Autumn Rights List 2021
NEW DEALS
SIX THINGS What Really Matters Most for Leading a Good Life STEPHEN JOSEPH Praise for WHAT DOESN’T KILL US We live in a world in which suffering is endemic. In this book Stephen Joseph sounds a hopeful note. Suffering need not destroy… Terry Waite CBE Praise for AUTHENTIC A must-read for everybody who wants to live a happy and successful life – Jan Mühlfeit, Global Strategist, Former Chairman Europe, Microsoft Corporation
Drawing on three decades of work as a psychologist, psychotherapist, university professor and researcher, Stephen Joseph distils his vital knowledge for general readers and reveals how the secrets of enduring change are available to us all. Life throws a lot of unexpected and unpleasant things at us. Many people just struggle on, but others find someone to talk to, someone like Stephen Joseph, who, as a therapist, is trained to listen to their concerns. They turn up with problems – failing relationships, stalled careers, conflicts, feelings of upset – that all seem very real to them in the moment. They may say they just want to ‘get back to normal’ or ‘get back on track’. But sometimes the truth is that things have changed too much to go back. More than that, they come to realize that their life wasn’t really on track in the first place. Getting on track now means something much bigger. Over months, or years, Joseph works with his clients to peel away the layers and find something deeper behind their discontents and identify new understandings of what really matters. These revelations often seem to come out of the blue – lightbulb moments in which people suddenly gain a new perspective on how to lead their lives. In SIX THINGS, Joseph now shares the most important of these realizations: the six ways in which we can begin to see ourselves and the world anew, without distortion, and embark on a road to personal growth and a more emotionally mature life. There is an old Zen proverb that says: ‘When the student is ready the teacher will appear’. For deep personal change, you need the spark that lights the fire, and that is what this book offers. For some, it may be an alternative to therapy, for others it may be a companion to therapy, and for still others it may be the beginning of a life-long therapeutic journey into becoming oneself. These are often hard-earned lessons that come at great cost, such as illness or bereavement. But, Joseph says, with an open mind, at the right time, such lessons can be learned by anyone. STEPHEN JOSEPH is a professor at the University of Nottingham, UK, and the convenor of the Centre for Research in Human Flourishing in the School of Education. His expertise is in clientcentred therapy and positive psychology. He is on the editorial board of several leading journals, has published more than 200 academic papers, and has written or edited 10 books and been a keynote speaker at numerous conferences. He is the author of two popular books, WHAT DOESN’T KILL US (Basic Books/Little, Brown, 2011/2012) and AUTHENTIC (Little, Brown, 2016). He is often asked to comment in the media on topical events that relate to his research and has been quoted in many publications, including The Times, Guardian, Independent, Daily Mail and Psychologies magazine. He blogs for Psychology Today and previously for the Huffington Post. Agent: Peter Tallack Publisher: Piatkus/Little, Brown Publication: Spring 2022 Status: Proposal and draft manuscript Length: 50,000 words All rights available excluding UK & Commonwealth (Piatkus)
6
The Science Factory
