The Gift of Adversity The Unexpected Benefits o

Nowinpaperback—thisacclaimedbookfromNormanRosenthal，theNewYorkTimes–bestsellingauthorandresearchpsychiatrist，showshowlife’sdisappointmentsanddifficultiesprovideuswiththelessonsweneedtobecomehappierandmoreresilienthumanbeings.Winnerofthe2014NautilusAwardrepresents“BetterBooksforaBetterWorld”—theSilverAwardinthecategoryofHeroicJourneys.Adversityisanirreduciblefactoflife.Althoughwecanandshouldlearnfromallexperiences，bothpositiveandnegative，bestsellingauthorDr.NormanE.Rosenthal，believesthatadversityisbyfarthebestteachermostofuswilleverencounter.Whethertheadversityoneexperiencesistheresultofpoordecision-making，adesiretotestone’smettle，orplainbadluck，Rosenthalbelieveslife’smostimportantlessons—fromthevalueoffamilytotheimportanceofoccasionallycuttingcorners—canbebestlearnedfromit.Runningcountertosociety’scurrentprevailingmessagethat“excellence”mustalwaysbeaspiredto，andfailureormistakesofanysortaretobeavoidedatallcosts，Rosenthalshowsthatengagingwithourownfailuresanddefeatsisoneoftheonlywaysweareabletoliveauthenticandmeaningfullives，andthateachdifferenttypeofadversitycarriesitsownchallengesandhasthepotentialtoyielditsownformofwisdom.Usingstoriesfromhisownlife—includinghischildhoodinapartheid-eraSouthAfrica，hisyearsaftersufferingaviolentattackfromastranger，andhiscareerasapsychiatrist—aswellascasestudiesanddiscussionswithwell-knownfigureslikeViktorFranklandDavidLynch，Rosenthalshowsthattrueinnovation，emotionalresilience，wisdom，anddignitycanonlycomefromconfrontingandunderstandingtheadversitywehaveexperienced.Evenwhenlifeishardest，therearemeaningstobefound，richestobeharvested，andgiftsthatcanlastalifetime.Rosenthalillustrateshismessagethroughaseriesofcompact，memorablechapters，eachonedrawnfromepisodesinthelivesofhispatients，colleagues，orhimself，andconcludedwithatake-awaymaximonthelessonlearned.