A wise, easy-to-read exploration of a core human experience.”
Robert Sapolsky, author of Behave

“A stunning study on the evolutionary roots of mental disorders.”
The Economist, The Best Book of 2019

Understanding our bad feelings gives us real power. It's crucial to comprehend why our minds are fragile. Why do I feel bad? Nesse shows, using stories from his clinical work and evolutionary biology, how negative emotions can be useful in certain situations but can also become overwhelming. Anxiety makes us cautious but can impair decision-making. He reveals the evolutionary reasons behind mental and sexual disorders, and the existence of genes that promote depression, fear, or schizophrenia, helping explain the prevalence of human suffering, and offers new ways to alleviate it.

“Psychiatrists and patients who sometimes have ‘bad feelings’ about their current understanding of mental illnesses will have ‘good reasons’ to read this book.”