The Unexpected Joy of the Ordinary Book Summary - The Unexpected Joy of the Ordinary Book explained in key points
Listen to the Intro
00:00

The Unexpected Joy of the Ordinary summary

Catherine Gray

The benefits of mediocrity and the beauty of the everyday

4.4 (94 ratings)
20 mins
Table of Contents

    The Unexpected Joy of the Ordinary
    Summary of 7 key ideas

    Audio & text in the Blinkist app
    Key idea 1 of 7

    Your brain is always searching for bad news.

    Do you often find yourself focusing on what you don’t have? Imagine that you’re in a performance review with your boss. She praises your hard work, social skills, and professionalism. However, she also mentions that you sometimes lack confidence. And now the end result is you come out of that meeting feeling deflated.

    You spend the rest of the night focusing on your shortcomings. But what about all the good things your boss said? Well, you hardly give them a second thought.

    Here’s a question, then. Should you beat yourself up for focusing on the bad? Well, maybe that’s not your fault. The devastating truth is that evolution has primed you to be relentlessly negative.

    The key message here is: Your brain is always searching for bad news.

    Neuroscientist Dr. John Cacioppo carried out a study in which he showed his subjects different sets of images and measured how their brains responded. He found that people became more engaged when they looked at negative pictures, like guns and dead animals. Positive photos – things like pizza and ice-cream – didn’t create the same level of excitement.

    Dr. Cacioppo concluded that negative information seems to trigger a greater mental response.

    Unfortunately, our negative bias doesn’t stop there. Other studies have found that we’re quicker to spot an angry face in a crowd than a cheerful one. This phenomenon is called the anger superiority effect. Worse still, our negative bias affects our interpersonal relations, too. We tend to see people’s bad characteristics as more significant than their positive traits.

    But why are we so negative? The answer lies in our evolutionary past, and a region of our brain called the amygdala

    Your amygdala plays a key role in your emotions and decision-making. It’s especially sensitive to negative information. This sensitivity evolved with our prehistoric ancestors. Their lives were incredibly difficult. They had to deal with lots of aggression from members of their own tribe, and predators were an ever-present threat. In other words, if our ancestors hadn’t been wired to always look out for trouble, chances are they wouldn’t have lived long enough to reproduce.

    Thankfully, modern life isn’t nearly so dangerous. But evolution moves slowly, and your amygdala is still scanning for threats. The author, for instance, often feels threatened when she finds herself in busy subway stations. The reason is simple: her amygdala is warning her that there are no plants or water sources around, so she might have a problem finding sustenance.

    In the following blinks, we’ll combat this negativity bias, and look at all the reasons to be positive instead.

    Want to see all full key ideas from The Unexpected Joy of the Ordinary?

    Key ideas in The Unexpected Joy of the Ordinary

    More knowledge in less time
    Read or listen
    Read or listen
    Get the key ideas from nonfiction bestsellers in minutes, not hours.
    Find your next read
    Find your next read
    Get book lists curated by experts and personalized recommendations.
    Shortcasts
    Shortcasts New
    We’ve teamed up with podcast creators to bring you key insights from podcasts.

    What is The Unexpected Joy of the Ordinary about?

    What’s it about?

    The Unexpected Joy of the Ordinary (2019) explores the surprising benefits of being an average Joe. From money to intelligence to relationships, it reveals the pleasures of being perfectly ordinary.

    Best quote from The Unexpected Joy of the Ordinary

    It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor.

    —Catherine Gray
    example alt text

    Who should read The Unexpected Joy of the Ordinary?

    Who’s it for?

    • Anxious souls looking for reassurance
    • Lovers of popular science books
    • Anyone interested in evolutionary psychology

    About the Author

    About the author

    Catherine Gray is an English journalist and author. Her first book, The Unexpected Joy of Being Sober, was a UK best seller.

    Categories with The Unexpected Joy of the Ordinary

    Books like The Unexpected Joy of the Ordinary

    People ❤️ Blinkist
    Sven O.

    It's highly addictive to get core insights on personally relevant topics without repetition or triviality. Added to that the apps ability to suggest kindred interests opens up a foundation of knowledge.

    Thi Viet Quynh N.

    Great app. Good selection of book summaries you can read or listen to while commuting. Instead of scrolling through your social media news feed, this is a much better way to spend your spare time in my opinion.

    Jonathan A.

    Life changing. The concept of being able to grasp a book's main point in such a short time truly opens multiple opportunities to grow every area of your life at a faster rate.

    Renee D.

    Great app. Addicting. Perfect for wait times, morning coffee, evening before bed. Extremely well written, thorough, easy to use.

    People also liked

    Start growing with Blinkist now
    28 Million
    Downloads on all platforms
    4.7 Stars
    Average ratings on iOS and Google Play
    91%
    Of Blinkist members create a better reading habit*
    *Based on survey data from Blinkist customers
    Powerful ideas from top nonfiction

    Try Blinkist to get the key ideas from 7,000+ bestselling nonfiction titles and podcasts. Listen or read in just 15 minutes.

    Start your free trial