Awe

From a foremost expert on the science of emotions, a groundbreaking exploration into the history, psychology and meaning of awe

Award-winning social psychologist Dacher Keltner has spent his career speaking to different groups of people, from schoolchildren to prisoners to healthcare workers, about happiness and the good life. These conversations and his pioneering research into the science of emotion have convinced him that happiness comes down to one thing: finding awe.

In Awe, Dacher Keltner presents a radical investigation into this elusive emotion, which allows us to collaborate with others, to open our minds to wonder, and to see the deep patterns of life. Drawing on his own scientific research into how awe transforms our brains and bodies, alongside an examination of awe across history, culture, and within his own life during a period of immense grief, Keltner shows us how cultivating wonder in our everyday life leads us to appreciate what is most humane in our human nature. The book includes intensely moving, deeply personal stories of awe from people all over the world-doctors and veterans, environmentalists and poets, indigenous scholars and hospice workers, ministers and midwives.

At turns radical and profound, brimming with enlightening and practical insights, Awe is our field guide for how to uncover everyday wonder as a vital force within our lives.