Examining relationships through emotional micro-lenses.<ul><li>Sonder, the realization that strangers lead lives as complex as your own, is a startling shift in perspective. It’s akin to the empathetic narrative style in George Saunders’ short stories.</li><li class="ql-align-justify">Jouska describes rehearsing conversations in your mind. It aligns with behavioral theories around mental simulation as a stress-response mechanism.</li></ul>

Chapter 3: The People You Know

“My soul is a dark forest. That my known self will never be more than a little clearing in the forest.”

The realization that each random passerby is the main character of their own story, in which you are just an extra in the background.

sonder

The feeling that the plot of your life doesn’t make sense to you anymore.

nodus tollens

“If someone were to ask you on your deathbed what it was like to live here on Earth, perhaps the only honest answer would be: 'I don’t know. I passed through it once, but I’ve never really been there.'”

The interplay between existence and imagination.<ul><li>Chrysalism captures the tranquil intimacy of being indoors during a thunderstorm. It mirrors the human tendency to seek comfort in isolation amidst chaos, reminiscent of Emily Dickinson's poetic retreat into solitude.</li><li class="ql-align-justify">Kairosclerosis unpacks the paradox of consciously experiencing joy while simultaneously intellectualizing it, leading to its erosion. This aligns with how over-documentation of happiness on social media often dulls the moment's authenticity.</li></ul>

Chapter 1: Between Living and Dreaming

“The bright side of the planet moves toward darkness... And for me, now as then, it is too much, there is too much world.”

“You take it for granted that you’re a different person every year, upgraded with a different body and a different future.”

Navigating the self as an uncharted psychological landscape.<ul><li>Agnosthesia defines the bewilderment of not knowing your true emotions, like searching for lost keys in a foggy room. It's a modern analogue to Freud's theory of the unconscious shaping our choices.</li><li class="ql-align-justify">Liberosis, the yearning to care less, reflects society's obsession with control and perfection. Think of Marie Kondo’s method of discarding items that don't "spark joy" as a form of Liberosis in action.</li></ul>

Chapter 2: The Interior Wilderness

Time’s fleeting and bittersweet nature.<ul><li>Énouement encapsulates the ache of knowing how life turns out but being unable to share it with your past self. This resonates with life lessons learned too late.</li><li>Zielschmerz, the dread of pursuing a dream and exposing yourself to potential failure, is the psychological equivalent of imposter syndrome.</li></ul>Ex: Reflecting on old diary entries and wishing you could advise your younger self (Énouement).

Chapter 5: The Passage of Time

The frustration of being stuck in just one body, that inhabits only one place at a time.

onism

“Your life is not just a quest, or an opportunity, or a story to tell; it’s also just an experience, to be lived for its own sake.”

The anonymous yet intimate connections with strangers.<ul><li>Kenopsia, the eerie ambiance of an abandoned place, embodies humanity’s innate discomfort with absence. Post-pandemic office spaces exemplify this.</li><li>La Cuna, the sadness of no more frontiers, critiques the diminishing allure of exploration in a hyper-mapped world. Think of how Google Earth robs some of the wonder of physical travel.</li></ul>Ex: Visiting a once-bustling mall now reduced to silence (Kenopsia).

Chapter 4: The People You Don’t Know

The awareness that this moment will become a memory.

dès vu

The bittersweetness of having arrived here in the future, seeing how things turn out, but unable to tell your past self.

énouement

The atmosphere of a place that is usually bustling with people but is now abandoned and quiet.

kenopsia

“Ask yourself—how many cover-ups have you taken part in? How many times have you heard something you weren’t supposed to hear... Everyone around you must be doing it, too.”

The Giltwrights metaphorically embody self-criticism as an imagined jury tracking every misstep, echoing Beck’s cognitive triad of negative self-perceptions.Ex: Visualize walking through a crowded airport and realizing each traveler harbors their own epic (Sonder). Or obsessively rethinking an awkward comment from last week (Jouska).

Onism portrays the frustration of being confined to one body and one perspective. It parallels existential concepts like Heidegger’s "thrownness," where one is aware of being trapped in a finite existence.Ex: Imagine standing on a train platform, watching destinations you’ll never explore. Or when scrolling through Instagram, envying lives you’ll never live—a tangible form of Onism.

Rubatosis, the unnerving awareness of your heartbeat, exposes the fragility of human life. It’s the same awareness that strikes during a near-miss accident.Ex: A person scrolling through their favorite playlist for hours, unsure why a specific song makes them cry (Agnosthesia). Or the bittersweet decision to decline an extra work shift for self-care (Liberosis).

Crafting purpose amidst life's chaos.<ul><li>Vemödalen, the fear that originality is impossible, critiques how digital saturation erodes uniqueness.</li><li>Ballagàrraidh, the sense of not belonging in the wilderness, contrasts humanity’s romanticized idea of nature with its harsh reality.</li></ul>Ex: Feeling lost in a sea of indistinguishable selfies on social media (Vemödalen). Or struggling during a weekend camping trip because modern comforts are absent (Ballagàrraidh).

Chapter 6: The Search for Meaning

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “It’s undeniably thrilling to find words for our strangest feelings…Koenig casts light into lonely corners of human experience…An enchanting book. “ —The Washington Post A truly original book in every sense of the word, The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows poetically defines emotions that we all feel but don’t have the words to express—until now. Have you ever wondered about the lives of each person you pass on the street, realizing that everyone is the main character in their own story, each living a life as vivid and complex as your own? That feeling has a name: “sonder.” Or maybe you’ve watched a thunderstorm roll in and felt a primal hunger for disaster, hoping it would shake up your life. That’s called “lachesism.” Or you were looking through old photos and felt a pang of nostalgia for a time you’ve never actually experienced. That’s “anemoia.” If you’ve never heard of these terms before, that’s because they didn’t exist until John Koenig set out to fill the gaps in our language of emotion. The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows “creates beautiful new words that we need but do not yet have,” says John Green, bestselling author of The Fault in Our Stars. By turns poignant, relatable, and mind-bending, the definitions include whimsical etymologies drawn from languages around the world, interspersed with otherworldly collages and lyrical essays that explore forgotten corners of the human condition—from “astrophe,” the longing to explore beyond the planet Earth, to “zenosyne,” the sense that time keeps getting faster. The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows is for anyone who enjoys a shift in perspective, pondering the ineffable feelings that make up our lives. With a gorgeous package and beautiful illustrations throughout, this is the perfect gift for creatives, word nerds, and human beings everywhere.

JOHN KOENIG

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