Atlas of the Heart: Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of Human Experience

Brown’s (Dare To Lead) presentation of her latest best-seller, also an HBO Max docuseries, creates such an incredible audio experience that her many fans will likely want to listen even if they’ve already read the book in print. Brown, a professor, clinical social worker, leadership consultant, and popular podcaster provides an exceptional performance as she describes illustrations in such a way that listeners won’t feel the need to refer to the included PDF and tells stories that aren’t in the book—leaving listeners to feel as if she’s giving them a private lecture on her topic: the importance of precisely naming our emotions and experiences. Brown and her research team surveyed thousands of people over five years and found that, on average, people could identify only three emotions as they were experiencing them: anger, sadness, and happiness. Having a more nuanced understanding of our emotions, Brown believes, will help us to process them in more productive and healing ways. She groups 87 emotions and experiences into categories and offers helpful strategies for coping with them.