The Times Picayune says: "Mixing anecdotes, arguments and his own, quirky persona, the author of
“Against Happiness” delivers a provocative meditation on morbid
curiosity and the pleasure of seeing others suffer."
http://www.nola.com/books/index.ssf/2012/02/when_life_supplies_lemons_auth.html
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Hi Eric, I just finished reading Against Happiness and wanted to let you know how refreshing I found it. I actually found it last week in the library when I, overwhelmed and freaking out, thumbed thru the entire philosophy/happiness/psychology section and picked up about 5 books; one about everything i need to know i learned in kindergarten, the lost art of happiness, making the change for good, one about boredom, and i looked thru the suicide books but they were all unoriginal, religious, and not what i would be into. And I saw Against Happiness and was really intrigued by the summary; i had never seen a book that proclaimed it's fine to be, and even good to feel depression/anxiety/etc... except of course the publications of The Icarus Project, a beautiful radical mental health collective that vies for reclamation of our "dangerous gifts." I recommend checking them out, and particularly Navigating The Space Between Brilliance and Madness.
ReplyDeleteI just wanted to say thanx for putting Against Happiness out in the world. It resonated or whatever within me in a really intense personal way and shook me up and teared me up and pumped me up, hitting the right nerves (of truth? my truth? a shared truth?) with in me. I found myself not wanting it to be done, and this is partly because I was looking for "an answer." I wanted to solve my "problem" and heal for good, which on some level I know is false, and on some level I still seek out. Feeling torn between extremes in my life, this is the only thing I find consistency in, and I struggle to accept that. Against Happiness definitely feels validating to me, and has a special place in my heart as a valuable tool in my search for being not just ok, but STOKED on my lack of consistency, my ups and downs, and my paradoxes. I feel like the culture i was raised in does not teach us how to be anything but normal and "productive" (making money, procreating) and I resent and recognize the futility in this way of existing and want something better. So yes thanx for writing i really appreciate it and have already started "...Train Wreck." and am super eager to read your other books, too.