Curious
The Desire to Know and Why Your Future Depends on It
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- 3,99 €
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- 3,99 €
Publisher Description
A fascinating multi-disciplinary analysis of why curiosity makes the world go round.
'A lovely, erudite exploration of what it is that makes us human' - Independent on Sunday
'I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious' Albert Einstein.
Everyone is born curious. But only some retain the habits of exploring, learning and discovering as they grow older. Which side of the 'curiosity divide' are you on?
In Curious Ian Leslie makes a passionate case for the cultivation of our desire to know. Curious people tend to be smarter, more creative and more successful. But at the very moment when the rewards of curiosity have never been higher, it is misunderstood and undervalued, and increasingly practised only by a cognitive elite.
Drawing on fascinating research from psychology, sociology and business, Curious looks at what feeds curiosity and what starves it, and uncovers surprising answers. Curiosity isn't a quality you can rely on to last a lifetime, but a mental muscle that atrophies without regular exercise. It's not a gift, but a habit that parents, schools, workplaces and individuals need to nurture if it is to thrive. Filled with inspiring stories, case studies and practical advice, Curious will change the way you think about your own mental life, and that of those around you.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this curiously uninspiring study, British journalist Leslie (Born Liars) superficially draws on science, psychology, and history to survey the evolution of curiosity in human life and culture and to lament its supposed recent decline. Leslie tracks the evolution of "diversive curiosity," which opens our eyes to the new around us; to "epistemic curiosity," the deeper and more disciplined kind of curiosity; and to "empathic curiosity," which causes us to wonder about others' thoughts and feelings and gives curiosity its deeply social quality. He then offers a brief historical survey of curiosity from the ancient world through the Middle Ages, when curiosity was often viewed as subversive and thus not encouraged, to the "age of questions," beginning with the Renaissance and going up to the mid-20th-century, when curiosity drove scientific developments. Leslie dubs the period from around 1945 until today the "age of answers," when the ready availability of answers to any question fostered a lack of curiosity about the world. As an antidote to the waning of curiosity in our time, Leslie offers seven ways to stay curious, including staying foolish, asking the big why, being a "thinkerer," and turning puzzles into mysteries, but the book's blandness mirrors the corporate and advertising worlds toward which it is geared.
