The Antidote
Oliver Burkeman
The Text Publishing Company
<p><i>The Antidote: Happiness for people who can't stand positive thinking</i> is an exploration of a radically new path to happiness.<p><p>In an approach that turns decades of self-help advice on its head, Oliver Burkeman explains why positive thinking serves only to make us more miserable, and why 'getting motivated' can exacerbate procrastination.?<p>Comparing the personal philosophies of dozens of 'happy' people&#8212;among them?philosophers and experimental psychologists, Buddhists and terrorism experts, New Age dreamers and hard-headed business consultants&#8212;Burkeman uncovers some common ground.?They all believe that there is an alternative 'negative path' to happiness and success that involves coming face-to-face with, even embracing, precisely the things we spend our lives trying to avoid.<p><p> Burkeman concedes that in?our personal lives and the world at large, it's our constant efforts to eliminate the negative&#8212;uncertainty, unhappiness, failure&#8212;that...