Thanks a thousand : a gratitude journey

Title:

Author:

Jacobs, A. J., 1968- author.

Personal Author:

Jacobs, A. J., 1968- author.

ISBN:

9781501119927

9781471156052

Edition:

First TED Books hardcover edition.

Physical Description:

137 pages : illustrations ; 19 cm

Series:

TED

General Note:

"A TED Book."

Contents:

The barista and the taster -- The cup makers -- The roasters -- The water -- The safety patrol -- The movers -- The extractors -- The farmers.

Abstract:

After being dared by his son, A. J. Jacobs decided to thank every single person involved in producing his morning cup of coffee. The resulting journey takes him across the globe and transforms his life.

Subject Term:

Gratitude -- Psychological aspects.

Genre:

Self-help publications.

Summary:

Holds:

Available:*

Library	Material Type	Shelf Number	Status
Searching... Ginter Park	Book	179.9 J17	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Main Library	Book	179.9 J17	Searching... Unknown
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Summary

The idea was deceptively simple: New York Times bestselling author A.J. Jacobs decided to thank every single person involved in producing his morning cup of coffee. The resulting journey takes him across the globe, transforms his life, and reveals secrets about how gratitude can make us all happier, more generous, and more connected.

Author A.J. Jacobs discovers that his coffee--and every other item in our lives--would not be possible without hundreds of people we usually take for granted: farmers, chemists, artists, presidents, truckers, mechanics, biologists, miners, smugglers, and goatherds.

By thanking these people face to face, Jacobs finds some much-needed brightness in his life. Gratitude does not come naturally to Jacobs--his disposition is more Larry David than Tom Hanks--but he sets off on the journey on a dare from his son. And by the end, it's clear to him that scientific research on gratitude is true. Gratitude's benefits are legion: It improves compassion, heals your body, and helps battle depression.

Jacobs gleans wisdom from vivid characters all over the globe, including the Minnesota miners who extract the iron that makes the steel used in coffee roasters, to the Madison Avenue marketers who captured his wandering attention for a moment, to the farmers in Colombia.

Along the way, Jacobs provides wonderful insights and useful tips, from how to focus on the hundreds of things that go right every day instead of the few that go wrong. And how our culture overemphasizes the individual over the team. And how to practice the art of "savoring meditation" and fall asleep at night. Thanks a Thousand is a reminder of the amazing interconnectedness of our world. It shows us how much we take for granted. It teaches us how gratitude can make our lives happier, kinder, and more impactful. And it will inspire us to follow our own "Gratitude Trails."

Reviews (1)

Kirkus Review

A cup of coffee is worth a thousand "thank you's" in the author's experiment in gratitude.Esquire contributor Jacobs (It's All Relative: Adventures Up and Down the World's Family Tree, 2017, etc.), the bestselling immersive journalist who brought readers The Year of Biblical Thinking and The Know-It-All, returns with an equally ambitious project: an effort to thank every person involved in creating his morning cup of coffee. Starting with the barista at Joe Coffee, which "has survived for twelve years, despite two Starbucks within a three-block radius," and moving through the entire supply chain to the farmers in Colombia, the author manages to thank 1,000 people who helped deliver him his morning caffeine hit. It's a novel idea, and it works as more than just a clever plot device thanks to the author's typically conversational tone and self-deprecating examination of his own need to be more gracious. "I'm mildly to severely aggravated more than 50 percent of my waking hours," writes Jacobs. "That's a ridiculous way to go through life." This sentiment leads to his argument that if humanity spent less time "fretting over what we're missing," we might appreciate more of what we have. The author demonstrates this idea with each encounter with a person involved in his coffee's production, from the lid designer to the Environmental Protection Agency employee in charge of monitoring the Catskills Watershed, the source of New York City's water. In touring the watershed, Jacobs discovered that the creation of the lake forced the area residents out. "This is a huge theme I need to remember as part of Project Gratitude: My comfort often comes at the expense of others. I benefit daily from the disruption to this community. I need to be more grateful for these sacrifices."Thanks to the miracle of caffeine, the author delivers a stirring, nonpreachy sermon on gratitude. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.