Why Worry?

Walton, George Lincoln, 1854-1941Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.8

Word count: 193K words
Chapters: 20

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Why Worry? by George Lincoln WaltonAuthor: Walton, George Lincoln, 1854-1941,Language: English, Class: BF: Philosophy, Psychology, Religion: Psychology, Philosophy, Psychoanalysis, Release Date: Jul 1, 2005

Editor's review

This is a practical work from the early days of popular psychology writing, concerned with how people live with worry and anxiety in daily life. Walton, an author of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, writes in the expository prose style of that era: first analyzing the psychological mechanics of worry, then offering approaches to self-regulation, in a plain tone that avoids mystification. Its value lies not in supplying modern clinical treatment plans but in showing how people over a century ago reasoned about emotional distress, and many of its observations remain illuminating today. The book's analysis of phenomena such as "borrowing trouble" and "excessive self-scrutiny" rewards slow reading in a quiet setting, checked against one's own habits of thought. Because it was written long ago, some formulations bear the marks of their time; readers should approach it as both a historical document and a self-help book, taking its lines of thought rather than copying them point by point.

Who it's for

A good fit for

General readers interested in early popular psychology who want a glimpse of self-help writing from a century ago.
Readers prone to chronic worry who seek a rational approach to self-regulation; suitable as light self-help reading.
Readers who enjoy expository prose and are willing to read slowly and take notes will find the chapter-by-chapter analysis rewarding.
Students researching the history of anxiety discourse or English popular psychology writing may use it as supplementary material.

Not a good fit for

Readers currently experiencing severe anxiety who need a professional treatment plan; this book is no substitute for clinical help.
Readers expecting modern evidence-based techniques and step-by-step exercises will find the content dated.
Readers looking only for light stories or fiction may find the expository style dry.

Reading tips

Read one short section a day, then restate in your own words the author's judgment on the causes of worry and compare it with one recent specific worry of your own.
Keep a sheet of paper with two columns: regulating ideas mentioned in the book and practices you could try, so you do not just read without practicing.
Mark passages that carry the stamp of their era, distinguishing psychological observations worth borrowing from outdated value judgments.
After finishing, write a short review stating which idea was most useful to you and why.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book suitable as a self-help manual for treating anxiety?

It is better not to frame it that way. It is an early work of popular psychology that offers rational analysis and ideas for self-regulation rather than modern clinical protocols or step-by-step exercises. Readers may use it as supplementary reading for reflecting on emotions, but if anxiety is affecting daily life, professional help should still be sought.

How difficult is the original English edition to read?

The book is in the original English, written as expository prose with fairly complete sentence structures and accessible vocabulary, though it carries the expressive habits of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Readers with intermediate English proficiency can read it slowly with a dictionary, focusing on grasping the line of argument rather than parsing every word.

Do the book's views still have reference value today?

Its observations on excessive worry and compulsive self-scrutiny remain illuminating, but some formulations bear the limitations of their time and lack the support of modern psychological research. Readers are advised to take its analytical approach and read it alongside reliable contemporary popular psychology.

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About the author

Walton, George Lincoln, 1854-1941 Author · American · 1854–1941

George Lincoln Walton (1854–1941) was an American physician and writer. Public information about his life is limited; what can be confirmed is chiefly his nationality, his birth and death years, and the works on medicine and health popularization he left behind. One work by him is held in this collection, Why Worry? Judging from the title and the author's profession, he addressed worry and physical and mental well-being for general readers, placing him in the tradition of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Anglo-American physicians who wrote health books for the public. Such works were typically plain in language and practical in aim, translating medical ideas into everyday advice and thus reaching readers beyond specialized treatises. Walton's writing likewise aimed at popularization rather than scholarly argument; its influence lies mainly in helping ordinary people understand and cope with anxiety. Given the limited material, no further speculation is offered here about his education, medical career, or public offices.