The book could have been a quarter of the length really.īut when he does offer something practical for someone looking to improve some aspect of themselves it gets good, in my opinion.
Large portions of it read like a history of science book, and it's often quite dry. He has padded out most of the book with memoirs, almost, of how he reached his conclusions - the co-workers, the tests, the experiments (including using electric shocks on various lab animals, or not, in order to train them to be helpless, or not) - it covers 3 decades of his career. The Dr has spent his entire working life work in psychology, seemingly in the area of optimism. I'm not sure how much I can add much that hasn't already been said. Highly commended for anyone who feels they want to improve their personal performance at work or at home, or who experiences depression in any of its many guises. However, Seligman's ideas and insight are profound, invaluable and potentially life-changing. I'm only giving this edition 4 stars as I find his co-presenter somewhat irritating and it is a little stodgy at times. However, for maximum benefit and depth, it is well worth getting the book edition also. It is good for getting the gist of his ideas or to listen to while driving or when out and about with your iPod. This audiobook consists of 2 CDs and is an abridged version of his book Learned Optimism.
It is certainly a refreshing alternative to the medical approach and seems to work very well indeed. The upshot of it is that individuals will be happier, more successful and experience fewer if any depressive episodes. The main message is that there is a simple method for responding more constructively to negative events, and if this is practised, it soon becomes a learned behaviour that no longer requires conscious effort. He provides a robust method for reframing these events and ensuring any negative effect is short-lived, this in turn leads to improved personal performance and higher self-esteem and happiness. Seligman takes the view that the majority of depressive episodes, procrastination and under-achievement stem not from messed up brain-chemistry or unhappy childhoods, but from the ways we have learned to interpret and react to everyday adversity. This straightaway highlights areas where we may need to be careful in our everyday lives, and then goes on to look at alternative ways to interpret and react to events. This indicates how individuals are likely to respond to particular types of events and adversities, and how that response can be constructive or damaging. This CD starts with a simple test to assess 6 different scales of optimism / pessimism and to create a score for each of these scales. He explores the reasons for this and develops alternative approaches that appear to work well. Learned Optimism shows how for many people it is the way they perceive and respond to events around them that can make the difference between a happy, successful life or a difficult one dotted with depressive episodes. To learn more about how and for what purposes Amazon uses personal information (such as Amazon Store order history), please visit our Privacy Notice.Īlthough not that well known in this country, Martin Seligman is widely regarded as one of the most eminent and insightful psychologists of the past 100 years. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie Preferences, as described in the Cookie Notice. Click ‘Customise Cookies’ to decline these cookies, make more detailed choices, or learn more. Third parties use cookies for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalised ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products. This includes using first- and third-party cookies, which store or access standard device information such as a unique identifier. If you agree, we’ll also use cookies to complement your shopping experience across the Amazon stores as described in our Cookie Notice. We also use these cookies to understand how customers use our services (for example, by measuring site visits) so we can make improvements. We use cookies and similar tools that are necessary to enable you to make purchases, to enhance your shopping experiences and to provide our services, as detailed in our Cookie Notice.
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