Table of Contents
Preface A Heaven of Invention 1
Introduction The Lost Technology 13
Chapter 1 Rally Your Courage 29
Homer's Iliad and the Invention of the Almighty Heart
Chapter 2 Rekindle the Romance 43
Sappho's Lyrics, the Odes of Eastern Zhou, and the Invention of the Secret Discloser
Chapter 3 Exit Anger 57
The Book of Job, Sophocles's Oedipus Tyrannus, and the Invention of the Empathy Generator
Chapter 4 Float Above Hurt 71
Aesop's Fables, Plato's Meno, and the Invention of the Serenity Elevator
Chapter 5 Excite Your Curiosity 83
The Epic of Sundiata, the Modern Thriller, and the Invention of the Tale Told from Our Future
Chapter 6 Free Your Mind 97
Dante's Inferno, Machiavelli's Innovatori, and the Invention of the Vigilance Trigger
Chapter 7 Jettison Your Pessimism 107
Giovanni Straparola, the Original Cinderella, and the Invention of the Fairy-tale Twist
Chapter 8 Heal from Grief 125
Shakespeare's Hamlet and the Invention of the Sorrow Resolver
Chapter 9 Banish Despair 139
John Donne's "Songs" and the Invention of the Mind-Eye Opener
Chapter 10 Achieve Self-Acceptance 153
Cao Xueqin's Dream of the Red Chamber, Zhuangzi's "Tale of Wanton, " and the Invention of the Butterfly Immerser
Chapter 11 Ward Off Heartbreak 167
Jane Austen, Henry Fielding, and the Invention of the Valentine Armor
Chapter 12 Energize Your Life 183
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Modern Meta-Horror, and the Invention of the Stress Transformer
Chapter 13 Solve Every Mystery 195
Francis Bacon, Edgar Allan Poe, and the Invention of the Virtual Scientist
Chapter 14 Become Your Better Self 211
Frederick Douglass, Saint Augustine, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and the Invention of the Life Evolver
Chapter 15 Bounce Back from Failure 227
George Eliot's Middlemarch and the Invention of the Gratitude Multiplier
Chapter 16 Clear Your Head 241
"Rashomon," Julius Caesar, and the Invention of the Second Look
Chapter 17 Find Peace of Mind 251
Virginia Woolf, Marcel Proust, fames Joyce, and the Invention of the Riverbank of Consciousness
Chapter 18 Feed Your Creativity 273
Winnie-the-Pooh, Alice in Wonderland, and the Invention of the Anarchy Rhymer
Chapter 19 Unlock Salvation 287
To Kill a Mockingbird, Shakespeare's Soliloquy Breakthrough, and the Invention of the Humanity Connector
Chapter 20 Renew Your Future 301
Gabriel Garcia Márquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude, Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis, and the Invention of the Revolution Rediscovery
Chapter 21 Decide Wiser 311
Ursula he Guin's The Left Hand of Darkness, Thomas More's Utopia, Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels, and the Invention of the Double Alien
Chapter 22 Believe in Yourself 327
Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and the Invention of the Choose Your Own Accomplice
Chapter 23 Unfreeze Your Heart 341
Alison Bechdel, Euripides, Samuel Beckett, T. S. Eliot, and the invention of the Clinical Joy
Chapter 24 Live Your Dream 353
Tina Fey's 30 Rock, a Dash of "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious," and the Invention of the Wish Triumphant
Chapter 25 Lessen Your Lonely 367
Elena Ferrante's My Brilliant Friend, Mario Puzo's The Godfather, and the Invention of the Childhood Opera
Conclusion Inventing Tomorrow 387
Coda The Secret History of This Book 391
Acknowledgments 401
Notes on Translations, Sources, and Further Reading 403
Index 423