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Title details for Life in Three Dimensions by Shigehiro Oishi, PhD - Wait list

Life in Three Dimensions

How Curiosity, Exploration, and Experience Make a Fuller, Better Life

by Shigehiro Oishi, PhD
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A NEXT BIG IDEA CLUB MUST-READ BOOK • From one of our foremost psychologists, a trailblazing book that turns the idea of a good life on its head and urges us to embrace the transformative power of variety and experience
For many people, a good life is a stable life, a comfortable life that follows a well-trodden path. This is the case for Shigehiro Oishi's father, who has lived in a small mountain town in Japan for his entire life, putting his family's needs above his own, like his father and grandfather before him. But is a happy life, or even a meaningful life, the only path to a good life?
In Life in Three Dimensions, Shige Oishi enters into a debate that has animated psychology since 1984, when Ed Diener (Oishi's mentor) published a paper that launched happiness studies. A rival followed in 1989 with a model of a good life that focused on purpose and meaning instead. In recent years, Shige Oishi's award-winning work has proposed a third dimension to a good life: psychological richness, a concept that prioritizes curiosity, exploration, and a variety of experiences that help us grow as people.
Life in Three Dimensions explores the shortcomings of happiness and meaning as guides to a good life, pointing to complacency and regret as a "happiness trap" and narrowness and misplaced loyalty as a “meaning trap.” Psychological richness, Oishi proposes, balances the other two, offering insight and growth spurred by embracing uncertainty and challenges.
In a lively style, drawing on a generation of psychological studies and on examples from famous people, books and film, Oishi introduces a new path to a fuller, more satisfying life with fewer regrets.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    February 4, 2025

  • Formats

    • Kindle Book

    • OverDrive Read

      • ISBN: 9780385550406

    • EPUB ebook

      • ISBN: 9780385550406
      • File size: 5429 KB

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      December 2, 2024
      A fulfilling life means embracing uncertainty, unpredictability, and adversity, according to this energetic guide from psychologist Oishi (The Psychological Wealth of Nations). Critiquing the idea that life should be measured exclusively by happiness (which fluctuates according to things beyond a person’s control) or meaning (which can promote an unhelpful single-mindedness), Oishi argues that accumulating positive and negative experiences builds “psychological richness,” which adds depth to one’s life by broadening their emotional and intellectual horizons. Readers can live such a life by embracing challenges, learning new things, and being spontaneous (examples of the latter range from taking a detour on the way home to having an unexpected encounter with a stranger). While the many case studies of people who’ve lived psychologically rich lives—among them Steve Jobs, economist Daniel Kahneman, and a taxi driver who donated a kidney to her ex husband—give the narrative a somewhat repetitive feel, Oishi lucidly explains his research and maintains an appealingly upbeat tone throughout. It’s a worthwhile reminder to take the road less traveled.

Formats

  • Kindle Book
  • OverDrive Read
  • EPUB ebook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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