A fascinating, witty, and at the same time quite serious guide to strengthening willpower.
If all the books on the cover of which flaunt the questions “how” gave answers to these questions, our planet would already be completely populated by smart, white-toothed and hopelessly happy billionaires. However, the point is not even that there are no answers – they are, and often excellent. The problem is that we are not able to follow the recommendations for achieving success, happiness, wealth and white teeth. Due to lack of will power. But there is hope that the situation will change soon – as humanity gets acquainted with the book of the professor and author of one of the most successful courses at Stanford University, Kelly McGonigal. Not that this book was all that magical (although the similarity between the names of the author and the wise teacher of Harry Potter is very promising!). But she’s definitely good. McGonigal writes about willpower not as an abstract virtue, but as a specific property that has quite understandable psychological and even physiological sources. And this, you see, greatly facilitates the task of development and training. It is worth noting the excellent translation by Ksenia Chistopolskaya – it conveys the charm of the text, in which complex and deep ideas are presented easily and cheerfully. How do you, for example, a phrase from a passage about the formation of willpower in the course of evolution: “the system of self-control is slammed on the old system of desires and instincts”? In a word, it is up to you to decide whether to develop or strengthen, but it is worth reading the book. Moreover, for this just no effort of willpower is required.
Mann, Ivanov and Ferber, 312 p.