REVIEW: How to Stay Sane in an Age of Division (Elif Shafak)

Book: How to Stay Sane in an Age of Division

Author: Elif Shafak.

Premise: Ours is the age of contagious anxiety. We feel overwhelmed by the events around us, by injustice, by suffering, by an endless feeling of crisis. So, how can we nurture the parts of ourselves that hope, trust and believe in something better? And how can we stay sane in this age of division?

Elif Shafak is an incredibly wise woman in my opinion. In this book, she explores the divisions in the world and the feelings that are connected with them (such as anger). There is a constant theme of listening to each other and having empathy. She makes the good point of how we need different opinions in order to grow. Rather than shut them out, she suggests we listen and understand other people's points of view, even if we don't agree. But there's also a theme of anxiety and information overload.

There are some lovely metaphors in this book. One in particular talking about us trying to rewrite the dictionary after it got burnt. I also bookmarked certain bits about seeing us all as humans rather than factions, which again ties to the recurring theme of empathy.

A small book filled with important ideas.