From a foremost expert on the science of emotions a ground-breaking exploration into the
history psychology and meaning of awe Social psychologist Dacher Keltner has spent his
career speaking to different groups of people from schoolchildren to prisoners to healthcare
workers about the good life. These conversations and his pioneering research into the science
of emotion have convinced him that happiness comes down to one thing: finding awe. Awe allows
us to collaborate with others open our minds to wonder and see the deep patterns of life. In
his new book Keltner presents a radical investigation into this elusive emotion. Drawing on
his own scientific research into how awe transforms our brains and bodies alongside an
examination of awe across history culture and within his own life during a period of immense
grief Keltner shows us how cultivating wonder leads us to appreciate what is most humane in
our human nature. The book includes intensely moving deeply personal stories of awe from
people all over the world - doctors and veterans environmentalists and filmmakers indigenous
scholars and hospice workers ministers and midwives poets and prisoners. At turns radical
and profound Awe is our field guide for how to uncover everyday wonder as a vital force within
our lives.
