How to Be Weird, Eric G. Wilson
How to Be Weird, Eric G. Wilson
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How to Be Weird
An Off-Kilter Guide to Living a One-of-a-Kind Life

Author: Eric G. Wilson

Narrator: Jane Oppenheimer

Unabridged: 4 hr 4 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Penguin Audio

Published: 11/08/2022


Synopsis

A guidebook for beating the monotony of the everyday by purposefully cultivating the surprising joys that come from living an off-kilter life

It's all too easy to get caught up in the often monotonous nature of our day to day--moving from one rote task to the next, only to rinse and repeat the next day. Weirdness, however, is an easily accessible antidote to these feelings of languishing. The quirky, eccentric, and peculiar can take us out of our normal habits of thought and perception, surprising us by breaking up our routines and reminding us that there's more to life than the everyday. 
 
In How to Be Weird, Eric G. Wilson offers 99 fun and philosophically rich exercises for embracing all the weird in the world around us--taking aimless walks, creating a reverie nook, exploring the underside of bridges, making tombstone rubbings, finding your own Narnia, and more.

With brief digestible entries on how to make sense of the random, guidelines on how to defamiliarize familiar objects through meditation, and exercises for locating weird states and phenomena for ourselves, How to Be Weird is an invitation to lean into the weird and to live a fuller life.

About The Author

Author Bio: Eric G. Wilson is the Thomas H. Pritchard Professor of English at Wake Forest University. He is the author of books Against Happiness: In Praise of Melancholy, an LA Times bestseller; Everyone Loves a Good Train Wreck: Why We Can’t Look Away; and Keep it Fake: Inventing an Authentic Life, as well as many other books exploring connections among literature, film, and psychology.  


Reviews

Goodreads review by Grace Ellen on January 17, 2025

As a certified Weird Girl™️, this book did not help me become any more weird......more

Goodreads review by Susie on October 27, 2022

Remember when people would say- Ya Weirdo- as if it was an insult? Now we know, it’s a compliment! The question is how? This book shows us just that and the ideas are a lot more fun than what’s needed to be cool such as flipping your collar up. And don’t misjudge this book, it can definitely fall in......more

Goodreads review by Jess on November 11, 2022

So weird. But also oddly uplifting.......more

Goodreads review by Elizabeth on November 11, 2023

I had to stop reading this a couple of times, for a couple of reasons: 1. I got so inspired that I had to run off and try a thing or two. (Or ten.) and, 2. After getting inspired that many times, I had to put the book, which I'd checked out of my library, down so that I could go buy my own physical co......more

Goodreads review by Antoinette on July 19, 2024

Eric Wilson provides us with 100 ways to be wierd. I was inspired to learn to print with my left hand- making progress. Next I'm coloring my hair blue. Who knows what else? Give it a try.......more


Quotes

"From start to finish, this book has great re-readability and a fun voice. Highly recommended for bibliophiles and those who want to break a little right-brain sweat." —Library Journal, starred review

“A whimsical guide to embracing eccentricity . . . Wilson doesn’t skimp on the strangeness and delivers a self-help guide defiantly unlike any other. This quirky volume welcomes the unconventional with humor and insight.” —Publishers Weekly