Yawn: Adventures in Boredom

Yawn: Adventures in BoredomThe Matt Townsend Show • Season 6, Episode 174, Segment 3

Jul 24, 2017 • 31m

Mary Mann is the author of Yawn: Adventures in Boredom. Her work has appeared in Smithsonian, The New York Times, The Believer, Outside Magazine and The Los Angeles Review of Books. She works as a private researcher and as a writing associate at The Cooper Union. Do you remember when you were a kid and you would say " I am bored"!! Or as a parent when you are worried that your kids won't like a trip or activity because they would be bored. Mary Mann explains boredom and why we experience this state of irritable restlessness.

Other Segments

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Thomas Straka, Ph. D., a professor of forestry at Clemson University in South Carolina. Utah’s Brian Head forest fire, once the biggest in the country, burned over 72 thousand acres of land and forest. Currently, crews are still wrapping up and working on containment lines. This brings the question: How much value do US forest contribute to our country? The government is exploring cost cutting measures that may affect the national forest service. Thomas Straka explains the current state of US forests.

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Steven Stein, Ph.D. is a clinical psychologist, and the founder and CEO of Multi-Health Systems (MHS), a leading publisher of scientifically validated assessments for more than 30 years. Everyone has experienced that moment of annoyance with someone at work who is amazing at their job but not so great with workplace relationships. Put kindly, many companies have tolerated brilliant people with a lack of empathy, but that is beginning to change. Companies are now putting more resources into training their employees to not only be good at their job but to actively strive to build relationships. Dr. Steven Stein has some experience with that and has kindly written us a book discussing emotional intelligence. Dr. Stein’s book, The EQ Leader, discusses the skills that today’s leaders need, but often lack and why they’re critical to successful leadership.