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The unexpected joy of the ordinary : in celebration of being average / Catherine Gray

By: London : Aster, an imprint of Octopus Publishing Group Ltd, 2019. ♭2019Description: 276 pages ; 23 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9781783253371
Subject(s): LOC classification:
  • BF575 GRA 2019
Contents:
The pursuit of the extraordinary -- Ordinary living -- Ordinary being -- Ordinary loving -- Ordinary learning -- Ordinary brains and downtime -- Ordinary bodies -- An ordinary kinda conclusion.
Summary: Ordinary. Average. Normal. The everyday is the wall-to-wall humdrum we seek to upgrade, like a fifties carpet we long to replace. More money. A bigger house. A better body. An upgraded career. The ultimate relationship. A highly inconvenient psychological phenomenon called 'the hedonic treadmill' has us eternally questing for more. Catherine Gray was a grandmaster in eye-rolling the ordinary, and the art of everlasting reaching. Until the daemon of depression made her re-think everything. Knitting together personal storytelling and illuminating science, this book probes great minds in neuroscience and psychology. It explodes 'extraordinary-seeking' myths such as big bucks means big happiness, expensive weddings predict future happiness, high intensity exercise is the best kind, and the workaday is less important than the showreel. This soulful, hilarious and life-affirming book is a manifesto on how to outwit the hedonic treadmill and retrain our negatively-biased brains. But most of all, it's a love letter to an average life beautifully lived. Because maybe, just maybe, an ordinary life is the most satisfying one of all.
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Holdings
Item type Current library Home library Collection Call number Copy number Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Books Books City Campus Library General Stacks City Campus Library Non-fiction BF575 GRA 2019 (Browse shelf(Opens below)) c. 1 Available 032479
Total holds: 0

Self-help publications

Includes bibliographical references and index

The pursuit of the extraordinary --
Ordinary living --
Ordinary being --
Ordinary loving --
Ordinary learning --
Ordinary brains and downtime --
Ordinary bodies --
An ordinary kinda conclusion.


Ordinary. Average. Normal. The everyday is the wall-to-wall humdrum we seek to upgrade, like a fifties carpet we long to replace. More money. A bigger house. A better body. An upgraded career. The ultimate relationship. A highly inconvenient psychological phenomenon called 'the hedonic treadmill' has us eternally questing for more. Catherine Gray was a grandmaster in eye-rolling the ordinary, and the art of everlasting reaching. Until the daemon of depression made her re-think everything. Knitting together personal storytelling and illuminating science, this book probes great minds in neuroscience and psychology. It explodes 'extraordinary-seeking' myths such as big bucks means big happiness, expensive weddings predict future happiness, high intensity exercise is the best kind, and the workaday is less important than the showreel. This soulful, hilarious and life-affirming book is a manifesto on how to outwit the hedonic treadmill and retrain our negatively-biased brains. But most of all, it's a love letter to an average life beautifully lived. Because maybe, just maybe, an ordinary life is the most satisfying one of all.

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