Stress Without Distress - hardcover

From dust jacket flap: "'Stress is the spice of life,' says Dr. Selye. Without it you would be a vegetable- or dead. Then why can stress be destructive, causing ulcers, heart disease, and so many other ailments of modern society? To those and other vital questions about health and self-fulfillment, Dr. Selye offers reassuring answers, based on a lifetime of pioneering biological reasearch. He explains the physiological mechanisms of stress and offers specific advice on avoiding stress that is harmful. He tells you what to do if you're stymied by a problem, why procrastination is dangerous, how to enjoy leisure, why aimlessness causes distress. He discusses the concept of work as rewarding and joyful play, and the relationship of work, stress, and aging. But most important, he formulates a workable, positive, humane philosophy that allows you to be as selfish as Nature intended. In fact, he says you MUST be selfish. The drive for self-preservation is the most natural and essential property of life. But how to use this biological urge in a society that needs cooperation to survive? Altruistic egotism is Dr. Selye's answer. It's a form of cooperation that appears everywhere in Nature."