Rush
Why You Need and Love the Rat Race
By: Todd G. Buchholz
Published: May 5, 2011
Format: Hardcover, 304 pages
ISBN-10: 1594630771
ISBN-13: 978-1594630774
Publisher: Hudson Street Press/Penguin
"In this book I will argue that much of the common happiness advice is feckless, and sometimes dangerous", writes former director of economic policy at the White House, managing director of the $Tiger hedge fund, and Harvard economics professor, Todd G. Buchholz in his controversial and thought provoking book Rush: Why You Need and Love the Rat Race. The author describes how most of the popular theories of what makes people happy are incorrect, and asserts in their place, that people are most happy when striving and competing in what is usually called the rat race.
Todd Buchholz provides, with wit and insight, a completely alternative viewpoint to the usual nostrums of happiness and peace of mind. The author offers an unusual, but compelling argument that people really prefer the striving for even unreachable goals to leisure and and some mythical idyllic life. Drawing on economics, human behavior, and the latest in neuroscience research, Todd Buchholz places competition firmly in the human DNA coding. The author shares both anecdotes and scientific evidence that people thrive and derive happiness from the thrill of the chase and through competition. Todd Buchholz points out that the brain releases the pleasure chemical dopamine when in the midst of a competitive activity. The author points out the competition yields pleasure.
Todd Buchholz (photo left) offers evidence that the way people think about happiness and the proverbial rat race may be all wrong. He writes that people not only enjoy it, but also thrive on it. The author points out that the frontal lobe of the brain responds to, and desires competitiveness in one area; and expresses hope for the future in another. Neuroscience demonstrates, according to the author, that competitive and future looking activity build health, while inactivity including retirement from the daily rat race, reduce health and even mental prowess. The author doesn't suggest that competition alone is sufficient, but that it must also be coupled with motivation to achieve goals. For the author, improving our lives is one of the prime motivators, and also what makes people happy. At the same time, Todd Buchholz points out that not all competition is equal. Destructive competition does not yield happiness, but causes harm. The striving for positive achievement is the constructive form of competition that makes the real difference in people's lives.
For me, the power of the book us how Todd Buchholz causes the reader to reexamine long held views on the nature of happiness, competition, and human society as a whole. While not all readers will agree with the author's evidence or conclusions, the value of the book is in the consideration of his alternative viewpoint. Todd Buchholz combines his theoretical framework, that positive competition makes people happy, with illuminating anecdotes that support the concept. Todd Buccholz bolsters his case with the latest findings in neuroscience research, and how the brain and the body react to competitive stimuli.
At the same time, the author points out how competition will drive a person to cooperate even with other competitors to achieve both personal and collaborative goals. Competition doesn't mean life is a zero sum game. Indeed, one of the strongest sections of the book is how increasing the size of the pie benefits all, and that a combination of positive competition along with cooperation helps everyone gain more happiness. The book presents a wonderful foundation for further debate, discussion, and research from all angles. Even the reader who disagrees completely with the author's thesis, will gain from reading this fascinating book.
I highly recommend the brilliant and discussion inducing book Rush: Why You Need and Love the Rat Race by Todd Buchholz, to anyone seeking a unique and eye opening approach to the age old questions of what happiness truly means, how it is achieved, and why there are differences in the paths to that goal. The author provides the starting point for debate and conversation, and that appears to be his intended goal with the book.
Read the fascinating and essential book Rush: Why You Need and Love the Rat Race by Todd Buchholz, and reconsider some of your own views on happiness, competition, and achievement. Your ideas may change, be strengthened, or reach a new synthesis. In any case, this book is not to be missed, as it offers an intriguing argument that probes the very nature of capitalism and society themselves.
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