Why do we become restless when life is too predictable, yet overwhelmed when it becomes too complex? Why do we seek novelty, but only up to a point? Why do some challenges enliven us while others exhaust us?

Just Right argues that much of human experience is guided by a search for an optimal middle range. We seek novelty that makes us feel alive, complexity that keeps us engaged, and order that helps us remain oriented. Drawing on psychological research, philosophy, and aesthetics, the book examines how this Goldilocks principle shapes what we like, what we avoid, and how we make sense of our lives.

The book brings together the themes of boredom, curiosity, flow, perception, narrative, psychotherapy, and public life through one central principle: that human beings search for an optimal level of stimulation, seeking to maintain a level of mental and physiological activation that is neither too low nor too high, but“just right.”

• When We Misjudge What We Desire

• The Goldilocks Principle

• Is Novelty the Spice of Life or Its Strain?

• Complexity: From the Obvious to the Baffling

• Forming Narratives

• Finding Our Way Back to the Sweet Spot

• Psychotherapy: Restoring Balance

• Between Apathy and Upheaval in Public Life

Chapters include:

Forthcoming this fall. Available for preorder.