Schadenfreude is a German word meaning taking joy in someone
else’s pain. Tellingly, there is not a specific English word for this emotion
which points to just how much we don’t like to admit how gleeful we can feel
when an adversary, arrogant coworker or
holier than thou preacher is caught in a compromising situation. In short, when
others go down, many of us feel up.
Smith takes this all too familiar emotion and tries to figure
out why humans exhibit it, what prompts it, and what it tell us about our inner
lives and personalities. He also asks the question that if humans can recognize
it and it’s part of human nature, what evolutionary advantage does it have –
why was this emotion adapted into our genome? Smith offers up some interesting
suggestions.
This is not a self-help book and Smith offers no pop answers
about how to deal with it. But after reading and enjoying the book, you can at
least recognize it in yourself and understand why it arises.
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