Atlas of the Heart: Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of Human Experience | Brené Brown

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • In her latest book, Brené Brown writes, “If we want to find the way back to ourselves and one another, we need language and the grounded confidence to both tell our stories and be stewards of the stories that we hear. This is the framework for meaningful connection.”

In Atlas of the Heart, Brown takes us on a journey through eighty-seven of the emotions and experiences that define what it means to be human. As she maps the necessary skills and an actionable framework for meaningful connection, she gives us the language and tools to access a universe of new choices and second chances—a universe where we can share and steward the stories of our bravest and most heartbreaking moments with one another in a way that builds connection.
 
Over the past two decades, Brown’s extensive research into the experiences that make us who we are has shaped the cultural conversation and helped define what it means to be courageous with our lives. Atlas of the Heart draws on this research, as well as on Brown’s singular skills as a storyteller, to show us how accurately naming an experience doesn’t give the experience more power—it gives us the power of understanding, meaning, and choice.
 
Brown shares, “I want this book to be an atlas for all of us, because I believe that, with an adventurous heart and the right maps, we can travel anywhere and never fear losing ourselves.”

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

An Amazon Best Book of December 2021: In Atlas of the Heart Brené Brown unpacks the complex web of emotion, behavior, and thoughts that are triggered by our experiences, and gives us the nuanced language to fully understand our feelings and express them to others. At first glance, this seems like a very thorny subject, but Brown engages the reader through anecdotes, humor, and data to create a narrative that makes total sense. The book’s map metaphor and chapter titles guide readers through the places we go when we are experiencing different emotions, illustrating how a seemingly singular emotion or experience—regret, for example—has multiple categorizations (six in this case), each of which feels distinct from the others. As I read Atlas of the Heart I had the overwhelming sense that Brown “got” me so clearly it gave me the chills, and I think others will also feel seen, understood, and changed for the better by what this book has to offer. —Seira Wilson, Amazon Editor

About the Author

Brené Brown is a research professor at the University of Houston, where she holds the Huffington Foundation Endowed Chair at the Graduate College of Social Work. She is also a visiting professor in management at The University of Texas at Austin McCombs School of Business. Brown has spent the past two decades studying courage, vulnerability, shame, and empathy and is the author of six #1 New York Times bestsellers: Atlas of the Heart, The Gifts of Imperfection, Daring Greatly, Rising Strong, Braving the Wilderness, and Dare to Lead, which is the culmination of a seven-year study on courage and leadership. With Tarana Burke, she co-edited the bestselling anthology You Are Your Best Thing: Vulnerability, Shame Resilience, and the Black Experience. She hosts the Unlocking Us and Dare to Lead podcasts, and her TEDx talk, “The Power of Vulnerability,” is one of the top five most-viewed TED talks in the world with more than 50 million views. Her Netflix special, The Call to Courage, is the first filmed lecture by a researcher on the streaming service. Brown lives in Houston, Texas, with her husband, Steve. They have two children, Ellen and Charlie.