Wonder and awe lie at the heart of life’s most profound questions. Wonderstruck shows how these emotions respond to our fundamental need to make sense of ourselves and everything around us, and how they enable us to engage with the world as if we are experiencing it for the first time.
Drawing on the latest psychological insights on emotions, Helen De Cruz argues that wonder and awe are emotional drives that motivate us to inquire and discover new things, and that humanity has deliberately nurtured these emotions in cultural domains such as religion, science, and magic. Tracing how wonder and awe unify philosophy, the humanities, and the sciences, De Cruz provides new perspectives on figures such as Plato, Aristotle, Adam Smith, William James, Rachel Carson, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Abraham Heschel. Along the way, she explains how these singular emotions empower us to be open-minded, to experience joy and hope, and to be resilient in the face of personal troubles and global challenges.
Taking inspiration from Descartes’s portrayal of wonder as “that sudden surprise of the soul,” this illuminating book reveals how wonder and awe are catalysts that can help us reclaim what makes life worth living and preserve the things we find wonderful and valuable in our lives.
Awards and Recognition
- A Choice Outstanding Academic Title of the Year
"De Cruz constructs a persuasive and nuanced case for looking through the ‘everydayness’ of the world to see the ‘strange and paradoxical’ lurking in plain sight. [Wonderstruck is] an expertly fashioned analysis of what it means to perceive the world anew."—Publishers Weekly starred review
"An excellent case for intentionally cultivating wonder and awe. . . . De Cruz argues that awe and wonder can be sources of hope because they help us to shift our perspective, understand our interconnectedness and get attuned to the intrinsic value of our ecosystem. . . . It remains for each of us to discover the best ways to bring awe and wonder into our lives, but Wonderstruck offers a persuasive reminder that we really should."—Skye C. Cleary, Wall Street Journal
"Written in a careful, clear, and distinct style, this magisterial volume will help the reader comprehend more effectively the surrounding world by acknowledging that one observes itthrough the lens of awe and wonder. . . . [De Cruz] uses her knowledge of the history of philosophy, psychology, and science to substantiate her perspective on the role and distinctive contribution of awe and wonder in nourishing how science and knowledge of the world evolves."—Choice
"Wonderstruck isn’t just a philosophical analysis. It’s a guide to wondering more and better in our reading, our thinking and our everyday lives."—New Humanist
"Rich and readable. . . . Wonderstruck is a thoughtful, eclectic, enjoyable exploration of the varieties of wonder and awe."—Ian Kidd, Fortean Times
"These days, the US establishment doesn’t see particle physics and astronomy as so militarily significant, and our funding reflects this shift. Does that mean what we do isn’t important? I think De Cruz’s latest book [Wonderstruck] answers this question: our work creates a sense of wonder, and wonder matters. It helps us identify gaps in our knowledge that could lead to breakthroughs."—Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, New Scientist
“In Helen De Cruz’s extraordinarily rich and deep dive into awe and wonder, you will learn of their philosophical treatments, their role in magic and religion, their place in evolution, and how we can reclaim these two states so vital to our imagination and adaptation in the twenty-first century. This elegant book is filled with wonder-inspiring insights, awe-filled observations and cultural histories, and beauty. Read this book and you will look at the world around you with more wonder and awe.”—Dacher Keltner, author of Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life
“This smart and highly readable book blends insights from philosophy and psychology with religion, science, and beyond, offering the reader their own sense of wonder at the scope and power of this broad-ranging emotion.”—Tania Lombrozo, Princeton University
“De Cruz synthesizes a remarkably wide range of topics with enthusiasm and philosophical rigor, producing a novel perspective on wonder that is both intellectually stimulating and applicable in everyday life.”—Alan Levinovitz, author of Natural: How Faith in Nature’s Goodness Leads to Harmful Fads, Unjust Laws, and Flawed Science
“In this book, Helen De Cruz is a gentle, erudite, and wise instructor in the science and philosophy of wonder and awe and the cognitive technologies that they help shape (and are shaped by). All readers’ love of wisdom will be reshaped as De Cruz invites us to experience our world’s strangeness, not from a sense of alienation but from a humane sense of the potential for mutual cooperation. It’s a rare gem of a book that treats the humanities and sciences as equal partners in our collective destiny.”—Eric Schliesser, University of Amsterdam
