Todd KashdanReviews

Fascinating book! Research shows that trying new things, being open to new experiences, and living with uncertainty is part of what makes us happy.

Curious ? Well of course I am. Which is why I just couldn't resist a book simply titled "Curious ?" I was expecting something with a scientific or anthropological point of view but unfortunately, the book turned out to be nothing more than a simple self help book. And after reading this book the only thing I'm curious about is why people bother to read these kind of books anyway ?

I've spent my life trying to minimize negative feelings. Anything I could fail at or might make me uncomfortable, I avoid. My theory for this is that if I'm happier, my life is better. This book made me question that policy.

There are benefits to your negative emotions? Tell me more. This book was an interesting and quick read. It will sit next to my copy of Barbara Ehrenreich's "Bright-Sided". If you are looking for a self-help book or a book on being positive and happy, don't read this one. If you want to be aware how to use all your emotions to live a meaningful life, then this is the book you want to read.

Almost forget everything that people have told you about being nice to everyone and everything. This shows that anger and the "dark side" can be beneficial. They can inspire you to make changes that you feel are needed. I found it fairly interesting being one who tends to use their negativity for good, not evil.

While happiness is the most often sought for attainment, the human emotional spectrum is broad and colorful. The authors of 'Upside' examine the non-happy emotions (including unhappiness, anxiety, anger), their causes, and the circumstances in which each provides a psychological advantage.

While exploring the darker feelings, the authors chart the evolution of psychological literature and study of emotion and well-being to give both academics and laypersons insight into how the educated feel about feelings. A worthy read for leaders as a resource for teambuilding and management.

Okay. Quite the title, isn’t it?! Long but perfect, as that’s exactly what this book is about.

I must report that reading this book has resulted in a slight shift in my ideas about happiness, and that’s a good thing. Happiness doesn’t always have to be about refocusing on positive things; happiness can also be acceptance of negative feelings and behaviors as sometimes necessary for change. Interesting.

This book delves into the topic of why the exclusive pursuit of happiness and positive emotions can be counter-productive. The main theses tends to be very commonsensical, and the authors do an okay job explaining and rationalizing their ideas.

The thing I hate about this book, and all other pop-psych books, is the "science" they use to back up their claims. I know I'm biased as a physical scientist, where I can run an experiment and get a concrete answer; much like a math problem that has a verifiable solution. Social science, however, in my mind, isn't really science. It's asking a bunch of people to fill out a survey or do some weird experiment that always tends to prove the hypothesis of the experimenter. This is always prone to sample bias, experimenter bias, sample size problems, questionable interpretation of results, etc. However it always makes for flashy PR. (A sort-of made up example that is very close to one of the studies used as concrete evidence of human nature in this book: "We made a dozen people angry before having them throw darts and they did better than the dozen people who we made happy before the dart-throwing. Therefore being angry improves performance by 500%!!!!!")

At any rate, many of the concepts in this book are related to Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), which has also been "proven" to be one of the most effective therapeutic methods for people with depression, anxiety and similar mental illnesses. So a lot of the concepts can be boiled down to DBT's four main areas: mindfulness, emotional regulation, distress tolerance and interpersonal effectiveness. It makes sense that people who understand their emotions, can deal with them (even if that means distracting oneself while backing away from the metaphorical ledge), communicate assertively with others, and be mindful of the moment they're living in (instead of projecting into the future or dwelling on the past) are going to have, if not a happier life, then at least a life with less stress, anxiety, depression, etc. Incidentally, I thought it was funny how, in the last chapter, the authors discuss being present in being bored (instead of continually distracting oneself with TV, smart phones, etc.) as being "mindless", when actually it's an amazing example of mindfulness, which the authors think is not worth the hype. I don't think anybody argues that being mindful 100% of the time is beneficial for anybody, but still, the authors have to sell books.

Really, I liked this book, and I think it's worth reading. But being the research scientist / skeptic that I am, I am unable to read books like this without finding at least a million flaws. So don't take my word for it, read it yourself. There's still a lot of good stuff packed in here.

Redundant and self-explanatory concepts

I enjoyed this book, but not quite as much as I had hoped to.

I had wrongly primed myself to think that it would be more about the neuroscience behind curiosity. Instead, I felt the book was more about ways to increase one's openness to various experiences and relationships, etc. as a way to increase one's resilience and explore meaning in one's life, with less depth about what happens in our brains when we do so. I believe this book is therefore more of a "self-help" book than an expose of rigorous scientific study about curiosity. For example, the author does briefly theorize why evolution can select for curiosity and what benefits it may confer in doing so, however this is not explored in rigorous depth, before the author goes on to explain how curiosity might help a marriage or relationship and so forth, and, later, how curiosity can turn into morbid fascinations. There were so many loosely-related concepts that when I read the last paragraph(s) of the book, I was surprised that there was not a final tying of the conclusion back to curiosity, which occurred instead a few paragraphs before the end. (I had expected a strong tie-back to curiosity and its specific importance to be in the very conclusion of the book.)

That said, there was brief mention of other scientific studies on the mechanisms of mindfulness, openness, and so forth on happiness or, perhaps more accurately "resilience" and meaning/purpose-making in life, as well as brief examples of the author's own experiences and research. I had hoped for some more "depth", though I am having difficulty expressing exactly what I mean: Perhaps it is that I expected more about CURIOSITY itself than this collection of a number of related items that seem to fit more under "well-being" than specifically curiosity, though curiosity is a component. Perhaps what I'm trying to say is that I don't feel that the author proved to me that CURIOSITY is, in itself, as big/crucial/central for one's life as he claims it to be.

Todd Kashdan certainly seems enthusiastic, open, and CURIOUS himself, and I give him credit for that. He sounds interesting and, I think, would be fun to talk to. I still recommend one reading this book and drawing one's own conclusions.

My feelings about Curious are…ambiguous. I think it’s a good book, but perhaps not a great one. Part self-help manual, part lecture series for undergrad psych majors, the book attempts to tie everything he wants to say to his audience to the concept of curiosity and at times seems forced. Kashdan’s writing style didn’t resonate with me and while I enjoyed the topic I really didn’t like reading the book, and went through it more quickly than it may have merited. I found I got a lot more out of it when I started outlining the concepts for myself.

The book describes why curiosity is an important ingredient in our lives – that it’s the engine of personal growth, that it enhances intelligence, and gives life meaning and purpose. It discusses the biological basis of curiosity and considers the role of curiosity in everyday life, including the effect of curiosity on lasting interests (which the author contends must be linked to our values, shared, supported, and come from within in order to be sustained).

There’s a chapter on the value of curiosity in overcoming anxiety (stop worrying about what you’re worried about and start exploring it, and you’ll conquer your fears, which seems to work well with the examples he uses, the boy who’s afraid of bugs; but may be a little simplistic when it comes to other anxiety). He even discusses the downside of curiosity, when curiosity becomes obsession, or leads to nosiness, gossip, and sensation-seeking behavior of all kinds, before tying everything back together about curiosity and our search for meaning.

I really think my problem with this book is with the writing style, as I’d be a lot more enthusiastic about reading this book based on my outline of it than I ultimately ended up being. So I’d recommend it with qualifications; definitely a YMMV work.½

What's missing from life? You need to follow those intuitions and dreams that you have. Live life to its fullest and cultivate your intelligence and curiosity. I wonder if this book and advice works for the not intellectually inclined, as well?
An academic study with interesting workbook pages for self improvement. A good way to improve both your professional and personal life.

eBook available (using OverDrive) from Christchurch City Libraries: https://goo.gl/e3D3xJ
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Review from Christchurch City Libraries
Mindfulness, Acceptance, and Positive Psychology is the first book to successfully integrate key elements of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) and positive psychology to promote healthy functioning in clients. By gaining an understanding of "the seven foundations of well-being," professionals will walk away with concrete, modernized strategies to use in clinical or private practice. A must-have read for any mental health professional interested in synthesizing ACT and positive psychology to help clients realize their full human potential.