Mandatory read before trying any self-help books

I've been around the block with the self-help books. From Chopra to countless others and wish this book was around years ago. It's basically a long news segment on an industry that can prey on people in their most vulnerable state of mind.

Harris gives fair assessment to the big names of the industry that he interviews and makes the reader think that he's finally found something that works, then he slams it by cutting through the BS. He's highly skeptical and doesn't get fooled easily, which I like. Out of the many books I've gotten here on Audible, this is one of the few that I can say was actually beneficial. I'm not saying I won't venture back into the realm of self-help topics, but I'll be more cautious and analytical next time.

I highly recommend as a pre-read before trying the works of Chopra or Tolle.

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737 people found this helpful

insightful, deep and highly entertaining

Where does 10% Happier rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This books ranks at the top of my list of self-help memoirs.

What did you like best about this story?

I bought this audiobook by mistake. I thought I was buying a book by Sam Harris, who has had a way of shaking my reality just enough to make some small but important changes. As I embarked on listening to my new purchase, I was most disappointed when Sam Harris', by now familiar voice, all or a sudden sounded like television reporter. At first I thought there was something wrong with the recording. Then I realized that I was listening to a Dan Harris not Sam Harris. Reluctantly I surrendered to my mistake and decided to give this Dan a chance. After my initial disappointment, I began to appreciate this unexpected author. Dan Harris, whom, I, as non-television watcher, had never heard of before, was taking me on an interesting journey of the inner life of a successful, striding for ever more success, ABC News reporter in New York. At first he struck me as an arrogant, extremely driven and cut-throat person. Yet at the same time he was intriguingly honest and surprisingly self-aware, a very unusual combination, I thought. He tells his stories of being at the forefront of many history making events all over the world, with the professionalism of a great reporter. With that same hard-edged, no-nonsense attitude, he goes about discovering the world of self-inquiry and comes across mindfulness and meditation. He interviews Eckhart Tolle, Deepak Chopra, Joe Vitale, among others, with all of whom he is heart-wrenchingly but also refreshingly critical. The most critical though he is with himself. As he leads us, with an accuracy and bluntness that is admirable, through his own pitfalls and discoveries in his attempts to master meditation, he manages to shed a fresh light on this path, a light that is both entertaining and highly informative. He is able to describe his own difficulties and slowly but surely finds the gold nuggets of mediation with the drive and intuitiveness of a no-bullshit reporter. Listening to how mercilessly he "destroys" anybody he considers vague or spiritually fluffy, I cringe at the thought of how he would treat me, a seasoned meditator at the fringe of society. By the end of the book though, I have to admit to myself, that I had been as critical with television news reporters, and people in the cut-throat professional world, as he had been with the people in the spiritual world. It was time for me to shed this, up to this point unnoticed, arrogance of mine. This was an insight that immediately made me at least 10% happier!
I believe that with this book Dan Harris succeeds to not only build an important bridge between two worlds that have seemed far apart and somewhat incompatible, the professional world and spiritual world, but he also brings a unprecedented freshness and clarity to the latter. Nobody, in my 30 years of studying mindfulness, has been able to bring as bright a light to the conundrum of meditation versus ambition, as Dan has in this book.

Which scene was your favorite?

The scene where he describes his first ten-day meditation retreat is hilarious, heart-wrenchingly honest and brilliantly informative.

What’s an idea from the book that you will remember?

Learning to care and not to care. T.S. Elliot

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261 people found this helpful

Not really a self-help book, but a great listen

Initially, I felt put off by this book's "self-help" label because it seems most books in that genre simply repackage stuff your mom told you for free. What changed my mind were reviews on Goodreads and audible.com where readers tend to be a tough crowd and a book generally has to be very, very good to rate a 4 or 5-star rating. So, I figured why not, and picked up the audio version. As I began listening, I found the author (who also narrates the story) to be funny in a self-deprecating way and disarmingly honest -- I also realized this isn't really a self-help book.

The author describes what contributed to his on-air panic attack on "Good Morning America" and the details of his subsequent journey of self-discovery. He describes interviewing self-help authors like Eckhart Tolle, Deepak Chopra and others... and rather than revering them as gurus, is skeptical about the uniqueness of their insights and approach. He decides the "voice in my head is an a--hole" and seeks actionable ways to cultivate a more effective coping mechanism. He ultimately tries meditation and finds it to be a useful way to cope with stress and cultivate compassion. This book has something for everyone:
- For folks who meditate, this story is a nice reminder of the benefits of meditation.
- For those not into meditation, it feels like listening an old friend tell his story of moving beyond a life altering event by "upping his game and becoming a leading man."
This is one of those books that would be good read on a Kindle or paperback, but is an absolutely great audiobook. Highly recommended.

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234 people found this helpful

You mean that voice can be tamed - Sign me up!

I really liked this book. While listening to Dan Harris contend with that irksome voice in his own head as he navigated his career and relationships, it gave me some strength in dealing with my inner nagging critic. To be really effective in gaining more happiness though, Dan has convinced me to try meditation.

Self help gurus like Deepak Chopra or Eckhart Tolle may have touched upon the power of meditation but they have so much other mystical baggage that ultimately I'm turned off following what they have to say. Dan's deeply skeptical mind mirrors my own and his wry witty observations makes for a very entertaining journey as he tries to figure out what is important and what is not of value with all the ideas that have flowed from an eastern Buddhist philosophy.

Dan actually does not get to trying meditation until the book is almost half over and that is fine. His life's voyage to this spot is entertaining and sets the stage for why he needs to do this and gives him a vehicle to explain how it makes a positive difference in his life.

The book closes with how science has embraced and backed up the benefits of meditation and mindfulness and a helpful list to follow. I have just downloaded the accompanying PDF that comes with the book and will follow the meditation instructions. Dan suggests I start with five minutes a day. Not a bad investment of time if we can get ourselves 10% happier.

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184 people found this helpful

Waste of time!

Felt like Dan wanted to brag about his life so he wrote a book. Whole story can be summed up in 1 sentence: "I became 10% happier by meditating, you should try it!" There, now you don't have to waste your time reading this book.

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123 people found this helpful

I can’t believe I spent the time to listen to this

The TL;DR/L (listen): Dan Harris wanted to be a successful news anchor, put a ton of pressure on himself and was in stressful situations like war zones, started doing cocaine, had a panic attack on air (go figure), interviewed someone who piqued his interest in Buddhism and meditation, learned to meditate. It helped, as did stopping using cocaine. The end.

Listening to this drawn out to over 7 hours was painful. I should have quit listening earlier. He made a few funny jokes which made me think it would get better. It didn’t.

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117 people found this helpful

Inspired me to restart my meditation practice

I really enjoyed this book, for several reasons.

1. The author, a journalist with ABC who currently anchors Nightline and weekend Good Morning America, clearly knows how to tell a story. He spent years reporting on the war in Afghanistan and other hot spots around the world, and he takes the reader along as he negotiates the dog-eat-dog world of network television news. I found his behind-the-scenes tales of his love-hate relationship with Peter Jennings, rivalries between journalists and revelations about how anchors do their jobs worthwhile in and of themselves.

2. Beginning with his nationally-televised panic attack, Harris does not shirk from showing his “dark side.” Unlike most memoirists, he freely admits to being something of a jerk, and gives multiple examples of his jerky behavior. I found his candor refreshing and relatable
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3. To get his increasingly out-of-control life back under control, Harris did what lots of people do, he read a self-help book. In fact, he read lots of self-help books. But unlike most people, he had access to the authors. So he went about interviewing gurus of the self-help movement like Eckhart Tolle and Deepak Chopra. He managed to keep on his journalist hat during these meetings and, unlike many others, is willing to say that the emperor has no clothes on. I have always felt vaguely uncomfortable about many of these gurus, and so having a nationally known journalist call them out for their completely unrealistic claims of never having an unhappy thought and all that bull about the law of attraction was terrifically validating. His self-deprecating stories of his first forays into meditation are some of the funniest parts of the book.

4. That someone as skeptical as Harris finds meditation helpful and eventually comes out of the closet to his coworkers about being “a meditator” made me reassess my own feeble attempts to meditate. Harris quotes some compelling evidence of the effectiveness of meditation and then shows how it has helped him in concrete ways. He does not claim to have had some amazing conversion, but rather says he continues to have negative thoughts and sometimes struggles to quiet the “jerk” inside his head. In other words, he’s a regular guy like you and me, and that is ultimately what makes this a five-star read.

[I listened to this as an audio book read by the author. His anchor voice serves the material well and I would highly recommend this version of the book.]

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108 people found this helpful

Spoke to the cynic in me

What did you love best about 10% Happier?

I loved that it got a cynic like me to actually try meditation and get past my previous belief that there was no way I could ever do it. I really recommend this for anyone who thinks they wouldn't be able to 'clear' their mind or thoughts enough - that is what I thought and it turns out what the author started off thinking too. This book took me on a journey - one that I ultimately enjoyed. I felt like it was taking a while to get to the punchline but I'm glad I stuck it out - because this is the first book to explain mindfulness to me in a way I could understand.

Who was your favorite character and why?

I liked Dan Harris's refreshing honesty about himself and his own ego and mistakes. It made for some funny and also very touching moments, but it also gave me inspiration to be as honest with myself.

What about Dan Harris’s performance did you like?

It's great to hear the author of a memoir telling their own story, and his professional experience obviously helps make his performance as good as it is.

What did you learn from 10% Happier that you would use in your daily life?

Dan uses some great analogies throughout the book that sat really well with me - my favourite was of your thoughts being like water going over a waterfall and that the trick is not just to flow over with them but to try and sit behind the water and watch it. That really clicked for me for some reason.

Any additional comments?

Some people have said this isn't a self-help book but it has really helped me - even tho my meditation practice is slow going, I've just become more mindful of my thoughts and reactions since reading it. I think it will sit well with you if you are interested in meditation as a concept but not keen on the airy fairy incense burning reputation - I like that Dan investigates how to be calmer while not losing your ambition and competitive edge.

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101 people found this helpful

It's all about Dan Harris not spirituality

If you love Dan Harris then you'll love this book; it's all about Dan, and how the universe effects Dan. If you want to learn about spirituality, listen to Mindfulness in the Great Courses Series.

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68 people found this helpful

Took to long to get to the point

What disappointed you about 10% Happier?

The narrator did a good job with the story but the point of the whole book could have been written in a blog post.

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41 people found this helpful