Wiser: The Scientific Roots of Wisdom, Compassion, and What Makes Us Good

What exactly does it mean to be 'wise?' And is it possible to grow and even accelerate its unfolding? For over two decades, Dr. Dilip Jeste has led the search for the biological and cognitive roots of wisdom. What's emerged from his work is that wisdom is a very real and deeply multilayered set of traits. Across many cultures and centuries, he's found that wise people are compassionate and empathetic, aware of their gifts and blind spots, open-minded, resolute and calm amid uncertainty, altruistic decision-makers who learn from their experiences, able to see from many perspectives and 'altitudes' and often blessed with a sense of adventure and humour. 'The modern rise in suicides, opioid abuse, loneliness and internet addiction is damaging people’s health and destroying the social fabric,' Dr. Jeste reflects. But we all have the ability to nurture and grow every facet of wisdom to face these challenges and others more effectively. If you seek to be a wiser person – with your family, at work and in your community – this audiobook will show you how, with the researcher who's launched and advanced this exciting new path to our highest human potential.

About the Author :
Dilip V. Jeste, M.D. is a public speaker, the Senior Associate Dean for Healthy Aging and Senior Care, Estelle and Edgar Levi Memorial Chair in Aging, Director of the Sam and Rose Stein Institute for Research on Aging, Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry and Neurosciences at University of California San Diego and Co-Director of the UC San Diego-IBM Center on Artificial Intelligence for Healthy Living. He obtained his medical education in Pune and psychiatry training in Mumbai, India. In the US, he completed psychiatry residency at Cornell, and Neurology residency at George Washington University. He was a research fellow, and later, Chief of the Units on Movement Disorders and Dementias at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) before joining UC San Diego. He started a Geriatric Psychiatry program from scratch at UC San Diego, today it is one of the largest Geriatric Psychiatry Divisions in the world. Dr Jeste has been Principal Investigator on a number of research and training grants. His main areas of research include schizophrenia, neuropsychiatric interventions and successful aging. He has published 13 books, 725+ articles in peer-reviewed journals and 160+ invited book chapters. He is Past President of the American Psychiatric Association, American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry, the West Coast College of Biological Psychiatry and Founding President of International College of Geriatric Psychoneuropharmacology. Dr Jeste is a member of the National Academy of Medicine, and was a member of the NIMH Advisory Council and NIH Council of Councils. He is Past Editor-in-Chief of The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry. He is currently the Editor-in-Chief of the International Psychogeriatrics. Roger May is a British actor, director and voice artist. He has recorded over 100 plays for radio and numerous audiobooks, and appears in the cartoon series Peter Rabbit and Sarah and Duck. Roger has played James Bellamy in the BBC Radio 4 play The Archers for over a decade, and has performed extensively in theatre across the UK and internationally. His many film and television credits include The Scarlet Tunic, An Ideal Husband, Endeavour, Father Brown and Doctors.

Review :
'Wiser is a brilliant contribution to the emerging science of wisdom – how we define it, research it, and how we can intentionally cultivate it in ourselves and our society. A timely and hope-giving book as our world faces challenges that require the deepening of our wisdom as a species.' 'Wiser is the readable summation and thoughtful culmination of the thought and work by Dr. Jeste on wisdom over many years. No medical scientist, to my knowledge, has been willing to tackle the expansive complexities of practical wisdom, what some may label as 'wisdom that matters, ' as thoroughly as the author.' 'This is a deeply engaging book that explains clearly the science of wisdom and provides practical suggestions for wiser reasoning grounded in solid research.'