Emma Spence’s Reviews > Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life > Status Update

“For Burke, feelings of beauty arise out of a sense of familiarity and affection; awe, by contrast, arises in our recognition of what is powerful, obscure, and dreadful. Current studies in the science of aesthetics align with this distinction.” Super cool to think about the differences there!

This book also mentions the Arabian Nights and Scheherazade !!! I think this is a sign that I need to read those as an adult here soon…

I would just like to update everyone to say that this book is not the science of how awe impacts us so much as a discussion of ways and areas in our lives that we have opportunities for awe. Maybe that is on me for having the wrong expectations, but I’m disappointed.

“…’Why awe?’ Because awe allows us to get outside of ourselves. And integrates us into larger patterns—of community, of nature, of ideas and cultural forms—that enable our very survival. Tears arise in our recognition of those larger patterns that unite. And the chills signal to us that we are seeking to make sense of such unknowns with others.”