Ruby Wax: Why I haven't made a New Year's resolution

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Features

Ruby Wax: Why I haven’t made a New Year’s resolution

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Reading lists

8 books to help you survive and thrive

A Mindfulness Guide for the Frazzled by Ruby Wax

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Extracts

The much-needed tonic for our frazzled world

And Now For The Good News...

'This book couldn't be more needed right now!' Nigella Lawson 
 
'Ruby has a uniquely vibrant and clever way of thinking' Elizabeth Day 
 
'The antidote to all Covid angst' Kathy Lette 
___________________________ 
 
Bestselling author and comedian, Ruby Wax, uses her iconic wit and expertise to equip readers with a positive roadmap for a kinder, brighter world and better mental health. 
 
As we begin to see the green shoots of a post-pandemic world, Ruby Wax's clever and witty And Now for the Good News is the blueprint we all need for achieving a kinder, more compassionate world. 
 
Brimming with practical learnings, Ruby gives readers the opportunity to create lasting positive change and provides us all with a much-needed tonic for better mental health and wellbeing. 
 
She has spent the last three years speaking to the people who are spearheading the latest innovation and influencing a brighter future for humanity. From the communities being designed to eradicate loneliness and the companies putting their employees' happiness first, to the impressive AI technology teaching children with learning difficulties and taking literacy levels higher than ever before. And Now for the Good News distils her inspiring findings into key practical takeaways for all. 
 
Ruby's here to provide us all with a positive roadmap for a brighter world and most importantly, for better mental wellbeing. 
___________________________ 
 
'A fantastic tonic for the universal malaise' Ian McKellen 
 
'Ruby can always be guaranteed to lift your spirits!' Annie Lennox

I think at this point in time we're all in need of as much good news as we can get! Ruby can always be guaranteed to lift your spirits!

In a world of relentlessly worrying news, finally a moment of good. I adored reading And Now for the Good News - truly there is hope

I adored interviewing Ruby: she has such a fizzing, uniquely vibrant and clever way of thinking about things. And I've wanted her on the podcast for ages because she does such important work

Easy-to-read and interesting take on (...) what's good in the world

In her imitable style, Ruby describes her global journey to hunt out people inventing a better world (...) self-compassion is at the heart of Ruby's philosophy

It's the antidote to all Covid angst life anxieties &amp; proves that optimism is not an eye disease

I am reading and finding on every page a delicious morsel

It is nice even to think about Good News. Thank you for the book @Rubywax!

@Rubywax's New book is out on 17th September and it's GOOD NEWS. 
 She explores the goodness out there and how to cultivate it

This is a good read by my friend Ruby Wax and it's actually positive about the future, which I must say isn't something that often occurs to me about the future. Also, it's funny which I think is very important. And finally, Ruby has neither paid me, blackmailed me or threatened me to make me say this

A new book by Ruby is in itself Good News! It sounds like a tonic for the universal malaise

This book couldn't be more needed right now!

A book celebrating what's good in the world (...) despite Covid-19, climate change and general political nastiness, there's so much good stuff going on. And we can improve our lives by leaps and bounds if we embrace it

The book the world NEEDS right now by one of my heroes

Ruby Wax is a successful comedian, TV writer and performer of over 25 years. Ruby additionally holds a Master's degree in Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy from Oxford University, and was awarded an OBE in 2015 for her services to mental health. She is the author of books Sane New World, A Mindfulness Guide for the Frazzled and How to be Human, and has toured all over the world with the accompanying one-woman shows. Both books have reached the number one spot on The Sunday Times bestsellers list. She has 145k followers on Twitter.

Bestselling author and comedian, Ruby Wax, uses her iconic wit and expertise to equip readers with a positive roadmap for a kinder, brighter world and better mental health. 
 
As we begin to see the green shoots of a post-pandemic world, Ruby Wax's clever and witty And Now for the Good News is the blueprint we all need for achieving a kinder, more compassionate world. 
 
Brimming with practical learnings, Ruby gives readers the opportunity to create lasting positive change and provides us all with a much-needed tonic for better mental health. 
 
She has spent the last three years speaking to the people who are spearheading the latest innovation and influencing a brighter future for humanity. From the communities being designed to eradicate loneliness and the companies putting their employees' happiness first, to the impressive AI technology teaching children with learning difficulties and taking literacy levels higher than ever before. And Now for the Good News distils her inspiring findings into key practical takeaways for all. 
 
Ruby's here to equip us all with a positive roadmap for a brighter world and most importantly, for better mental wellbeing.

How Do You Want Me?

The gripping, gruelling and hilarious autobiography by Ruby Wax

A dark and dazzling memoir. Waist-deep in vitriol ... but funny

An insightful part-memoir, part-exploration, which swings from hilarity to heart-rending sadness

An extraordinary and brave book that simultaneously provokes both gales of laughter and tears

Way above most celebrity memoirs. Ruby leaves no stone unturned in her brutally honest journey of self-discovery and she writes beautifully. Look no further for a good holiday read

A heartbreaking work of staggering genius

Ruby Wax's acting and presenting career has spanned stage and screen, and her writing talent has created some of our favourite television comedies, from Girls on Top to Absolutely Fabulous. With a Masters from Oxford in mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy, Ruby is now also a mental health campaigner and author.

Sunday Times Bestseller 
 
With a brand new introduction for 2020. 
 
How Do You Want Me? is critically acclaimed as brutally honest, vivid and gripping. 
 
Ruby Wax's unflinching revelation of a childhood poisoned, and a youth spoiled, culminates in a moving account of her breakdown and recovery. But How Do You Want Me? is also funny, rude and irreverent. It's unusually honest about fame and celebrity and happy to burst ego-balloons and golden myths. 
 
A brilliantly fast, furious and surprising read from the inimitable Ruby Wax.

The Manual

How to Be Human

'With this marvellous book, Ruby Wax has confirmed her position as one of the most readable, inspirational and engaging writers in the field of human mental health, happiness and fulfilment.' Stephen Fry 
 
"It took us 4 billion years to evolve to where we are now - completely brilliant and yet, some might say, emotionally dwarfed. The question is: can our more empathetic side catch up in time to save us and the world? I've got nothing against smarts, but it's smarts without emotional awareness that got us into this position of being able to nuke each other into oblivion and rape the earth for oil." 
 
With a little help from a monk (who tells us how our mind works) and a neuroscientist (who tells us how our brain works), Ruby Wax answers every question you've ever had about: evolution, thoughts, emotions, the body, addictions, relationships, sex, kids, the future and compassion. 
 
Filled with witty anecdotes from Ruby's own life, and backed up by smart science and practical mindfulness exercises, How to be Human is the only manual you need right now to help you upgrade your mind as much as you've upgraded your iphone. 
 
 
'Ruby has beautifully fused neurology and spirituality and given us a means to cope with operating both a mind and a brain. If this mental upgrade works then all other books will become defunct as we repose in bliss.' Russell Brand 
 
'How to Be Human is, without exaggeration, a lifeline; wise, practical and funny, it is a handbook for those in despair. It is actually for everyone alive, for the curious, or disillusioned or muddled or just plain happy.' Joanna Lumley

With this marvellous book, Ruby Wax has confirmed her position as one of the most readable, inspirational and engaging writers in the field of human mental health, happiness and fulfilment.

A three way encounter between a Monk, a neuroscientist and Ruby Wax sounds like the set up for a joke. Instead it's produced one of the most fascinating, intriguing and informative books about minds and bodies and brains and mindfulness I've ever encountered. A triangulation on what it means to be human. Utterly readable and surprisingly wise.

Ruby has beautifully fused neurology and spirituality and given us a means to cope with operating  both a mind and a brain. If this mental upgrade works then all other books will become defunct as we repose in bliss.

How to Be Human is, without exaggeration, a lifeline; wise, practical and funny, it is a handbook for those in despair.  It is actually for everyone alive, for the curious, or disillusioned or muddled or just plain happy.  Ruby, the Monk and the Neuroscientist are today's Magi.

Ruby Wax is a stitch.  And this stitch can make you laugh while showing you some exceedingly useful things to heal and transform your life.  What she is pointing to is way too serious to take too seriously.  Seriously!

As I expected its funny and thoroughly readable but what I hadn't expected was that it would change the way I think about how I  think. Remarkable work from Miss Wax

Ready to laugh and cry as you dive deeply into what it means to be human? Guiding us across evolution, from the far past into the present and even preparing us for the future, Ruby Wax and her neuroscientist and meditating monk colleagues provide us with a science-informed, practical, and humorous guide that is as hysterical as it is profound.  Be prepared to feel your way into well-being with this magnificent blending of entertainment and education into the nature of our minds' thoughts, feelings, and identity as you explore and expand who really you are.

Ruby Wax has spent a lifetime trying to be human.... with this book, she's so very nearly there...

This is a present for your head and your heart. Do yourself a favour and read it, you'll love it

A guide to mindfulness that's as hilarious as it is useful

Arianna Huffington on 'A Mindfulness Guide for the Frazzled'

A wonderful book full of passion and verve

Prof. Mark Williams on 'A Mindfulness Guide for the Frazzled'

How to Be Human reveals how to banish the devil on your shoulder and feel truly human again

Ruby Wax is a successful comedian, TV writer and performer of over 25 years. Ruby additionally holds a Master's degree in Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy from Oxford University, and was awarded an OBE in 2015 for her services to mental health. She is the author of books Sane New World and A Mindfulness Guide for the Frazzled, and has toured all over the world with the accompanying one-woman shows. Both books have reached the number one spot on The Sunday Times bestsellers list.

With a little help from a monk, and a neuroscientist, Ruby Wax answers every question you've ever had about: evolution, thoughts, emotions, the body, addictions, relationships, kids, the future and compassion. 
 
How to be Human is extremely funny, true and the only manual you'll need to help you upgrade your mind as much as you've upgraded your iPhone.

A Mindfulness Guide for the Frazzled

**The number one bestseller, with over 150,000 copies sold, which kick-started a mindfulness revolution** 
 
'Ruby Wax has written a guide to mindfulness that's as hilarious as it is useful' Arianna Huffington 
 
'We are all frazzled, all of us...' 
 
Five hundred years ago no one died of stress: we invented this concept and now we let it rule us. 
 
In A Mindfulness Guide for the Frazzled, Ruby Wax shows us how to de-frazzle for good by making simple changes that give us time to breathe, reflect and live in the moment. It's an easy-to-understand introduction to mindfulness, weaved together with Ruby's trademark wit and humour. 
 
Let Ruby be your guide to a healthier, happier you. You've nothing to lose but your stress... 
 
'Whip-smart on the subject... she teaches the art of doing nothing in a way that doesn't send you to sleep' The Times

A wonderful book full of passion and verve. Ruby Wax gives her unique take on the science and practice of mindfulness. She shows how to meet - face to face - all that life throws at us, and gives her own step by step guide to finding deep stillness in the midst of the chaos

Ruby Wax has written a guide to mindfulness that's as hilarious as it is useful. Drawing on the latest science, she offers insightful, irreverent advice on how to improve every aspect of our lives, from our health and happiness to our relationships and careers.

So witty, clever and accessible you'll be devouring every word... there's no better place to start than with this sparkling gem of a book

Whip-smart on the subject... she teaches the art of doing nothing in a way that doesn't send you to sleep

This witty, smart and accessible read should be top of your reading list

This frank, hilarious guide will make you laugh AND offers useful advice for everyone. Win-win

A beginner's guide to the science behind mindfulness

Well timed and combines a theoretical, practical and personal account of mindfulness... an easy, uplifting, humorous read

If the idea of mindfulness has always seemed a bit wishy-washy, you'll be pleased to know Ruby Wax once felt the same way. Now the comedienne has written a guide to mindfulness that is a sensible way to cope with stress

Wax's guide comes infused with her characteristic wit

This gem of a read will point you towards a more contented way of life... her passion and dedication to mental health are evident in every page

An accessible guide to mindfulness from the comedian and cognitive therapist

Ruby Wax shows how and why change is a good thing

Ruby Wax offers her own witty and accessible take on how mindfulness really can, in her view, change lives for the better

[Ruby] has turned her own experiences into a life-affirming message for others

She can make your ribs ache with laughter [and then] wrench your head round to see the darkness in the world and how to deal with it. No-one deserves to be recognised more... I adore her.

Ruby Wax has an extraordinary mind, and she has brought it to bear with trademark wit and searing honesty... A ruby beyond price

Through humor and unbridled truth, Ruby Wax shares her journey to mindfulness, illuminating how it can improve our state of mind and change our brain for a healthier, happier life

Ruby Wax is brave, generous and hilarious - the perfect guide on a tour of the brain

Finally - a map for the troubled human mind. And it's funny

Wonderful, painfully funny and instructive

This manual for living must be read by everyone

Peter Fonagy, Freud Memorial Professor of Psychoanalysis at UCL on 'Sane New World'

A very funny book about how to be calm and poised and not bonkers

...Royally hauls a stigmatised fact of life kicking and laughing into the open

Ruby Wax combines neuroscience with her usual eloquence, clarity and humour

Marjorie Wallace CBE, founder of SANE, on 'Sane New World'

Ruby Wax is a successful comedian, TV writer and performer of over 25 years. Ruby additionally holds a Master's degree in Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy from Oxford University, and was awarded an OBE in 2015 for her services to mental health. She is the author of books Sane New World and A Mindfulness Guide for the Frazzled, and has toured all over the world with the accompanying one-woman shows. Both books have reached the number one spot on The Sunday Times bestsellers list. She has over 150k followers on Twitter.

**The number one bestseller, with over 150,000 copies sold, which kick-started a mindfulness revolution** 
 
'Ruby Wax has written a guide to mindfulness that's as hilarious as it is useful' Arianna Huffington 
 
'We are all frazzled, all of us...' 
 
Five hundred years ago no one died of stress: we invented this concept and now we let it rule us. 
 
In A Mindfulness Guide for the Frazzled, Ruby Wax shows us how to de-frazzle for good by making simple changes that give us time to breathe, reflect and live in the moment. It's an easy-to-understand introduction to mindfulness, weaved together with Ruby's trademark wit and humour. 
 
Let Ruby be your guide to a healthier, happier you. You've nothing to lose but your stress... 
 
 'Whip-smart on the subject... she teaches the art of doing nothing in a way that doesn't send you to sleep' The Times

Ruby Wax

An exceptional account on mental health from a true tour de force. We're all a little messed up in our own ways, but we should all strive to be as fabulously fearless as Ruby

Not only will this book make you feel less alone, it also might just change your life

If you buy only one book this year, make it this one. Brilliant, heartbreakingly funny and painful: I couldn't put it down

Nobody can make the serious funny and the funny serious quite like Ruby. It's why she is so important to the mental-health debate

One of the most powerful books of the year

An open account of the benefits of therapy, particularly cognitive behavioural therapy, can only benefit readers and the book is a firm reminder that everyone can struggle

Follow Wax on the winding road on which she tries to find herself, where you'll encounter many side-splitting laughs, the odd tear and no doubt fragments of yourself along the way

There is no-one as witty, inspiring and frank as Ruby Wax when it comes to mental health - this book provides a brutally honest and thoughtful insight into Wax's journey, including conversations with therapists and the highs and lows of fame

A typically sharp read, full of wit and brutally honest observations

[Ruby Wax] is a force of nature, but also like so many of us, an incredibly fragile one [...] Her latest book is possibly her most honest yet.

Checking into a psychiatric institution wasn't exactly on Ruby Wax's agenda for 2022 - writing about it wasn't either, but here we are. These days, trying to stay sane in a completely chaotic world makes life incredibly difficult, especially if you're struggling with your mental health. While searching for inner peace and equanimity amidst global chaos, Ruby realises that, ultimately, the most challenging gauntlet we all must face is ourselves. 
 
I'm Not as Well as I Thought I Was is Ruby's most honest and raw book to date - an insight into the depths of her psyche, and a stark exploration of what trauma can do to someone. Reflecting on years of personal and professional experience, she opens up to readers about her struggles with mental health and different treatments over the years, hoping to provide reassurance and guidance to anyone confronting their own anticipated, or unanticipated, struggles with mental health.

Ruby Wax

Books by Ruby Wax

Articles featuring Ruby Wax

Ruby Wax: Why I haven’t made a New Year’s resolution

8 books to help you survive and thrive

A Mindfulness Guide for the Frazzled by Ruby Wax

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