Night Vision

Seeing Ourselves Through Dark Moods

By: Mariana Alessandri

Narrated by: Gisela Chípe

This audiobook narrated by Gisela Chípe shares a philosopher’s personal meditation on how painful emotions can reveal truths about what it means to be truly human

Under the light of ancient Western philosophies, our darker moods like grief, anguish, and depression can seem irrational. When viewed through the lens of modern psychology, they can even look like mental disorders. The self-help industry, determined to sell us the promise of a brighter future, can sometimes leave us feeling ashamed that we are not more grateful, happy, or optimistic. Night Vision invites us to consider a different approach to life, one in which we stop feeling bad about feeling bad.

In this powerful and disarmingly intimate book, Existentialist philosopher Mariana Alessandri draws on the stories of a diverse group of nineteenth- and twentieth-century philosophers and writers to help us see that our suffering is a sign not that we are broken but that we are tender, perceptive, and intelligent. Thinkers such as Audre Lorde, María Lugones, Miguel de Unamuno, C. S. Lewis, Gloria Anzaldúa, and Søren Kierkegaard sat in their anger, sadness, and anxiety until their eyes adjusted to the dark. Alessandri explains how listeners can cultivate “night vision” and discover new sides to their painful moods, such as wit and humor, closeness and warmth, and connection and clarity.

Night Vision shows how, when we learn to embrace the dark, we begin to see these moods—and ourselves—as honorable, dignified, and unmistakably human.

©2023 Mariana Alessandri (P)2023 Princeton University Press

Critic reviews

“Night Vision provides a much-needed counterpoint to toxic positivity run amok. This book is for anyone who has ever been told to chill when they’re anxious, to cheer up when they’re depressed, or to count their blessings and stay positive when they’re grieving or ill. It will give you blessed validation that you’re not wrong or bad for having those feelings—just human. The world needs a lot of fixing, and learning to know and accept the reality of negative emotions may help us all understand more about how to fix it.”—Julie K. Norem, author of The Positive Power of Negative Thinking

“Night Vision is a stellar and courageous literary achievement. Writing with a nimble authorial voice that smoothly transitions from personal stories to philosophical insights, Alessandri contends that the distressing emotions and moods we try to banish with therapy or pills are more like teachers than demons, delivering self-knowledge, making us more human and more capable of sharing our humanity.”—Gordon Marino, author of The Existentialist’s Survival Guide

“Against the tyranny of optimism, Mariana Alessandri boldly validates our darker moods—like anxiety, grief, and anger—and teaches us not to fear them. Mining both philosophy and her own personal experiences as a teacher, she shows how our culture’s disparagement of these emotions weakens our capacity to learn from them and intensifies our unnecessary shame at feeling them. Night Vision is a refreshing embrace of the uncheerful self.”—Joshua Foa Dienstag, author of Pessimism: Philosophy, Ethic, Spirit

Poor conclusion

The author explains every philosopher under the sun’s ideas around sadness, anger, grief, depression, and anxiety. However, the conclusion is that if everyone realized they weren’t alone in their feelings, the feelings wouldn’t be so bad. I wholeheartedly disagree, and I found this book to be a waste of time.

Embrace the Darkness!

This is a good, easy to understand, fairly short book. The narration didn’t work for me, but was passable.

The heavy Latino theme

The author appealed too much to a Latino audience. It was a turn off to a Caucasian audience. The author’s message though valuable, was lost in the Latino noise.