Conville & Walsh
literary agency
59 Seconds
Think a Little, Change a Lot
- Author: Richard Wiseman
- Category: Non-fiction Parenting / Relationships How-to Pop Culture Psychology Self-help
- Publisher: MacMillan
- Pub date: 3 July 2009
About 59 Seconds
Sunday Times bestseller
Recent research has revealed that many of the techniques recommended by self-help gurus are ineffective, and may even be damaging. Visualization exercises often de-motivate people, attempting to ‘think yourself happy’ can cause people to obsess on the negative, and group brainstorming produces fewer, and less original, ideas than individuals working alone. On a more positive note, other studies have shown that it is possible to make real and lasting change using techniques that take less than sixty seconds to carry out. From mood to memory, persuasion to procrastination, resilience to relationships, this new and innovative approach helps people achieve their aims and ambitions in minutes not months.
59 SECONDS brings together these new techniques for the first time, explaining, for example…
...how you can become more creative by just lying down
...how placing a pencil in your mouth instantly makes you significantly happier
...how merely thinking about going to the gym helps keep your body in shape
...how just folding your arms helps you persevere with difficult tasks
Outlining the science underpinning each technique, 59 SECONDS explodes the myths of self development, and demonstrates that personal and professional success maybe less than a minute away.
About the Author
Richard Wiseman was born in 1966 and began his working life as an award-winning professional magician, quickly becoming one of the youngest-ever members of The Magic Circle. Having obtained a first-class honours degree in psychology from University College London (1985–1988) and a doctorate from the University of Edinburgh (1988–1992), he was awarded the prestigious Perrott Warrick Fellowship from Trinity College, Cambridge; and now heads a 30-strong research unit based within the Department of Psychology at the University of Hertfordshire.
In 2002 he was appointed the country’s first Professor of the Public Understanding of Psychology, and he is the most cited psychologist now working in Britain. Together, Richard’s last two books, QUIRKOLOGY and 59 SECONDS, have translated into thirty languages and have sold approximately 500,000 copies worldwide.