In this wise, humane inquiry, Csikszentmihalyi ( Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience ) argues that genetically programmed behaviors that once helped humans adapt and multiply now threaten our survival. These traits include obsessions with food and sex, addiction to pleasure, excessive rationality and a tendency to focus on the negative. A University of Chicago psychology professor, the author also believes we must free our minds of cultural illusions such as ethnocentric superiority or identification with one's possessions. He urges listeners to find ways to reduce the oppression, exploitation and inequality that are woven into the fabric of society. Further, he wants us to control the direction of human evolution by pursuing challenging activities that lead to greater complexity while opposting chaos and conformity. Each chapter concludes with self-help questions and mental exercises designed to help listeners apply the insights of this literate manifesto to their daily lives.
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Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi is distinguished professor of psychology and management at Claremont Graduate University. He is a former professor and chairman of the department of psychology at the University of Chicago. He is also the founder and codirector of the Quality of Life Research Center, a nonprofit research institute that studies “positive psychology.” His books include Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience and The Evolving Self, as well as numerous articles and contributions to other works.
Lloyd James (a.k.a. Sean Pratt) has been a working professional actor in theater, film, television, and voice-overs for more than thirty years. He has narrated over one thousand audiobooks and won numerous Earphones Awards and nominations for the Audie Award and the Voice Arts Award. He holds a BFA degree in acting from Santa Fe University, New Mexico.