Yet another self-help book that could have been half the length. This one is about “emotional brain training,” i.e. how to train your emotional brain to be more consistently in a “joy” state. A lot of the book feels like pure hype and upselling (“join our online community! buy these tools!”), and I really didn’t like the framing device of the pharmaceutical CEO learning the method. (He was put out of work because no one needs pharmaceuticals anymore now that they’re all doing EBT, you see. Eyeroll.) I also didn’t like that while there’s a bibliography, there weren’t any footnotes for some of the grander claims, like that 80% of the world’s health problems are caused by chronic stress. I’m not saying that stress doesn’t have negative effects – obviously it does – but 80%? Source, please? In any case, the crux of the book is that the brain has five “states,” from feeling great (1) to fight-or-flight (5). The core of EBT is to identify which state you’re in at any given moment and then use one of the five associated tools (one for each state) to help flip you to 1, with a goal of eventually moving your set point to a less-stressed position. Really, the only part of the book you need to read are the descriptions of the five types and the five tools. Once you know them, the pocket guide fits on an index card. I plan to test the tools a bit to see if they’re helpful, but I’m not joining the online community. There’s only so much “scientifically backed” woo-woo I can take in a day.