How to Be Human The Manual Synopsis
It took us 4 billion years to evolve to where we are now - completely brilliant and yet, some might say, emotionally dwarfed. The question is: can our more empathetic side catch up in time to save us and the world? I've got nothing against smarts, but it's smarts without emotional awareness that got us into this position of being able to nuke each other into oblivion and rape the earth for oil. With a little help from a monk (who tells us how our mind works) and a neuroscientist (who tells us how our brain works), Ruby Wax answers every question you've ever had about: evolution, thoughts, emotions, the body, addictions, relationships, sex, kids, the future and compassion.
Filled with witty anecdotes from Ruby's own life, and backed up by smart science and practical mindfulness exercises, How to be Human is the only manual you need to help you upgrade your mind as much as you've upgraded your iphone.
About This Edition
Ruby Wax Press Reviews
Enchanting, educational, enlightening - David Eagleman
A wonderful book full of passion and verve -- Prof. Mark Williams on 'A Mindfulness Guide for the Frazzled' A guide to mindfulness that's as hilarious as it is useful -- Arianna Huffington on 'A Mindfulness Guide for the Frazzled' This is a present for your head and your heart. Do yourself a favour and read it, you'll love it - Davina McCall
Ruby Wax has spent a lifetime trying to be human.... with this book, she's so very nearly there... - Dawn French
Ready to laugh and cry as you dive deeply into what it means to be human? Guiding us across evolution, from the far past into the present and even preparing us for the future, Ruby Wax and her neuroscientist and meditating monk colleagues provide us with a science-informed, practical, and humorous guide that is as hysterical as it is profound. Be prepared to feel your way into well-being with this magnificent blending of entertainment and education into the nature of our minds' thoughts, feelings, and identity as you explore and expand who really you are. - Daniel J. Siegel
As I expected its funny and thoroughly readable but what I hadn't expected was that it would change the way I think about how I think. Remarkable work from Miss Wax - Jennifer Saunders
Ruby Wax is a stitch. And this stitch can make you laugh while showing you some exceedingly useful things to heal and transform your life. What she is pointing to is way too serious to take too seriously. Seriously! - Jon kabat-Zinn
How to Be Human is, without exaggeration, a lifeline; wise, practical and funny, it is a handbook for those in despair. It is actually for everyone alive, for the curious, or disillusioned or muddled or just plain happy. Ruby, the Monk and the Neuroscientist are today's Magi. - Joanna Lumley
Ruby has beautifully fused neurology and spirituality and given us a means to cope with operating both a mind and a brain. If this mental upgrade works then all other books will become defunct as we repose in bliss. - Russell Brand
A three way encounter between a Monk, a neuroscientist and Ruby Wax sounds like the set up for a joke. Instead it's produced one of the most fascinating, intriguing and informative books about minds and bodies and brains and mindfulness I've ever encountered. A triangulation on what it means to be human. Utterly readable and surprisingly wise. - Neil Gaiman
With this marvellous book, Ruby Wax has confirmed her position as one of the most readable, inspirational and engaging writers in the field of human mental health, happiness and fulfilment. - Stephen Fry
