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Start Making Sense
How Existential Psychology Can Help Us Build Meaningful Lives in Absurd Times
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$40.00 CADFormat
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- Hardcover $30.00 $40.00 CAD
- ebook $18.99 $24.99 CAD
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These days everyone feels on edge, panicked by climate change, political polarization, and artificial intelligence.
In Start Making Sense, psychologist Steven J. Heine shows how to overcome our angst and live life with purpose. Heine’s field, existential psychology, uses the tools of science to study the kinds of questions famously asked by existential philosophers such as Albert Camus, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Simone de Beauvoir. Who are we? Why do we seek meaning? How do we connect with one another? Drawing on decades of research, Heine provides scientifically grounded answers to these mysteries. He shows that humans evolved to seek meaning: our survival depends on our ability to make sense of an absurd world. Every day, we deploy an arsenal of psychological tactics to make and maintain meaning in our lives, from rationalizing our choices, to waxing nostalgic about the past, to defending our cultural worldviews. By understanding why and how we seek to make sense, we can live authentic lives in times that don’t seem to make sense at all.
This illuminating book transforms the way we understand our search for meaning and provides a blueprint for building a better life.
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"A beautiful, deep, thoughtful book. Start Making Sense is for anyone who has asked themselves: yes, yes — but what is the meaning of my existence? That's everyone, I think — including me. Steve Heine, a pioneer in the new field of existential psychology, offers no glib prescriptions. Instead, Heine probes the evolutionary origins and contemporary implications of our species' hard-wired need for meaning. Will you know what to do with the rest of your life after reading this book? Maybe not. But as Heine so beautifully argues, sometimes understanding the questions is even more important."Angela Duckworth, New York Times-bestselling author of Grit
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"Given their increased wealth, leisure time, and lifespan modern Westerners should be the happiest people ever to have lived, and yet instead anxiety and depression appear to be on the rise. Heine, one of the pioneers of the psychology of meaning, argues that a root problem is a loss of identity and purpose. This book offers accounts of why this might happen as well as strategies for re-gaining our existential footing.”Edward Slingerland, author of Drunk
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"Heine is a sage guide in a world that increasingly feels meaningless. Start Making Sense is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the science behind our psychological need for purpose and meaning—and how these needs can be met through connectedness and cultural narratives. Through a rich tapestry of stories, studies, spirituality, and philosophy, Heine offers a clear and compelling vision for leading a meaningful life amid the complexities of the modern world."Michael Muthukrishna, London School of Economics
- On Sale
- Jan 28, 2025
- Page Count
- 368 pages
- Publisher
- Basic Books
- ISBN-13
- 9781541600812
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