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Product Description
Mail on Sunday
`Richard Wiseman offers quick and quirky techniques to help people achieve their aims and ambitions in minutes.'
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
New Scientist
`This is a self-help book, but with a difference: almost everything in it is underpinned by peer-reviewed and often fascinating research.'
--This text refers to the Paperback edition.
--This text refers to the Paperback edition.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
775 of 784 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is an easy and enjoyable book to read - the kind that you can dip in and out of, picking up interesting tips along the way. For each topic, Wiseman discusses a number of research experiments (both his own and ones done by others) and then gives a number of concrete suggestions on how you can quickly implement these findings - although 59 seconds is often a stretch. And why the title of this review? Because one of the things I learned from reading this book was the fact that if you've just had a caffeinated drink, you are far more likely to be swayed by someone else's opinion!
The book is based on the premise that quick techniques can sometimes be surprisingly effective at helping us to change and explains (based on research studies) which ones work and which don't. Some examples that I found interesting were:
- a simple five day writing exercise that can lift your mood for several weeks (essentially a more structured gratitude diary)
- how spending money on experiences is a far more effective way to make yourself happy than spending it on things
- how punching a pillow to relieve anger actually increases your anger, while sitting quietly and thinking about how you benefited (or at least learned) from the experience has the opposite effect
- conversational techniques that can build instant rapport on a first date (the trick is to use topics that create intimacy)
- exercises to stimulate the unconscious mind that lead to better decision making
- simple tests to assess your child's emotional intelligence.
Like Quirkology: The Curious Science of Everyday Lives, the book also has lots of facts that seem to have been included just because they're interesting. So we learn that people with bumper stickers are more aggressive drivers, that having a photo of a baby in your wallet significantly increases the chance of it being returned if you lose it, that your initials can influence your life expectancy and that adding plants to an office increases the number of creative ideas that employees will have.
The chapter list gives a good indication of the subjects covered in the book:
1. Happiness
2. Persuasion
3. Motivation
4. Creativity
5. Attraction
6. Stress
7. Relationships
8. Decision Making
9. Parenting
10. Personality
The book is based on the premise that quick techniques can sometimes be surprisingly effective at helping us to change and explains (based on research studies) which ones work and which don't. Some examples that I found interesting were:
- a simple five day writing exercise that can lift your mood for several weeks (essentially a more structured gratitude diary)
- how spending money on experiences is a far more effective way to make yourself happy than spending it on things
- how punching a pillow to relieve anger actually increases your anger, while sitting quietly and thinking about how you benefited (or at least learned) from the experience has the opposite effect
- conversational techniques that can build instant rapport on a first date (the trick is to use topics that create intimacy)
- exercises to stimulate the unconscious mind that lead to better decision making
- simple tests to assess your child's emotional intelligence.
Like Quirkology: The Curious Science of Everyday Lives, the book also has lots of facts that seem to have been included just because they're interesting. So we learn that people with bumper stickers are more aggressive drivers, that having a photo of a baby in your wallet significantly increases the chance of it being returned if you lose it, that your initials can influence your life expectancy and that adding plants to an office increases the number of creative ideas that employees will have.
The chapter list gives a good indication of the subjects covered in the book:
1. Happiness
2. Persuasion
3. Motivation
4. Creativity
5. Attraction
6. Stress
7. Relationships
8. Decision Making
9. Parenting
10. Personality
205 of 210 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Richard Wiseman has journeyed into the badlands of self-help books with a train of porters carrying academic research on what actually does work when it comes to fulfilling all those rather grandiose goals(losing weight, finding (or indeed fighting as I first typed) the perfect mate, or becoming hugely rich and impossibly attractive). One effect of this is that he packs a lot more advice into the book because the researchers finish off rather quickly some of the wackier (but sadly ineffective) theories that are often used to pad out self-help manuals.
The book therefore has at least two uses. Firstly, it is amusing to see what does work and why it might work (one needs to be careful in assuming the rationales have the same degree of scientific rigour). Secondly, there is some very good advice in here if you want to deal with various problems. My favourites are smiling in front of the mirror with a pencil between your teeth (increases well-being) and the starting a difficult task so you get sucked into finishing it (defeats procrastination). Something that entertains and informs, I recommend it.
The book therefore has at least two uses. Firstly, it is amusing to see what does work and why it might work (one needs to be careful in assuming the rationales have the same degree of scientific rigour). Secondly, there is some very good advice in here if you want to deal with various problems. My favourites are smiling in front of the mirror with a pencil between your teeth (increases well-being) and the starting a difficult task so you get sucked into finishing it (defeats procrastination). Something that entertains and informs, I recommend it.
41 of 42 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Most would agree that Quirkology: The Curious Science Of Everyday Lives was a brilliant book. So, given its strength, I bought 'Did You Spot The Gorilla' and was very disappointed by what felt like a rushed out book(let! of barely a 100 pages), and a poor distant cousin of Quirkology. Thus it was with some degree of hesitation, that I recently bought :59 Seconds...
And was I happy with it? Very much so. Professor Wiseman has definitely returned with gusto! 59:seconds is a book which proves that the man who wrote Quirkology had plenty more tricks up his sleeve. Although some have unjustly criticised his straying off course at times - insofar as when he has an interesting social experiment's results to hand, he cannot help himself, and slips same into the text - even when the accompanying pages may have less relevance to the results he's just disclosed. But I still say: interesting reading is interesting reading! And so what if the professor has seasoned his text with some liberal snippets of curiously entertaining information!? The book is all the better - not worse - for it.
In this most interesting & well written book, he seeks to find out if it's possible to change your life (from decision making and parenting to creativity, stress and relationships etc.) in the minimal of time? And, some 340 pages later, you'll be in no doubt that it is. It's clear that Professor Wiseman took no shortcuts in writing this book, which has some 27 pages of extensive reference notes; and is to be congratulated for producing arguably one of the best books on 'self help' ever written. On that note, Happiness Hypothesis: Putting Ancient Wisdom to the Test of Modern Science is another most brilliant book which takes a slightly different approach, but is also strongly recommended to you. Both books succeed in appealing to a wide audience, without being patronising, and do not labour readers with too much academic jargon etc.
Lastly, I am at a loss as to why at the time of writing this review, :59 Seconds has only 4/5 stars! It deserves far greater praise. Nonetheless, I very much look forward to what Professor Wiseman will publish next.
And was I happy with it? Very much so. Professor Wiseman has definitely returned with gusto! 59:seconds is a book which proves that the man who wrote Quirkology had plenty more tricks up his sleeve. Although some have unjustly criticised his straying off course at times - insofar as when he has an interesting social experiment's results to hand, he cannot help himself, and slips same into the text - even when the accompanying pages may have less relevance to the results he's just disclosed. But I still say: interesting reading is interesting reading! And so what if the professor has seasoned his text with some liberal snippets of curiously entertaining information!? The book is all the better - not worse - for it.
In this most interesting & well written book, he seeks to find out if it's possible to change your life (from decision making and parenting to creativity, stress and relationships etc.) in the minimal of time? And, some 340 pages later, you'll be in no doubt that it is. It's clear that Professor Wiseman took no shortcuts in writing this book, which has some 27 pages of extensive reference notes; and is to be congratulated for producing arguably one of the best books on 'self help' ever written. On that note, Happiness Hypothesis: Putting Ancient Wisdom to the Test of Modern Science is another most brilliant book which takes a slightly different approach, but is also strongly recommended to you. Both books succeed in appealing to a wide audience, without being patronising, and do not labour readers with too much academic jargon etc.
Lastly, I am at a loss as to why at the time of writing this review, :59 Seconds has only 4/5 stars! It deserves far greater praise. Nonetheless, I very much look forward to what Professor Wiseman will publish next.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Good Book With Some Original Information
This is my favourite Prof Wiseman book. The techniques he describes are really simple and get results quickly (obviously thats the point of the book). Read more
Published 26 days ago by Joseph Benn
Prepare for a brain explosion
Brilliant book. Richard is that rare combination of thorough and entertaining. He takes apart our assumptions and replaces them with approaches that actually work. Read more
Published 1 month ago by M. Cantwell
A useful compilation, but read between the lines
People who read a lot of this kind of material will agree that this book is more of a compilation than a myth destroyer, since most of the research quoted is now common knowledge,... Read more
Published 1 month ago by James Taylor
A very interesting and clever book
If,like me, you are dissmissive of the self-help genre you will find that this book hits the mark without the wishful thinking. Read more
Published 1 month ago by John Macklin
Another Wiseman Classic
59 Seconds is another great book by Professor Richard Wiseman. In which he distills many pop psychology issues into 'bite size chunks' that can be understood in 59 seconds. Read more
Published 1 month ago by SGW
Self help that's really helpful
OK so you read those self help books before and they all seem much of a muchness. Why invest time in yet another? Read more
Published 2 months ago by Bm Levitan
Useful and a good read
A great little book providing some proven self-help ideas in bitesize chunks. The real value of the book is in debunking self-help myths and being based on psychological studies. Read more
Published 2 months ago by A reader
Finally, self help on a scientifically proven basis.
Richard Wiseman is speaking to his friend Sophie, a 'bright, successful thirty-something' when she asks him what he thinks of the self-help industry. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Jo Bennie
Loads of good info but a bit of a slog
An obscene amount of research has gone into to this and as a result there are some excellent insights. However I found the style very monotonous. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Howard Pearson
Self-help based on scientific research
This book offers a collection of quick self-help techniques based on psychological research, demystifying common myths about motivation (e.g. Read more
Published 3 months ago by M.I.
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