Will I love Awe?

This book helped me think more deeply about the relationship between awe and other affirming emotional states, like happiness. (Favorite quote: “It is a civic duty to give people joy.”) It also reminded me, repeatedly, that awe is available for free, all around, all the time. And not just the goosebumps kind.

Sometimes, accessing awe is as simple as approaching whatever I encounter as if for the very first time. Keltner’s book is a look under the hood that doesn’t diminish or deaden its subject but rather revels in it.

In this book, Berkeley Psychologist Dacher Keltner explains the emerging scholarship he and his colleagues have conducted on the psychological significance of awe, an emotion we feel when in the presence of something vast that challenges our preconceptions.

I recommend this book because the underlying message—that awe opens our minds and pushes us away from our habitual way of seeing and engaging with the world—seems especially pertinent to a society of politically dogmatic and divided partisans. Part of our problem as a society is that we are stuck in rigid ways of thinking about political disputes. For us to overcome… show more.

We all struggle sometimes with feeling flat and uninspired. In plain English, this bright book is a welcome reminder to keep your eyes and ears open, to engage with nature and beauty and your own childlike sense of curiosity.

Consider this my consent that I’m available to take part in the author’s scientific studies of the art of “Everyday Wonder.” 

I always wondered, “What is this feeling of Oneness I find in nature?” Dacher Keltner’s book has answered my question—Awe.

This book blends his scientific research with his personal experience of awe. After all the losses of the Covid years, experiencing awe brings me hope, helps me feel connected to something greater than myself. Recalling the times I’d explored the California forests with my dear husband, who passed away during Covid, I resonated with Keltner’s discussion of exploring nature with his brother, who recently passed away.

He says he still feels his brother’s presence in the natural world… show more.