The Non-Obvious Book of the Week: Look Again by Tali Sharot & Cass R. Sunstein

Humans are great at habituation. We can get used to it when things are great, and we can get used to it when they aren’t too. Both situations can be a problem. The secret to really being more fulfilled may lie in our ability to dishabituate. That’s the simple premise Look Again, a book that delves into the social science and research behind why challenging yourself to do this more frequently matters. It’s a message that resonated immediately for me, as did one of the opening stories where the authors share a relatable story of two women with nearly identical lives. Happy marriage, healthy children, nice home. All the external factors. The difference? One woman travels often for work, returning home and appreciating all that she has because she has frequent times away from it. The other, who doesn’t have the same travel schedule, struggles to find the same appreciation.

Of course, it doesn’t happen this way for everyone—but the travel itself is a force which helps create dishabituation and this quality makes it useful to remind anyone to appreciate what they do have. We hear advice like this often: appreciate what you have. Be grateful. In Look Again, the authors offer a practical way to really put this into action by honing your ability to notice what is already there … but easy to miss.

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About the Non-Obvious Book Selection of the Week:

Every week I will be featuring a new “non-obvious” book selection worth sharing. Titles featured here may be new or from the backlist, but the date of publication doesn’t really matter. My goal is to elevate great books that perhaps deserve a second look which you might have otherwise missed.