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Wanting Everything
From the moment of conception we are in the business of surviving. We come into the world expecting that we can have everything and seeing no reason why we should not have it. But we learn fast, learning that we can't always get what we want. The accompanying feelings of loss, frustration, anger, aggression, resentment and sadness can dominate the rest of our lives.
- GenresSelf Help
Paperback
First published January 1, 1991
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45 people want to read
About the author
Dorothy Rowe
55 books41 followersThe psychologist who has changed how we understand depression and happiness
"Dorothy Rowes is the calm voice of reason in an increasingly mad world"
Sue Townsend
Dorothy Rowe is a world-renowned psychologist and writer. Her explanation of depression gives the depressed person a way of taking charge of their life and leaving the prison of depression forever.
She shows how we each live in a world of meaning that we have created. She applies this understanding to important aspects of our lives, such as emotional distress, happiness, growing old, religious belief, politics, money, friends and enemies, extraverts and introverts, parents, children and siblings.
Her work liberates us from the bamboozling lies that mental health experts and politicians tell in order to keep us in our place and themselves in power.
"
"Dorothy Rowes is the calm voice of reason in an increasingly mad world"
Sue Townsend
Dorothy Rowe is a world-renowned psychologist and writer. Her explanation of depression gives the depressed person a way of taking charge of their life and leaving the prison of depression forever.
She shows how we each live in a world of meaning that we have created. She applies this understanding to important aspects of our lives, such as emotional distress, happiness, growing old, religious belief, politics, money, friends and enemies, extraverts and introverts, parents, children and siblings.
Her work liberates us from the bamboozling lies that mental health experts and politicians tell in order to keep us in our place and themselves in power.
"
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
August 29, 2012
This book had a good premise, noticing our contradictory expectations and beliefs in a just world make our lives unhappy. However I found this a very difficult and tiring read. She lists example upon example to emphasise her foundations, but I felt like there was no bringing together of how these forces and our ways of living for centuries into what the means for the reader. After all I felt a bit bamboozled, as it questions many things most people take for fact, but doesn't leave the reader with any idea of how to take this new knowledge and interpret into living a happier life.
April 7, 2014
Wanting Everything: Or
The Art of Happiness by Dorothy Rowe is a sweeping and far-reaching book that gently challenges what it is to be human.
Dorothy Rowe, a psycho therapist of 50 years standing, was an early opponent of the traditional medical model of psychotherapy in which it was assumed that the specialists “know best.”
On the contrary, she defines how easy it is, even with the best will in the world (i.e. wanting to help others), to become” the most dangerous person in the world: someone who knows what is best for other people.”
I think this is quite a radical book which challenges both social and personal politics. Written in 1991, some of the specifics of political landscape to which she alludes are now outdated. However the personal politics still resonates.
Dorothy Rowe makes a compelling investigation into what makes human beings so sad, how our unrealistic expectations/our wanting everything is doomed to disappointment unless we attend to our own truth.
She makes many insightful and interesting points. Here are but a few.
The most striking point that I take from this book is that as human beings , we are continuously engaged in creating meaning.
• “Creating meaning and using meaning is all that we can do. We assume that other people create the same meaning that we do, and that when we act, other people will interpret what we do in the same way that we do. “
Her point is that this is not the case. Everyone has their own unique point of view, and is in the continuous process of defining it. Unless you give up your freedom of course, in favor of someone’s else's construction of meaning (e.g.Nazi Germany, and extreme ideologies of which there are boundless examples.)
Another point that the author makes is:
• We think of causation as linear, a single line, when in fact it is multidimensional net spreading far and wide.
Here I feel the author bravely separates beliefs or ways of thinking from facts. I say bravely, because it feels controversial to point out how we as human beings tend to believe our own or others’ belief systems and to treat them as fact : when they are not.
I found this book quite hard to read because it delves in great detail into subjects which I find difficult to grasp. But it is well written, has personal warmth and humorous illustrations which makes it more accessible.
The Art of Happiness by Dorothy Rowe is a sweeping and far-reaching book that gently challenges what it is to be human.
Dorothy Rowe, a psycho therapist of 50 years standing, was an early opponent of the traditional medical model of psychotherapy in which it was assumed that the specialists “know best.”
On the contrary, she defines how easy it is, even with the best will in the world (i.e. wanting to help others), to become” the most dangerous person in the world: someone who knows what is best for other people.”
I think this is quite a radical book which challenges both social and personal politics. Written in 1991, some of the specifics of political landscape to which she alludes are now outdated. However the personal politics still resonates.
Dorothy Rowe makes a compelling investigation into what makes human beings so sad, how our unrealistic expectations/our wanting everything is doomed to disappointment unless we attend to our own truth.
She makes many insightful and interesting points. Here are but a few.
The most striking point that I take from this book is that as human beings , we are continuously engaged in creating meaning.
• “Creating meaning and using meaning is all that we can do. We assume that other people create the same meaning that we do, and that when we act, other people will interpret what we do in the same way that we do. “
Her point is that this is not the case. Everyone has their own unique point of view, and is in the continuous process of defining it. Unless you give up your freedom of course, in favor of someone’s else's construction of meaning (e.g.Nazi Germany, and extreme ideologies of which there are boundless examples.)
Another point that the author makes is:
• We think of causation as linear, a single line, when in fact it is multidimensional net spreading far and wide.
Here I feel the author bravely separates beliefs or ways of thinking from facts. I say bravely, because it feels controversial to point out how we as human beings tend to believe our own or others’ belief systems and to treat them as fact : when they are not.
I found this book quite hard to read because it delves in great detail into subjects which I find difficult to grasp. But it is well written, has personal warmth and humorous illustrations which makes it more accessible.
March 9, 2025
On balance, I enjoyed Wanting Everything significantly less than her other books that I’ve just read.
Why do I feel this?
I think it’s because the scope of the book is perhaps slightly too ambitious and reflects its time (1980s) too closely to be completely convincing. Nevertheless, there are strong elements of truth in what she writes and insights that resonate on a personal level throughout the text.
If I could give it 3.5 stars I would but failing that it’s 3 stars from me.
Why do I feel this?
I think it’s because the scope of the book is perhaps slightly too ambitious and reflects its time (1980s) too closely to be completely convincing. Nevertheless, there are strong elements of truth in what she writes and insights that resonate on a personal level throughout the text.
If I could give it 3.5 stars I would but failing that it’s 3 stars from me.
December 12, 2010
Not the easiest of reads, and a bit over-long, this is another rumination on the psyche of modern day living. Why are people so unhappy when we in the affluent West live in an age of relative ease and abundance? The answer lies within yourself, of course, and you'll need to do the work to find it. This book might help you along that path.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews