59 Seconds: Think a Little, Change a Lot

This is an absolute must read! What Dr. Wiseman has done is put together some of the most helpful findings that have come out of the field of Psychology. It is just as Simon Singh's blurb on the front cover says: "At last, a self-help guide that is based on proper research. Perfect for busy, curious, smart people." The subjects are Happiness, Persuasion, Motivation, Creativity, Attraction, Relationships, Stress, Decision Making, Parenting and Personality. Each Chapter is very straightforward - the research, the findings and then what you should remember - it's really very easy to read. I have given this book 5 stars because of the shear breadth of information Dr. Wiseman was able to put into it. He has distilled and packaged most of the crucial information you might find in some of these books: Happiness: The Science behind Your Smile, Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion (Collins Business Essentials), Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions (Revised & Expanded Edition), How We Decide, Covert Persuasion: Psychological Tactics and Tricks to Win the Game, The Art of Seduction, Why We Make Mistakes: How We Look Without Seeing, Forget Things in Seconds, and Are All Pretty Sure We Are Way Above Average, Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior or Personality: What Makes You the Way You Are. I really thought this book was the most helpful of this entire lot of books - highly recommended!

This is not your typical psychobabble with tons of boring "real life" individual stories of people's problems. It is an effective, up-beat book on how to get the best in life and without the cliche's. The studies are there to reinforce each point, but they don't overpower the messages. One of the best self-improvement books I have ever read. And I have read alot as I have a graduate degree in the psychology field.

As an author of a "how to" book Stone Soup: The Secret Recipe for Making Something from Nothing I was scrupulous to make sure my references all checked out. The number of urban myths that have been published in the name of self development is nearly overwhelming and having read Quirkology: How We Discover the Big Truths in Small Things Ricahard's other excellent book and having also participated in his online experiments I was very keen to keep anything unproven out of my work. So it was a delight to pick up Richard's new book which is a treasure trove of rigorously proven yet incredibly quick ways to develop yourself and your life for the better. 59 Seconds is eminently readable and a new must have for anyone who wants to really make their life better. I thoroughly and completely recommend it and if you don't own a kindle and can't get it right away then order it and while its being shipped try the exercise of gently holding a pencil crossways in your teeth without your lips touching it. The results are hilarious (especially if you do it with friends) and do really improve your mood!

Depressed? Overweight? Angry? Failed every which way but loose? No accident, my friend, but help is here. Pour a cup of tea, grab a comforter and thank god. I have some grounding in the study of psychology and much of its clinical research over the past 20 years, and know that Wiseman knows whereof he speaks. In addition to my academic study, I've so many books on these subjects that at a garage sale starring my self-help library, someone asked me if I was a psychiatrist. No, I said, I'm just nuts. Yes, it's true that Wiseman offers jokey (and political) asides that might annoy some readers, but that is nothing compared to the enormously helpful distillation of psychological research offered here and the ease of application to one's own life. The book is well organized, well written and lucid. It explains in lay terms why common and familiar "self-help" directives simply don't work, have never worked and are really no more than endlessly reiterated (and successfully marketed)myths. He then prescribes remedies that not only work fast, but have been proven by scientific study to provoke lasting change. Some are counterintuitive, some make immediate sense, all are easier than I had any right to expect. I was quite surprised, not only by how quickly Wiseman's recommendations work, but by the holding power of the changes that ensue. Good work, good book, badly needed and it's about time.