Love this author. He has a subtle quirkiness about him. I wasn't able to take notes in the first half of the boo due to driving a bus with the football team. So this one is a definite reread but not just because I missed out but because it was chocky-jam full of good stuff. The bit on friends was really good. I was only able to take a few notes from it.


Notes:


The famous question 'what is the meaning of life' didn't start to surface until people started to be lonely in the 1800s. Belonging is the meaning of life. Our species superpower is corroboration. Meaning and belonging come wrapped in the same package as stories. The primary purpose of stories is not the truth but rather unity. News stories can unite us if the old stories haven't.

Empathy; that's when the line between you and others becomes blurred. A true friend is another self apart of you. The fragility of friendship makes it pure because there's no binding contract type relationship like with a spouse or even family.

A brain in love and an OCD brain are very similar.

The single biggest problem with communication is the illusion that it has taken place.

Shyness is actually correlated with lower marital satisfaction. Ahhh haaa all you shy people.

Everyone asks how you got together no one asks how you stayed together.

Lonely people spend as much time with others as non lonely people do so loneliness is about a lack of a feeling of meaningful connection.

Real medicine works better and someone shows us they care. This can be applied to physical fitness, healthy diets, and our jobs. Care is central to the placebo effect.

Loneliness heightens your attention to negative emotions because you're not safe you have no one looking out for you. And your body knows historically that this is bad for homo sapiens.

The Amish decide what technology to use by the effect it has on the closeness of the community. For example, tractors help you grow crops but cars make you live further apart.

If you try to be happy you probably won't because the Western definition of happiness is individualism and me me me.

Look for the book called pirates prisoners and lepers.

Death is only the end if you assume the story is about you. Good stories aren't a one-man show.

Stories may well be lies but they are good lies that tell true things. - Niel Gaimen