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Book Review: Enough About Me: The Unexpected Power of Selflessness

Editor's Note: This review was originally published in Seattle Book Review


Through stories that he encountered in his journalism career, Richard Lui makes the case for the value of a collectivist mindset in Enough About Me: The Unexpected Power of Selflessness. Lui interlaces these stories with his own personal narratives about familial joy and struggles, as he challenges the popular tropes of self-care and self-love in the self-help genre.

Selflessness takes work, and Lui offers practical ways to infuse the value of altruism in everyday decisions, to think and act outside one’s own self-interest. He draws from his background as a storyteller to uplift examples of selflessness demonstrated by people from all walks of life who have chosen to move past selfish instincts and do what’s right for others. It’s an inspiring, hopeful and necessary plea for lifting community-centered values over individualism, during a time of widespread grief and sorrow.

With this book, Lui establishes himself as a leading Asian American voice in popular psychology. He supports his observations and claims with latest research and studies on evolutionary biology, cognitive psychology and neuroscience that support why selflessness is an adaptive strategy for our species. It turns out that being attuned to others’ needs helps us all to survive and thrive.


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