Audio only
Length11h 9m
About this audiobook
How We Break is the second part in the monumental How to Live trilogy, a profound and ambitious series that gets to the heart of what it means to be human.
As a therapist, Vincent Deary has a ringside seat at the theater of change, having witnessed firsthand how it’s done, and what it is that gets people stuck. As a researcher and reader, he knows that there are centuries of thought about habit and change, from the most ancient ethical and spiritual writings up to the most modern schools of psychotherapy and neuroscience. Deary’s three freestanding books bring these insights together, synthesizing them to produce a coherent vision of what human beings are like—how we work, how we break, and how we mend.
At the heart of these books is the insight that most of our lives are lived automatically. Consciousness has, on the whole, little to do with daily life. Moment to moment, we rely mostly on the vast store of automated practices that are “the cognitive unconscious” of modern neuroscience. This “cognitive unconscious” is distributed not only through our nerves and muscles, but also through our environment, our social network, and our culture. Human existence is, as such, largely reliant on “scaffolding,” an intricate supporting framework of cognitive prosthetics, both personal and communal. The purpose of the How to Live trilogy is to bring these hidden mechanisms to light and to show them at work beneath our daily life, in all our wounding and our healing.
The second book of the How We Live trilogy moves away from the journey of normal change, with all its resistance and excitement, and focuses on the journeys that get derailed, dealing with the common ways in which we break: trauma, anxiety, depression, doubt, despair, or simply getting into a rut. How We Break shows how the human animal gets stuck, not because of some “pathology,” but because of the nature of the creatures that we are and the kinds of processes that constitute our being. It shows that these derailments are a normal part of being human. The last chapter, “Escape Velocity,” discusses the tension between our inertia and our need for change, thereby setting the scene for the third book, How We Mend, where we look at deliberate change and where we watch people getting better.
Audiobook details
Rating★★★★ 4.2 (257)
Includes Goodreads, Amazon
GenrePsychology, Self-Help
Length11 hrs 9 mins
Narrated byRecorded Track
FormatAudiobook
Publish dateMay 21, 2024
LanguageEnglish
Series
More from Vincent Deary
What to Make of a LifeJim Collins13h 31m4.4 (794)$33 · $0.00
Braving the TruthRachel Held Evans11h 31m4.7 (359)$29 · $0.00
Level UpRob Dial7h 42m4.6 (3.3K)$26 · $0.00
As a JewSarah Hurwitz8h 36m4.6 (1.2K)$26 · $0.00
Saint Joan (Annotated)George Bernard Shaw6h 20m4.6 (1.2K)$1.20 · $0.00
Burn the HaystackJennie Young, PhD9h 30m4.6 (543)$29 · $0.00
Woman and the New Race (Annotated)Margaret Sanger6h 30m4.6 (1K)$1.99 · $0.00
Good InsideBecky Kennedy9h 55m4.5 (59.3K)$29 · $0.00
The Mis-Education of the NegroCarter Godwin Woodson5h 4m4.5 (29.4K)$1.20 · $0.00
Du Bois: EssaysW.E.B. Du Bois6h 22m4.6 (1.5K)$1 · $0.00
The North American Indian (Illustrated Edition)Edward S. Curtis, Frederick Webb Hodge5h 59m4.6 (1.4K)$2 · $0.00
Valley of the BirdtailAndrew Stobo Sniderman, Douglas Sanderson10h 1m4.6 (2.4K)$29 · $0.00
Lies My Therapist Told MeGreg E. Gifford9h 3m4.6 (503)$29 · $0.00
Disturbed in Their NestsAlephonsion Deng, Judy A. Bernstein11h 22m4.6 (595)$23 · $0.00
No Name in the StreetJames Baldwin5h4.5 (8.5K)$20 · $0.00
Narrative of the Life of Frederick DouglassFrederick Douglass4h 13m4.5 (309.9K)$1.20 · $0.00
Magic SeasonWade Rouse6h 41m4.6 (855)$24 · $0.00
Consent Laid BareChanel Contos7h 11m4.5 (1.7K)$24 · $0.00
The Big RevealSasha Velour6h 15m4.5 (2.1K)$24 · $0.00
EssaysGeorge Orwell26h 38m4.5 (8.4K)$4 · $0.00
Learning to PrayJames Martin13h 24m4.5 (3.4K)$33 · $0.00
The Gospel according to Spiritualism (Translated)Allan Kardec14h 39m4.6 (3.9K)$5.70 · $0.00
Birdie & HarlowTaylor Wolfe7h 50m4.6 (6.5K)$26 · $0.00
CrossroadsKaleb Dahlgren7h 56m4.6 (4.9K)$26 · $0.00
Life on the BridgeKaelynn Partlow5h 40m4.6 (1.1K)$24 · $0.00
Keep Your Love OnDanny Silk9h 4m4.6 (8.1K)$10 · $0.00
The Tao of Joy Every DayDerek Lin10h 24m4.6 (762)$20 · $0.00
UndividedVicky Beeching9h 2m4.6 (1.3K)$29 · $0.00
HE CAN WHO THINKS HE CAN & OTHER BOOKS ON SUCCESSOrison Swett Marden5h 54m4.6 (1.2K)$1.99 · $0.00
Level UpRob Dial7h 42m4.6 (3.3K)$26 · $0.00
Burn the HaystackJennie Young, PhD9h 30m4.6 (543)$29 · $0.00
ACRES OF DIAMONDS: Our Every-day Opportunities (Wisdom & Empowerment Series) (Annotated)Russell Conwell2h 26m4.6 (1K)$2 · $0.00
Good InsideBecky Kennedy9h 55m4.5 (59.3K)$29 · $0.00
The Lost VoiceGreta Morgan8h 30m4.7 (285)$26 · $0.00
Stripped DownBunnie Xo8h 25m4.5 (32.9K)$26 · $0.00
UnthinkableJamie Raskin15h 8m4.5 (9.3K)$8 · $0.00
Wallace D. Wattles Ultimate Collection Wallace D. Wattles16h 53m4.6 (1.3K)$1 · $0.00
Inquire WithinIn-Q2h 18m4.6 (993)$16 · $0.00
Under His WingsEmily Compagno7h 16m4.6 (848)$22 · $0.00
Eat It!Jordan Syatt, Michael Vacanti4h 40m4.6 (1.5K)$20 · $0.00
You may also like
That's What She SaidJoanne Lipman8h 29m4.1 (1.8K)$26 · $0.00
The Edinburgh Lectures on Mental ScienceT. Troward4h 1m4.4 (1.6K)$2 · $0.00
Above Lifes TurmoilJames Allen2h 12m4.1 (1.3K)$2.30 · $0.00
Personal GrowthSteve Pavlina1h 30m4.1 (5.1K)$12 · $0.00
The Science of Breath (translated)William Walker Atkinson2h 37m4.1 (3K)$4.60 · $0.00
The Essential EnneagramDavid Daniels, Virginia Price4h 30m4.0 (4.4K)$20 · $0.00
The Wisdom of LifeArthur Shopenhauer3h 20m4.2 (18.7K)$4.70 · $0.00
The Essays of Arthur Schopenhauer (translated)Arthur Schopenhauer4h 55m4.3 (3.2K)$4.70 · $0.00
A Buddhist BibleDwight Goddard7h 53m4.2 (1.3K)$1.20 · $0.00
How to Live on 24 Hours a DayArnold Bennett2h 4m3.6 (10.2K)$2 · $0.00
Let's Talk Mutual FundsMonika Halan7h 5m4.4 (2.4K)$16 · $0.00
Meditation Made EasyLorin Roche1h 35m4.2 (409)$16 · $0.00
The Healing Power Of The MindVanessa Scott5h 20m$7 · $0.00
The Power of Feminine EnergyAmelia Vazquez1h 53m4.4 (124)$14.99
The Psychology of Human NatureDaniel Hartmann7h 20m$11 · $0.00
The Secret of Success: How to Achieve Power, Success & Mental InfluenceWilliam Walker Atkinson24h4.0 (255)$2 · $0.00
Does self-knowledge come through searching?Jiddu Krishnamurti58m4.4 (13)$4 · $0.00
The Mind Beauty FarmRona Persichetti3h 46m$8.10 · $0.00
Enneagram: A Type-by-type Guide to Budgeting, Investing, and Building Wealth (The Essential Beginner's Guide to Discover Your True Personality Type, Unlock Personal Growth, and Build Stronger Relationships)Chester Murray1h$3.50 · $0.00
Shop 'Til You DropAva X. Brighton7h 12m$4.10 · $0.00