Life on Purpose: How Living for What Matters Most Changes Everything
Written by Victor J. Strecher
Narrated by R.C. Bray
4/5
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About this audiobook
A pioneer in the field of behavioral science delivers a groundbreaking work that shows how finding your purpose in life leads to better health and overall happiness.
Your life is a boat. You need a rudder. But it doesn’t matter how much wind is in your sails if you’re not steering toward a harbor—an ultimate purpose in your life.
While the greatest philosophers have pondered purpose for centuries, today it has been shown to have a concrete impact on our health. Recent studies into Alzheimer’s, heart disease, stroke, depression, functional brain imaging, and measurement of DNA repair are shedding new light on how and why purpose benefits our lives.
Going beyond the fads, opinions, and false hopes of “expert” self-help books, The Science of Purpose explores the incredible connection between purposeful living and the latest scientific evidence on quality of life and longevity. Drawing on ancient and modern philosophy, literature, psychology, evolutionary biology, genetics, and neuroscience, as well as his experience in public health research, Dr. Vic Strecher reveals the elements necessary for a purposeful life and how to acquire them, and outlines an elegant strategy for improving energy, willpower, and long-term happiness, and well-being. He integrates these core themes into his own personal story—a tragedy that led him to reconsider his own life—and how a deeper understanding of purposeful living helped him not only survive, but thrive.
Illuminating, accessible, and authentically grounded in real people’s experiences, The Science of Purpose is essential reading for everyone seeking lasting improvement in their lives.
Victor J. Strecher
Victor J. Strecher is a professor and director for innovation and social entrepreneurship at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. He has published over 100 articles in scientific journals, including the Journal of the American Medical Association, the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, and Nature Neuroscience and coedited the book Oncology: An Evidence-Based Approach. He lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
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Reviews for Life on Purpose
69 ratings6 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I liked this book. It’s timely. A lot of reconsidering life going on for me so it is a timely book to have read.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Strecher starts the book by telling his personal story of a loss of a loved one. Trigger warning! He then poses loads and loads of meaningful, purposeful questions that help the reader navigate through and compartmentalize wishes, goals and confusing thoughts. In the 2nd half of the book, there are a few chapters on movement and healthy diet which, to me, were a bit superficial. I say this well aware of the fact that discussing food's influence on one's health and general well-being was beyond the scope of this book.
All in all, the book inspired, educated and at times entertained (the writing was frank and witty at times!). Would recommend! - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I'll be listening to this periodically throughout my life, no doubt. Inspiring and directing in a way that I needed at this stage in my life
Thank you, Victor J. Strecher and as always, thank you R.C. Bray - Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Quite a comprehensive book with a powerful personal story. Quite well written. The only thing is that advice on how to sleep, eat better or exercise more is not what i expected in the purpose searching book. The author made a good case for finding purpose, just very few details on how to actually do that apart form general self-care advice
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/50 out of 10, would not read again and would never suggest this book to anyone, I only read it because I had to for work. He uses pseudoscience to explain his crappy points of how to be a successful, neurotypical, rich, white man. He fat shames everyone that isn't a vegetarian or on a Mediterranean diet, and calls everyone in America fat. He doesn't use the correct definition of a food desert, and only brings up the term food desert to say "people may not like my suggestions about eating". That's not "not liking", that's literally not being able to do them.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Strecher starts out letting the reader know that his young daughter died suddenly from heart issues . He described how he recovered from the tragedy and offers his advice on finding a purposeful life and how to achieve it. He reaches back to ancient philosophy and to current psychology. It is a well written book but the message did not resonate with this 64 year old reader.