The antidote

What Hacker News says

1. rvshchwlSep 2026
   1. Continuous discovery habits by Teresa Torres

   2. Life at the speed of play by Mark Pincus

   3. The Antidote by Oliver Burkeman

   4. Autobiography of a Yogi by Pramahansa Yogananda

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2. xpeDec 2025
   Ah, in case it didn't come across clearly, my conclusion isn't to blame the individuals. My assessment is to seek out better communication patterns, which is partly about "technology" and partly about culture (expectations). People could indeed learn not to act this way with a bit of subtle nudging, feedback, and mechanism design.

   I'm also pretty content accepting the unpleasant parts of reality without spin or optimism. Sometimes the better choice is still crappy, after all ;) I think Oliver Burkeman makes a fun and thoughtful case in "The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can't Stand Positive Thinking" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13721709-the-antidote

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3. shantnutiwariSep 2021
   Yes, Oliver Burkeman is on my list of "Read or buy anything he writes"

   His book "The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can't Stand Positive Thinking" is one my favourite books

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4. archduckAug 2021
   The same author, Oliver Burkeman, wrote a similarly life-changing book as well, entitled The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can't Stand Positive Thinking. Besides Buddhism, it also covers stoicism, the inevitability of death, and other topics having to do with the thesis that trying to be happy makes it harder to be.
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5. snthdJan 2021
   I can recommend Oliver Burkeman's book "The Antidote" "Happiness for People Who Can't Stand Positive Thinking".

   https://openlibrary.org/works/OL16681873W/The_antidote

   https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780865478015

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6. djsumdogFeb 2017
   Negative results are one of the biggest things missing from publications. I highly suggest the book "The Antidote" by Burkeman. There are several chapters on our current western view of failure and how our attempt to distance ourselves from it can hinder research, product development and even personal development.

   I think there was even an article posted here a few months back on how the lack of negative results in science really hurts the community. People may work on something for half a year, consider it a failure, and just dump it; and other people go down the same exact path with the same methods. (If you publish a negative result, someone may pick it up and ask, "I wonder if they tried x or y" and attempt the experiment again).

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