Self-help, with a twist
There is a secret to everything.
Not because it is hidden, but because it is extraordinarily difficult to see.
Can you discover it before this book reveals it?
Can you figure out the Secret to Everything before this unconventional self-help book reveals it? With insight from philosophy, religion, science, and more, a psychiatrist and philosopher shares deep wisdom and practical advice throughout—while saving the underlying secret for the end. —BookBub
This secret has been known to mystics and philosophers for millennia and is now finding unexpected support from modern science.
Each of the book’s ten chapters explores a different practical application of that insight while never naming it outright. At first glance, the chapters seem unrelated. Yet each illuminates the same hidden truth from a different angle. As you read, your challenge is to discover what connects them. The answer is revealed at the end, but don’t peek or you’ll spoil the game.
About the author
Dr Neel Burton is a psychiatrist, philosopher, and award-winning author who lives and teaches in Oxford, England. He is a Fellow of Green Templeton College at the University of Oxford and the recipient of the Society of Authors’ Richard Asher Prize, the British Medical Association’s Young Authors’ Award, the Medical Journalists’ Association Open Book Award, and a Best in the World Gourmand Award. His writing has appeared in Aeon, Psychology Today, and elsewhere, and has been translated into several languages.
What readers are saying
No other work of inspirational or self-help literature contains the sentence, ‘Let me paint you a picture of a Dionysian orgy.’ If another somehow did, it’s difficult to imagine its author justifying its inclusion so adeptly… Burton’s advice and conclusions are original even when drawn from the best-known writing of the world’s most famous thinkers. —The BookLife Prize
Neel Burton draws from religion, philosophy, art, and science, yet this never feels like a heavy text. It is highly accessible while remaining deeply thought-provoking. Each chapter ends with practical steps for life—and if you notice the parallels between them, you may just discover the Secret before the book reveals it. —Jamie Bee, Amazon.com Top 50 Reviewer
Burton offers gentle guidance for creating one’s personal credo that retains the possibility of a fearless, spontaneous experience of the unexpected. —The US Review of Books
Burton is never short of an interesting and sharp judgment. —Prof Peter Toohey, Psychology Today
Burton’s writing blends deep knowledge of his subject with lively anecdote and a genuine concern for how we might draw on the insights of psychology and philosophy to live a better life. Highly recommended! —Gareth Southwell, philosopher and writer
Contents
Introduction
- How to See
- How to Dream
- How to Be Religious
- How to Be Wise
- How to Be Fearless
- How to Live
- How to Love
- How to Win
- How to Party
- How to Think
Conclusion: The Secret to Everything
Read closely. Think deeply. Can you discover the Secret before the final page?
The Secret to Everything
There is a secret to everything.
Not because it is hidden, but because it is extraordinarily difficult to see.
I didn’t set out to write a book called The Secret to Everything. In fact, I spent years writing several different books before I realised that they were all circling the same central idea.
A few years ago, I wrote a self-help book for people with low mood in which I argued that the journey out of depression is one of learning: learning about oneself, learning life skills such as managing stress and coping with bad news, and, above all, learning to rediscover the little things that make life worth living and loving. I became convinced that the experience of depression can open us out onto a richer and brighter future—whence the title of that book, Growing from Depression.
As I heard back from readers and their relatives and carers, it became increasingly clear to me that everybody, and not just people with low mood, could benefit from this kind of learning and growing approach. After all, why wait until depression hits us to take action? If we start now, perhaps we can avoid depression altogether—and enjoy the benefits without also having to suffer the costs. At the same time, I noticed something else. Beneath books such as Hide and Seek, Heaven and Hell, and Hypersanity ran the same deep current. On the surface, they appeared to be about different subjects—self-deception, the emotions, and thinking skills—but underneath they were all asking the same question: how can we live more and suffer less?
I began to look at my writing from this new perspective, less as a collection of separate titles than as a single body of work. As I did, I noticed something curious. The same idea kept resurfacing, again and again, each time in a different context and a different form—almost as if, for all those years, I had been trying to tell myself something of the utmost importance.
These insights began to dance together in the vestibule of my mind until, one day, I thought, “Why not write something more focused and practical, and build it around that central, recurring idea?” The title, The Secret to Everything: How to Live More and Suffer Less, immediately suggested itself, with the “secret” being none other than that simple but profound insight that had been quietly running through all my work.
The secret is by no means original to me. It has been glimpsed by some of history’s greatest philosophers, mystics, scientists, poets, and artists—and is now finding unexpected support from modern science.
Each of the book’s ten chapters explores a different practical application of that insight while never naming it outright. At first glance, the chapters may seem to have little in common, but together they are woven around the same hidden thread. Your challenge, as you read, is to unravel the secret by discovering what connects the chapters. The answer comes at the end—but don’t peek, or you’ll spoil the game.
I hope you enjoy the quest.
You must be logged in to post a comment.