The Shape of Joy, Richard Beck
The Shape of Joy, Richard Beck
List: $12.99 | Sale: $9.10
Club: $6.49

The Shape of Joy
The Transformative Power of Moving Beyond Yourself

Author: Richard Beck

Narrator: Gary Noon

Unabridged: 4 hr 53 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 10/07/2025


Synopsis

In a world where mental health issues and loneliness are at an all-time high, it's more important than ever to find ways to cultivate joy, community, and meaning in our lives. Many of us feel trapped, struggling to find a way out of our own negative thoughts and emotions. Author and psychologist Richard Beck (Hunting Magic Eels) argues that we are struggling because our shape is "curved inward." We are self-focused, self-absorbed, ruminative. We're trapped inside ourselves. And we're not happy or filled with joy. So how do we control our egos and ambition when those drives have been useful to us in the past? How do we engage our imagination and our faith?

In The Shape of Joy, Beck offers a powerful argument for how we can break free and rediscover the transcendent and the sacred. Beck argues that to find true joy and fulfillment, we need to understand the importance of "curving outward" and moving beyond the self to encounter true lovingness. Drawing from principles of positive psychology, Beck explores concepts like gratitude, mindfulness, ego volume, and the self to provide listeners with a road map toward a more fulfilling life. Whether you're struggling with mental health issues, yearning for a deeper connection with your faith, or simply seeking greater happiness and fulfillment, The Shape of Joy will offer you an inspiring vision for a better future.

About Richard Beck

Richard Beck is professor of psychology at Abilene Christian University in Abilene, Texas, and a popular blogger and speaker. He is the author of several books, most recently Trains, Jesus, and Murder: The Gospel According to Johnny Cash and Stranger God: Meeting Jesus in Disguise. His published research also covers topics as diverse as the psychology of profanity and why Christian bookstore art is so bad. Beck leads a Bible study each week for inmates at a maximum-security prison. Richard lives in Abilene, Texas.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Tim on December 24, 2024

Receptive to Joy Beck, as usual, does a terrific job of synthesizing philosophy and the best of modern psychology into practical help. Vulnerable about his own journey, this book radiates the joy to which it points.......more

Goodreads review by Preston on May 31, 2025

I was split between giving this book a 3 and 4 star rating. I’m rating this relative to Beck’s other books I’ve read (Slavery of Death and Reviving Old Scratch). Three stars is probably not reflective of how much I enjoyed the book and found it helpful but I just liked his other books a little bit m......more

Goodreads review by Erika on March 17, 2025

Richard Beck’s The Shape of Joy, argues that true joy is found not in turning inward but in directing our attention outward—toward others, the world, and something larger than ourselves. Blending psychology, philosophy, and theology, Beck critiques self-esteem culture and the endless pursuit of stat......more

Goodreads review by Christopher on March 22, 2025

A theologically astute psychologist explains why your own ego is holding you down and what to you can do about it in order to become a more joyful person.......more

Goodreads review by Jonathan on December 10, 2024

"Her identity wasn't effort; it was rest." In Shape, Beck demonstrates how Descartes, Freud, et al, led us away from transcendent, existential, cosmic Reality to a reality defined by the inner life. The inward curvature of the modern self project has left us with a vague and tireless project to defi......more