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Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder
Dacher Keltner's 2023 synthesis of two decades of awe research — the book that established the two-component model, the small self, and the ecology of wonder as accessible frameworks for understanding human flourishing.
Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life, published in 2023, is Keltner's culminating work on awe — the synthesis of two decades of empirical research presented for a broad audience without sacrificing scientific precision. The book develops the two-component model in depth, documents the small-self response and its prosocial consequences, explores the dark side of awe in overwhelming form, and proposes the ecology-of-wonder framework for cultivating the capacity in daily life. Its publication coincided with the emergence of publicly available large language models, making its framework unexpectedly urgent for understanding the AI transition.
In The You On AI Field Guide
The book is structured around what Keltner calls the 'eight wonders of life' — the eight domains in which awe most reliably occurs: moral beauty, collective effervescence, nature, music, visual design, spirituality, ideas, and encounters with life and death. This taxonomy