Radical Surrender: Letting Go in a World Addicted to Control

In her new book, Radical Surrender, Anna Lembke—Stanford professor, physician, and New York Times bestselling author of Dopamine Nation, with more than 1.5 million copies sold—offers readers inspiring stories and transformative tools for letting go in a world engineered for certainty and control.

We’re living in a time of unprecedented control over almost every aspect of our day-to-day existence, from the precise way we brew and consume our favorite morning beverage, to the micro-regulation of the temperature and surround-sound audio in our car, to when and how we reproduce. No longer embedded in the greater tapestry of the universe, we now hold the world in the palm of our hand.

As such, we’ve become intolerant of uncertainty. When we encounter a circumstance we cannot predict or control, we engage in the narcissistic defenses of denial and pathological willfulness, attempting to further bend the universe to our will.

The result? An epidemic of anxiety, loneliness, boredom, and self-loathing shame: anxiety born of the fear of choosing poorly. Loneliness a consequence of self-aggrandizement. Boredom the essence of living in a predictable world. Shame the natural byproduct of narcissism, wherein we have only ourselves to blame when life doesn’t go according to plan.

Blending relatable stories with neuroscience, Dr. Lembke argues that the antidote to modern despair is living a surrendered life. Using her personal story of loss and subsequent existential reckoning as a powerful entry point, Dr. Lembke defines surrender as the moment we acknowledge a power greater than ourselves, however we define it, and give our will over to that power: less mastery and more a return to mystery.

Science-based and deeply inspiring, Radical Surrender is the perfect book for anyone seeking more meaning and connection in our self-obsessed, hyperrational, disenchanted universe.