Scarcity Brain
About This Book
Why is it so hard to feel like you have enough? Michael Easter, who also wrote The Comfort Crisis and works on the science of behavior change, argues that the restless pull toward more is not a personal failing. It is a leftover from our ancestors, who survived by constantly hunting for food, goods, information and status because all of these were rare and difficult to come by. The trouble, Easter says, is that today we can satisfy those old urges almost instantly, and the wiring that once kept us alive now works against us. He calls this the scarcity brain. Apps for dating and entertainment, the food industry and even the wider economy lean on it with what he terms scarcity cues, small signals that set off cravings that pay off poorly and cost us over time. Some cues are broad, like a weak economy. Others are quiet, like watching a neighbor pull up in a new car. To find ways out, Easter traveled the world and talked with scientists and unconventional thinkers working on the problem. Among them are a slot machine designer in a Las Vegas casino lab, Benedictine monks who make coffee, an astronaut aboard the International Space Station, Iraq's chief psychiatrist, and a woman who walked away from a million-dollar career path to see the world. From them he draws practical tactics for spotting hidden cues before cravings take hold, making solitude work in your favor, rekindling a drive to explore, rethinking addiction and bad habits, and knowing when you have enough. His conclusion is that the answer is not simply to want less. It is to understand why we crave more, break the habits that hurt us, and make better use of what we already have.
ISBN: 9780593236642
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