The Worm at the Core: On the Role of Death in Life Book PDF, ePub eBook

Join our eBook service for unlimited books & audiobooks. Get a free 7 day subscription! ↓↓↓↓↓


Book Descriptions:
A transformative, fascinating theory—based on robust and groundbreaking experimental research—reveals how our unconscious fear of death powers almost everything we do, shining a light on the hidden motives that drive human behavior
 
More than one hundred years ago, the American philosopher William James dubbed the knowledge that we must die “the worm at the core” of the human condition. In 1974, cultural anthropologist Ernest Becker won the Pulitzer Prize for his book The Denial of Death, arguing that the terror of death has a pervasive effect on human affairs. Now authors Sheldon Solomon, Jeff Greenberg, and Tom Pyszczynski clarify with wide-ranging evidence the many ways the worm at the core guides our thoughts and actions, from the great art we create to the devastating wars we wage.
 
The Worm at the Core is the product of twenty-five years of in-depth research. Drawing from innovative experiments conducted around the globe, Solomon, Greenberg, and Pyszczynski show conclusively that the fear of death and the desire to transcend it inspire us to buy expensive cars, crave fame, put our health at risk, and disguise our animal nature. The fear of death can also prompt judges to dole out harsher punishments, make children react negatively to people different from themselves, and inflame intolerance and violence.
 
But the worm at the core need not consume us. Emerging from their research is a unique and compelling approach to these deeply existential issues: terror management theory. TMT proposes that human culture infuses our lives with order, stability, significance, and purpose, and these anchors enable us to function moment to moment without becoming overwhelmed by the knowledge of our ultimate fate. The authors immerse us in a new way of understanding human evolution, child development, history, religion, art, science, mental health, war, and politics in the twenty-first century. In so doing, they also reveal how we can better come to terms with death and learn to lead lives of courage, creativity, and compassion.
 
Written in an accessible, jargon-free style, The Worm at the Core offers a compelling new paradigm for understanding the choices we make in life—and a pathway toward divesting ourselves of the cultural and personal illusions that keep us from accepting the end that awaits us all.

Praise for The Worm at the Core
 
“The idea that nearly all human individual and cultural activity is a response to death sounds far-fetched. But the evidence the authors present is compelling and does a great deal to address many otherwise intractable mysteries of human behaviour. This is an important, superbly readable and potentially life-changing book.”—The Guardian (U.K.)

“A neat fusion of ideas borrowed from sociology, anthropology, existential philosophy and psychoanalysis.”—The Herald (U.K.)

“Deep, important, and beautifully written, The Worm at the Core describes a brilliant and utterly original program of scientific research on a force so powerful that it drives our lives.”—Daniel Gilbert, Edgar Pierce Professor of Psychology, Harvard University, and author of Stumbling on Happiness
 
“As psychology becomes increasingly trivial, devolving into the promotion of positive-thinking platitudes, The Worm at the Core bucks the trend. The authors present—and provide robust evidence for—a psychological thesis with disturbing personal as well as political implications.”—John Horgan, author of The End of War and director of the Center for Science Writings, Stevens Institute of Technology


From the Hardcover edition.

The Worm at the Core: On the Role of Death in Life by Sheldon Solomon, Jeff Greenberg, Tom Pyszczynski

From reader reviews:

Sheila Walker:

What do you about book? It is not important with you? Or just adding material when you require something to explain what the ones you have problem? How about your time? Or are you busy person? If you don't have spare time to do others business, it is make one feel bored faster. And you have free time? What did you do? Everybody has many questions above. They have to answer that question since just their can do that. It said that about publication. Book is familiar on every person. Yes, it is suitable. Because start from on pre-school until university need this The Worm at the Core: On the Role of Death in Life to read.

Joshua Mendez:

Are you kind of hectic person, only have 10 or even 15 minute in your time to upgrading your mind expertise or thinking skill perhaps analytical thinking? Then you are experiencing problem with the book than can satisfy your small amount of time to read it because this all time you only find reserve that need more time to be study. The Worm at the Core: On the Role of Death in Life can be your answer as it can be read by you who have those short free time problems.

Clarence Lowery:

Reading a book being new life style in this calendar year; every people loves to read a book. When you read a book you can get a great deal of benefit. When you read guides, you can improve your knowledge, simply because book has a lot of information upon it. The information that you will get depend on what sorts of book that you have read. If you wish to get information about your review, you can read education books, but if you want to entertain yourself you are able to a fiction books, such us novel, comics, along with soon. The The Worm at the Core: On the Role of Death in Life will give you new experience in examining a book.

Julie Berkey:

Some individuals said that they feel fed up when they reading a reserve. They are directly felt the item when they get a half regions of the book. You can choose the particular book The Worm at the Core: On the Role of Death in Life to make your personal reading is interesting. Your personal skill of reading skill is developing when you such as reading. Try to choose very simple book to make you enjoy to see it and mingle the impression about book and reading through especially. It is to be 1st opinion for you to like to open up a book and study it. Beside that the e-book The Worm at the Core: On the Role of Death in Life can to be your brand new friend when you're feel alone and confuse using what must you're doing of these time.