it does that mean we cannot feel it? What are we missing out on? Does it also mean that we are experiencing some things unconsciously because we cannot name them?

Give this book to someone that you want to unsettle, including yourself.… (more)

Not quite a dictionary (although it is arranged alphabetically) this non-fiction book is more a collection of words we use to describe our emotions primarily in English but with a smattering of words from other languages that have no direct translation. Entries vary from etymology, including how some words used to describe different feelings than their current connotations. While I read this one straight through, it's also easy to dip in and out of or to simply jump around following cross-references. A fascinating read for word nerds as well as those who are just interested in how the way we describe how we feel has changed over the years.… (more)