Stop Reading the News

A Manifesto for a Happier, Calmer and Wiser Life

By: Rolf Dobelli, Caroline Waight

Narrated by: Keith Wickham

News is to the mind as sugar is to the body.

In 2013 Rolf Dobelli stood in front of a room full of journalists and proclaimed that he did not read the news. It caused a riot. Now he finally sets down his philosophy in detail. And he practices what he preaches: he hasn't read the news for a decade.

Stop Reading the News is Dobelli's manifesto about the dangers of the most toxic form of information - news. He shows the damage it does to our concentration and well-being and how a misplaced sense of duty can misdirect our behaviour.

From the author of the best-selling The Art of Thinking Clearly, Rolf Dobelli offers the listener guidance about how to live without news and the many potential gains to be had: less disruption, more time, less anxiety, more insights.

In a world of increasing disruption and division, Stop Reading the News is a welcome voice of calm and wisdom.

©2020 Piper Verlag GmbH (P)2020 Hodder & Stoughton Limited

Critic reviews

Rolf Dobelli writes clearly, intelligently and convincingly (Gerhard Schroder)

Rolf Dobelli offers plenty of food for thought, and writes clearly - stimulating, amusing, brilliant (Dr Christoph Franz, former CEO of Lufthansa, Chairman of Roche)

Rolf Dobelli's works are informative, insightful, and accessible. In an age of celebrity ignoramuses, he is a true public intellectual. (Lou Marinoff, Professor of Philosophy at the City College of New York)

Great cure for NEWS Virus pandemic

I have to say this book saved my life. I wish I could have read it earlier.

Refreshing take on news

A must read about news in the world and how it affects us. Enjoyed this book. Narration and book length were just right.

Very important

In an age where information is a commodity and the media is losing its importance for good and reliable information, this book is the ultimate reason to stop reading news that no longer informs, but only misinforms and tries to make you look in the right direction. wrong on purpose. Journalists don't just want to inform. They want to change the facts. It even turned into something dangerous.

Worth Listening To

Minus the Darwinian apologetical inserts, it was a very informative book. Lots of good food for thought.

The art of thinking vacantly

This book could be half as short and twice as effective. What ruins it are the subjective comments that show there are more serious, better qualified authors on this topic.

Some choice quotes:

“The war in Palestine is getting boring after all these years.” Oh really?

‘If only journalists had more time.’ Sure.

‘News ad spend is down’ He means newspapers.

‘Don’t be ideological.’ Oh really?

‘My friends read The Economist features.’ Ha Ha Ha… thing is unreadable. What was that about ideology?