I found the book Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman at a flea market for $1 and figured that the information it contained was of far more value than a dollar.
Psychology a fascinating subject and for those interested in understanding the brain, this book offers a plethora of information describing behavioral sciences. More often than not formal scientific jargon makes the thought of reading a psychology book daunting. Goleman effectively writes psychology for dummies in Emotional Intelligence.
The book has a flow ostensibly mimicking the reader’s thought pattern. Goleman preemptively plants questions in the reader’s brain solely by exploring one psychological phenomenon, and like magic, the questions the reader asked in the previous chapter are answered in the next. Not only is the book easy for the reader to follow but Goleman makes it memorable with plenty of anecdotes and examples to sear the knowledge into the reader’s brain. He mixes complex scientific terminology with layman stories which I think is highly effective writing. I think one of Goleman’s takes on uplifting melancholy is a good example of his rhetoric: “A more constructive approach to mood lifting,… is a small triumph or easy success: tackling some long-delayed chore around the house or getting to some other duty they’ve wanted cleared up.” Daniel Goleman is the man who coined the topical term EQ as a substitute for IQ, believing that a person’s Emotional quotient supersedes their intelligence quotient.
Goleman does a stand out job at breaking down the complexity of our brains for the reader’s benefit. Emotional Intelligence is not a book whose sole value is relieving ignorance but also its utility. Being able to not only understand but also cope with emotions opens the reader up to a vast array of doors. This book gives tools to deal with depression, deal with relationship issues, anger issues, addiction, etc. The list goes on and on. Every page in the book is lined with new potentially relevant and useful information.
Dear Araxan,
Thank you so much for making this post! It’s been a while since I have looked into or read anything related to psychology, and your synopsis of this book has pushed me to want to begin once again. I feel this book will be a good start.
Even from just this synopsis I can already feel as though I will find this book really interesting. What stood out to me in particular was when you wrote: “Daniel Goleman is the man who coined the topical term EQ as a substitute for IQ, believing that a person’s Emotional quotient supersedes their intelligence quotient.” I am interested to see how Goleman defines Emotional Intelligence and what the importance of having Emotional Intelligence is. I also wonder how he weighs Emotional Intelligence considering the difference between each brain.
Once again, thank you for writing this post. I look forward to hearing more from you about psychology. Honestly, really just any book considering that your way of summarizing this book was what drew me in!
– Maritza ^^*
Araxen I found this post to be a fun one to read the quote that
liked form this post is that A more constructive approach to mood-lifting,… is a small triumph or easy success: tackling some long-delayed chore around the house or getting to some other duty they’ve wanted to be cleared up.”
I agree with what you have said in this post. thank you for writing this post I found it a good and interesting one to read. I am looking forward to seeing what you write next sense you did a good job of this and telling what the book is about.