The Power of Wonder

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This is the story of a very unlikely friendship.

Born into a family of intellectual elites in the mid-nineteenth century, William James was the first person to teach a university psychology course in America, joking that the first psychology course he attended was the one he taught. Now considered the father of American psychology, James spent twelve years penning his twelve-hundred-page masterwork, The Principles of Psychology, and his writings are foundational to the field. Young William's life was a peripatetic one. His father believed he and his siblings (including authors Alice and Henry) would benefit from a global education, so he moved the family from the United States to Europe and back again several times, with James having lived in eighteen different homes (and even more if including hotels) before age sixteen. James begrudgingly attended Harvard University Medical School (he wanted to be a painter), but in the end, he discovered he was interested in the inner workings of the mind and soul, not the body. A contemporary of great thinkers like his godfather Ralph Waldo Emerson, Bertrand Russell, Mark Twain, Horatio Alger, Carl Jung, Sigmund Freud, and W. E. B. Du Bois, it was the latter, Du Bois, who introduced James to his young friend.

Helen Adams Keller was born a healthy baby girl in Tuscumbia, Alabama, on June 27, 1880. When Helen was about a year and a half, a fever, perhaps caused by rubella, left her blind and deaf, completely cut off from the world she had known. She would later describe that time in her life as being "at sea in a dense fog." For years following, she descended into a semi-feral state of headstrong chaos until a kindly Alexander Graham Bell took a shine to young Helen and arranged for a recent Perkins Institution for the Blind graduate, Anne Sullivan, to teach her. Sullivan transformed the child's life (Helen referred to the day she met Sullivan as "her soul's birthday"), and their relationship-and Helen's

A world-renowned speaker, writer, and authority on the future of work, Monica Parker has spent decades helping people discover how to lead and live wonderfully. The founder of global human analytics and change consultancy HATCH, whose clients include blue-chip companies such as LinkedIn, Google, Prudential, and LEGO, Parker challenges corporate systems to advocate for more meaningful work lives. In addition to her extensive advocacy work, she has been an opera singer, a museum exhibition designer, and a homicide investigator defending death-row inmates. A lover of the arts, literature, and Mexican food, Parker and her family split their time between Atlanta, London, and Nice. Her wonderbringers include travel, fellowship with friends, and Trey Anastasio s guitar.

"Monica Parker has taken an undervalued emotion  and demonstrated its capacity to transform our lives. The Power of Wonder delivers on its title by showing how wonder can spark creativity, deepen humility, and boost performance. This book is precisely what we need to cultivate curiosity, empathy, and open-mindedness in our world.
Daniel H. Pink, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Power of Regret, When, and Drive

I am in wonder reading this book! Wow! Monica Parker makes the convincing case that wonder is a mindset we can bring to anything to enrich our lives and the lives of those around us. This is a must-read book for our times!"
Scott Barry Kaufman, PhD, author of Choose Growth and Transcend
 
Few emotions offer as much potency and meaning as our sense of wonder. Monica offers a whirlwind of science and stories about wonder and its cousins curiosity, openness, absorption, and awe. An enthralling read.
Dr. Todd B. Kashdan, PhD, author of The Art of Insubordination and professor of psychology at George Mason University. 

"You can't help smiling and sitting straighter and seeing the world afresh when you read this gorgeous book."
David Eagleman, bestselling author of Sum and Livewired
 
Wonder means seeing the artistry in the everyday, and in The Power of Wonder, Monica Parker shares that unique vision with others. Her enlightening exploration of wonder will have you rediscovering the world with fresh eyes and a full heart.  
Nathan Sawaya, artist and creator of The Art of the Brick
 
As a CEO, I found Monica Parker s The Power of Wonder filled with practical takeaways. As an environmentalist and wonderseeker, I felt even more connected to the wonders of our world. An essential read for all who love the earth.
Azzedine Downes, president and CEO of International Fund for Animal Welfare 

"Fascinating, far-ranging book." 
- Harvard Business Review

Parker s