Surprise
Embrace the Unpredictable and Engineer the Unexpected
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- £6.99
Publisher Description
"This book isn't about what you think it is."
--Seth Godin, author of What To Do When It's Your Turn
"An important how-to on making surprise into a habit to spark the best possible kind of change and progress in our work, relationships and ideas."
--Kelly Stoetzel, Content director at TED
"I've always loved the element of surprise, but it wasn't until reading this charming book that I fully understood why--and how to bring more of it into my life and the world."
--Adam Grant, Wharton professor, magician, and New York Times bestselling author of Give and Take
"Surprise! This delightful book will turn your understanding of predictability upside down. Take it from someone who loves routine and order: the unexpected lessons of this book can improve your life."
--Chris Guillebeau, NYT bestselling author of The Happiness of Pursuit and The $100 Startup
‘Surprise’ is a fascinating look at how we can handle and harness surprise in our work, relationships, and everyday lives.
Pop Quiz!
Do you prefer when:
A) Things go according to plan?
B) When the unexpected happens?
Most of us pick control and predictability. Yet research reveals a counterintuitive truth: surprise is the key that unlocks growth, innovation, and connection. It is also the secret ingredient in our best memories.
Through colorful narratives and compelling scientific findings, authors Tania Luna and Dr. LeeAnn Renninger shine a light on the world's least understood and most intriguing emotion. They reveal how shifting our perception of surprise lets us thrive in the face of uncertainty. And they show us how surprise acts as a shortcut that turns a typical product into a meaningful experience, a good idea into a viral one, awkward small talk into engaging conversation, and daily life into an adventure.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This is a vibrant, readable foray into the potential and the proper place for surprise in our lives. Authors Renninger and Luna, founder and head of the culture department at LifeLabs New York respectively, prove both knowledgeable and personable guides. Through their animated narrative, we learn to see the world with fresh eyes, learning, for instance, of surprise's possible evolutionary basis in the "fight or flight" instinct. Perhaps the book's most appealing aspect is its lively presentation, which sprinkles the pages with inventive terms, from the Struggle Sandwich to the Surprise Seesaw, and visual components that clearly illustrate verbal concepts. Chapters are also punctuated by helpful "cheat sheets" that give synopses of the surprises therein. In a world that often seems keen on eliminating the unexpected with predictive technologies, this book suggests that an element of surprise might prove all the more necessary. As such, this entertaining, smartly packaged book leaves readers with a full set of practical tools geared toward making everyone surprise-seekers in their own lives.
