Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

  • The Progress Paradox

  • How Life Gets Better While People Feel Worse
  • By: Gregg Easterbrook
  • Narrated by: Jonathan Marosz
  • Length: 11 hrs and 13 mins
  • 3.7 out of 5 stars (24 ratings)
Offer ends May 1st, 2024 11:59PM GMT. Terms and conditions apply.
£7.99/month after 3 months. Renews automatically.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
The Progress Paradox cover art

The Progress Paradox

By: Gregg Easterbrook
Narrated by: Jonathan Marosz
Get this deal Try for £0.00

Pay £99p/month. After 3 months pay £7.99/month. Renews automatically. See terms for eligibility.

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Listeners also enjoyed...

Falling Behind cover art
Affluenza cover art
What to Expect When No One's Expecting cover art
Who Really Cares: The Surprising Truth About Compassionate Conservatism cover art
Economic Gangsters cover art
Microtrends Squared cover art
Alienated America cover art
Republican Like Me cover art
What's Going On? How Can We Help? cover art
Ever Wonder Why? cover art
Dismantling America cover art
Equal Is Unfair cover art
Intellectuals and Race cover art
Intellectuals and Society cover art
The Common Good cover art
Excuse Me, Professor cover art

Summary

In The Progress Paradox, Gregg Easterbrook draws upon three decades of wide-ranging research and thinking to make the persuasive assertion that almost all aspects of Western life have vastly improved in the past century; and yet today, most men and women feel less happy than in previous generations. Why this is so and what we should do about it is the subject of this book.

Between contemporary emphasis on grievances and the fears engendered by 9/11, today it is common to hear it said that life has started downhill, or that our parents had it better. But objectively, almost everyone in today's United States or European Union lives better than his or her parents did.

Still, studies show that the percentage of the population that is happy has not increased in fifty years, while depression and stress have become ever more prevalent. The Progress Paradox explores why ever-higher living standards don't seem to make us any happier. Detailing the emerging science of "positive psychology," which seeks to understand what causes a person's sense of well-being, Easterbrook offers an alternative to our culture of crisis and complaint. He makes a compelling case that optimism, gratitude and acts of forgiveness not only make modern life more fulfilling but are actually in our self-interest.

Seemingly insoluble problems of the past, such as crime in New York City and smog in Los Angeles, have proved more tractable than they were thought to be. Likewise, today's "impossible" problems, such as global warming and Islamic terrorism, can be tackled, too.

Like The Tipping Point, this book offers an affirming and constructive way of seeing the world anew. The Progress Paradox will change the way you think about your place in the world, and about our collective ability to make it better.

©2003 Gregg Easterbrook (P)2003 Books On Tape, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Easterbrook...writes nothing that is not brilliant." ( Chicago Tribune)
"This is an important, timely, and well-reasoned book that is sure to have people talking." ( Booklist)
"Easterbrook...is a serious author with serious points to make." ( The New York Times)
"Easterbrook invests the timeless questions of life's meaning with distinctly contemporary pertinence." (George Will)
"Easterbrook is perhaps the finest general science writer in the country." ( Forbes)

More from the same

What listeners say about The Progress Paradox

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 3.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    6
  • 4 Stars
    11
  • 3 Stars
    4
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    3
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    2
  • 4 Stars
    0
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 3.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    0
  • 4 Stars
    2
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Progress Paradox

In this World we have solution and we have problems this book is definately part of the solution and also any body who gives this book less then 5 stars, better have a dam good explaination .

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful