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The Sweet Spot
- The Pleasures of Suffering and the Search for Meaning
- Narrated by: Sean Patrick Hopkins
- Length: 7 hrs and 48 mins
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Publisher's Summary
From the author of Against Empathy comes a different kind of happiness book, one that shows us how suffering is an essential source of both pleasure and meaning in our lives.
Why do we so often seek out physical pain and emotional turmoil? We go to movies that make us cry, or scream, or gag. We poke at sores, eat spicy foods, immerse ourselves in hot baths, run marathons. Some of us even seek out pain and humiliation in sexual role-play. Where do these seemingly perverse appetites come from?
Drawing on groundbreaking findings from psychology and brain science, The Sweet Spot shows how the right kind of suffering sets the stage for enhanced pleasure. Pain can distract us from our anxieties and help us transcend the self. Choosing to suffer can serve social goals; it can display how tough we are or, conversely, can function as a cry for help. Feelings of fear and sadness are part of the pleasure of immersing ourselves in play and fantasy and can provide certain moral satisfactions. And effort, struggle, and difficulty can, in the right contexts, lead to the joys of mastery and flow.
But suffering plays a deeper role as well. We are not natural hedonists - a good life involves more than pleasure. People seek lives of meaning and significance; we aspire to rich relationships and satisfying pursuits, and this requires some amount of struggle, anxiety, and loss. Brilliantly argued, witty, and humane, Paul Bloom shows how a life without chosen suffering would be empty - and worse than that, boring.
Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
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What listeners say about The Sweet Spot
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
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- Kindle Customer
- 2021-12-08
Sweet Spot Misses the Mark
Was looking forward to this book. I thought it would explore meaning. While it did at times, overall I had trouble following the book’s message. Far too many references to experiments. While I appreciate the importance of supporting arguments with research, they became a distraction.
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