“You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing which you think you cannot do.”—Eleanor Roosevelt. What are we afraid of and what can we do about it? Fear—of change, of intimacy, of loss, of the unknown—has become a corrosive influence in modern life, eroding our ability to think clearly. Exploited for power by politicians and for money by the media, it has become embedded in the way we think about our lives. Overcoming our fear, says Gordon Livingston, constitutes the most difficult struggle we face. Dr. Livingston, a psychiatrist, has increasingly found himself prescribing virtues like courage to his patients instead of tranquilizers or antidepressants. Here, he presents us with thirty truths that tell us all what we need to do to develop personal virtues in the face of societal and our own individual fears. And he does this with the crystalline prose and leavening wit that have made him an internationally bestselling author. As the celebrated novelist Mark Helprin has said of Dr. Livingston: “To read him is to trust him and to learn, for his life has been touched by fire, and his motives are absolutely pure.”
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"A thoughtful mediation on the American culture of fear that is different from what you would expect, but you'll enjoy anyway."
— Tiffany (4 out of 5 stars)
" I didn't find this overly helpful. A lot of it seemed trite and like I had heard and/or read it many times before. No really concrete methods to help with fear. "
— Donna, 9/27/2013" Just a platform for his political agenda - but has some really good quotes at the front of each chapter "
— Donita, 4/2/2013" excellent. it's good to be made to feel uncomfortable occasionally. "
— Gregory, 10/21/2012Gordon Livingston, MD, a graduate of West Point who was awarded the Bronze Star for valor in Vietnam, is a psychiatrist and writer who contributes frequently to the Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, and Baltimore Sun. He has also been featured on Why Not? with Shania Twain, which aired on the Oprah Winfrey Network. He lives and works in Columbia, Maryland.
Sean Runnette, an Earphones Award–winning narrator, has also directed and produced more than two hundred audiobooks, including several Audie Award winners. He is a member of the American Repertory Theater company and has toured the United States and internationally with ART and Mabou Mines. His television and film appearances include Two If by Sea, Cop Land, Sex and the City, Law & Order, the award-winning film Easter, and numerous commercials.