by Pascal Bruckner (2010)
Happiness today is not just a possibility or an option but a requirement and a duty. To fail to be happy is to fail utterly. Happiness has become a religion--one whose smiley-faced god looks down in rebuke upon everyone who hasn't yet attained the blessed state of perpetual euphoria. How has a liberating principle of the Enlightenment--the right to pursue happiness--become the unavoidable and burdensome responsibility to be happy? How did we become unhappy about not being happy--and what might we do to escape this predicament? In Perpetual Euphoria, Pascal Bruckner takes up these questions with all his unconventional wit, force, and brilliance, arguing that we might be happier if we simply abandoned our mad pursuit of happiness.
Michael Dahlem
"This work combines an analysis of the Western philosophical tradition with the insights of Eastern mysticism and modern physics to offer a series of recommendations aimed at achieving the goal of human happiness."--BOOK JACKET.
Shelton A. Gunaratne
"The Dao of the Press attempts to de-Westernize communication theory. It interprets press theory from the perspective of Eastern philosophy - particularly Buddhism, Hinduism, Daoism, and Confucianism - and the emerging theory of living systems, which combines the Santiago School's interpretation of cognition and autopoiesis, and the Brussels School's interpretation of dissipative structures. It also draws from quantum physics, post-Parsonsian systems thinking, and world-systems analysis to derive a more humanocentric theoretical framework that reflects the integration of Eastern ontology with Western epistemology."--Jacket.
Carolyn Merchant
An examination of the Scientific Revolution that shows how the mechanistic world view of modern science has sanctioned the exploitation of nature, unrestrained commercial expansion, and a new socioeconomic order that subordinates women.
Todd G. Buchholz
A former White House director of economic policy makes the outrageous argument that we don't really want to relax--we want to compete. We think we will be happy when we have some downtime--when we can finally go on vacation, disconnect, shut down. But in this provocative book, Todd Buchholz will convince you that what you really want is to chase your tail--even if you never catch it. Weaving in everything from neuroeconomics to evolutionary biology to Renaissance art to General Motors, Buchholz will convince you that the race to compete has not only made us taller and smarter, it's what we love and need.--From publisher description.