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How to Be Human: The Manual
How to Be Human: The Manual | Ruby Wax
12 posts | 7 read | 9 to read
*FROM THE NUMBER ONE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF FRAZZLED* It took us 4 billion years to evolve to where we are now. No question, anyone reading this has won the evolutionary Hunger Games by the fact you're on all twos and not some fossil. This should make us all the happiest species alive - most of us aren't, what's gone wrong? We've started treating ourselves more like machines and less like humans. We're so used to upgrading things like our iPhones: as soon as the new one comes out, we don't think twice, we dump it. (Many people I know are now on iWife4 or iHusband8, the motto being, if it's new, it's better.) We can't stop the future from arriving, no matter what drugs we're on. But even if nearly every part of us becomes robotic, we'll still, fingers crossed, have our minds, which, hopefully, we'll be able use for things like compassion, rather than chasing what's 'better', and if we can do that we're on the yellow brick road to happiness. I wrote this book with a little help from a monk, who explains how the mind works, and also gives some mindfulness exercises, and a neuroscientist who explains what makes us 'us' in the brain. We answer every question you've ever had about: evolution, thoughts, emotions, the body, addictions, relationships, kids, the future and compassion. How to be Human is extremely funny, true and the only manual you'll need to help you upgrade your mind as much as you've upgraded your iPhone.
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review
Jeg
Jeg
How to Be Human: The Manual | Ruby Wax
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Bailedbailed

Thought I would like this but I had to give up.

12 likes
quote
Jeg
Jeg
How to Be Human: The Manual | Ruby Wax
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Just started this book . So much in it for me. This stood out this morning.

8 likes
review
Nicki_K
Nicki_K
How to Be Human: The Manual | Ruby Wax
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Mehso-so

I really wanted to like this book, I usually find Ruby Wax to be very funny and interesting. This is marketed as a self help book in which Ruby enlists the help of a Buddhist and a neuroscientist to explain the workings of the human body and mindfulness etc. It was what I would call an ok read, in that I didn't hate it, wish I had never read it, nor is it a book I would ever find myself recommending to others or chatting about to my friends.

4 likes
blurb
GlassAsDiamonds
GlassAsDiamonds
How to Be Human: The Manual | Ruby Wax
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Hysterically funny but not comedy - Ruby Wax in conversation with Jerry Pinto about her struggles with mental illness and the practical coping mechanisms she found. Weirdly enough, on the strength of the session, I‘d highly recommend her books for anyone wondering about the brain or mental illness. Précis: fix yourself, then go save the world. ? Honorable mention to moderator Jerry Pinto who I love and appears tomorrow as well!

22 likes
quote
Broccolin001
Broccolin001
How to Be Human: The Manual | Ruby Wax
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review
laurieluna
laurieluna
How to Be Human: The Manual | Ruby Wax
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Mehso-so

A so-so. It was an engaging read, but I wanted more. The layout was weird (I think the mindfulness exercises should have been at the end of each chapter not clumped together at the end) and my favourite bits were the transcripts with the neuroscientist and the monk, and wanted these to be longer. Overall though, a simple and thought provoking look at our oh so human brain.

85 likes
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laurieluna
laurieluna
How to Be Human: The Manual | Ruby Wax
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There are so many parts I want to share, but this bit really caught my attention! 😱 The one person who shocked himself 120 times in 20 mins every time he felt bored?! How are people bored these days? I just don't get it. I love silence, time with my thoughts.

Cathythoughts I love my solitude too 💫 7y
TrishB Me too. Just don‘t get enough of it! 7y
laurieluna @TrishB yep! 😩 7y
See All 13 Comments
Sisasuku I do know some people who can't live anymore without some kind of media to occupy them. Music, videos, games, audiobooks, TV shows, apps on the smartphone, anything. They seem to be uncomfortable alone with their thoughts... 7y
laurieluna @Sisasuku I know people the same, sadly. People looked at me like I'd sprouted a second head when I deleted Facebook and Twitter last year, and I've stopped using Instagram too. If the toddler isn't actively watching what is on the TV I switch it off. I have to admit I do like having the radio on for Music when I'm cooking, but when in bed the silence is beautiful. 7y
AmyG If I am bored...I pick up a book. Yes, I know people, too, who can‘t sit still. I don‘t get it...I love my quiet time. 7y
quietlycuriouskate I think the only time I am actually bored is when I'm forced to be sociable. I do like a proper conversation (you know, with listening involved) but if someone's just bouncing their voice off me then it's equal parts boredom and annoyance. 7y
laurieluna @AmyG yes! There is a wealth of information in books, we have such an amazing world to discover. I love going to our local woods for a walk, listening to nature as well. 7y
laurieluna @River_Voice that's what Facebook felt like to me. People just throwing their opinions into their echo chambers, hoping to get a reaction out of people with no deeper meaning. If I'm out with a group of people larger than 5/6 I start to struggle and back into a shell. Putting myself out there with the York tripas I relate to people on here. X 7y
quietlycuriouskate Ugh, yes, about Facebook! My comment was (rather meanly) in reference to time spent with my mother-in-law, or with my dad. Feeling trapped in a room and not being able to hear myself think, never mind sneak off with a book. (Kudos to you for the York trip: I've stalled on taking the possibility of a SW one any further.) 7y
Billypar My worst experience with boredom now is being dragged to a particular kind of movie in the theater- not just a bad one, but with a lazy, Hollywood script that has zero creativity. You can't look away or do anything else. Give me 20 min of silence please! 7y
laurieluna @River_Voice yep. I have few relatives like that. Less about conversation more about liking the sound of their own voice for some of them. 7y
laurieluna @Billypar I'm not a fan of cinemas anyway, all the cruching and chatter. Can never concentrate on the film. Prefer to get the bluray when it comes out and curl up on my own sofa. 7y
95 likes1 stack add13 comments
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laurieluna
laurieluna
How to Be Human: The Manual | Ruby Wax
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😂 This book has me laughing my head off at 25 pages in!

86 likes2 stack adds
blurb
laurieluna
laurieluna
How to Be Human: The Manual | Ruby Wax
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Read the opening chapter of this to gauge whether it would be my next read or not, and it's a big fat yes! Really looking forward to the parts where Thubten and Ash (The Monk and Neuroscientist) pitch in! Going to finish my 2 current reads (60% done with both of them) then dive into this 😊

Cathythoughts I love this idea of the monk & the neuroscientist .... brilliant ❤️ 7y
laurieluna @Cathythoughts I definitely think it was a spark of genius on Ruby's part to include them. Our heart and head are very much linked and I don't think the meeting of science and spirituality has come together like this in a book before! 😊 7y
89 likes1 stack add2 comments
blurb
CJEskriett
CJEskriett
How to Be Human: The Manual | Ruby Wax
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3 likes
blurb
laurieluna
laurieluna
How to Be Human: The Manual | Ruby Wax
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As per what usually happens when we go food shopping at the big supermarket, I always have to go via the clothes and books! New outfit because I'm down a size since having Robbie, and 2 new books to help me get back on track mentally. Looking forward to both of these! 😄

Birdsong28 Do you follow Gill Sims on Facebook? It's under Peter and Jane 📚📖 7y
laurieluna @Birdsong28 I don't! Just saw this and related. I don't use facebook either, but I'll have a gander on instagram 😊 7y
73 likes2 comments