First published 2021
New York Times bestselling journalist Duff McDonald planned to write about society's measurement obsession and how it damages happiness and decision making while boosting corporate capitalism. Then 2020 arrived and nothing followed his plan. During quarantine's stillness, McDonald examined his own life assumptions and reconsidered his book project. He reframed his work as an exploration of what he terms the "precision paradox," the tension between wanting ease and needing control. McDonald documents his journey away from precision toward presence in work, relationships, and what he calls the "science of experience." He draws from sources ranging from Borges to Buddha to Bob Dylan to Harry Potter. The author asks what he should have focused on: things he loves rather than things that anger him, things that "tickle" him. Part memoir and part self help guide, the book chronicles McDonald's personal transformation while inviting readers to discover their own sources of joy and presence.
Genres: self-help, memoir, non-fiction, 21st-century
Vibes: emotional-atmospheric, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: memoir, self-discovery
301 pages · Kindle Edition · Harper