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Title: The How of Happiness: A Scientific Approach to Getting the Life You Want
ISBN: 159420148X
Author:
Sonja Lyubomirsky
Publicate Date: 2007-12-27
Publish: 2007-12-27
List Price: $25.95
Average Customer Rating: 4.5
Format: Hardcover
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $12.47
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $16.48
Amazon Merchant Price: $17.13
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| Customer Review: |
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1: The "How" Indeed
I've actually been following this author's work for about 5 years and was wondering when she was going to write a book. It was well worth the wait.
The How of Happiness: A Scientific Approach to Getting the Life You Want is named quite well. It's based upon research her and her colleagues have conducted in the field of positive psychology. And she doesn't write a bunch of "feel good" garbage either. No, if you read this book, know that it comes from a person who only goes for solid research. If it hasn't been shown to be true, you won't find it in the book.
But the real issue for readers looking for a book to increase their happines is, "Is it possible?". In a word, yes, and after reading the book, you'll know why. While some things are out of your control when it comes to increasing your happiness, such as circumstances and genetics, the book makes it clear that there's still plenty of room left in the area of intentional activity to make the one happier.
Get the book if you want a practical and research-based approach to becoming happier. It really can make a difference. Other evidence-based happiness books I liked include Finding Happiness in a Frustrating World.
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2: Singer Bobby McFerrin had a monster hit in 1988 entitled Don't Worry, Be Happy. The hypnotically perky, happy song hopped its wa
Singer Bobby McFerrin had a monster hit in 1988 entitled Don't Worry, Be Happy. The hypnotically perky, happy song hopped its way across the globe, magically lifting the spirits of listeners everywhere. The lyrics say: "In your life expect some trouble / When you worry you make it double / Don't worry, be happy / Be happy now." If only happiness were that easy to achieve. Indeed, happiness requires considerable focus and effort, but psychologist Sonja Lyubomirsky promises that it is eminently achievable, even for the galactically unhappy. She outlines some proven psychological stratagems and explains why they work, if you put in the effort. Just be aware of and implement specific mood-lifting techniques to improve the level of happiness in your life. Whether or not you cheer up when you hear McFerrin's catchy tune, getAbstract suggests giving Lyubomirsky's scientific happiness-inducing techniques a shot. Don't worry, be happy: They just might work.
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3: Wonderful book
I stumbled on this book by accident and I am so glad I did. It is very enlightening. Sonia is thorough in her research and has the data to back it up. I felt happy just reading it . . . I have more control over my happiness than I realized. The exercises are very useful and easy to do, nothing complicated. I would recommend this book, whether you "feel" happy or not.
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4: I am less happy now that I have read this book
I am extremely disappointed with this book. I was hoping for a book that was different, that actually used solid scientific studies to support it's findings. Instead, all I got was another self-help book by someone trying to gleam a buck off someone else's insecurities. Here is my reasoning.
1. The author uses bad examples and anecdotes that don't make logical sense. One example of this is where she gives unhappy and happy people a fill in the blank word puzzle to solve in 15 seconds. Here is the actual puzzle: DU_ _, _ _SER, I_ _ _T, EM_ _ _ _ _ _ _. She said that unhappy people were more likely than happy people to fill in the blanks with "DUMB, LOSER, IDIOT, and EMBARASS," but she doesn't say what the happy people filled them in with!! I defy anyone to quickly come up with another common word to fill in I_ _ _T with!!!
2. She demonizes unhappy people. This quote quite angered me: "A completely different portrait, however, has emerged of a typical unhappy person - namely, as someone who is deflated rather than sympathetic in the face of his peers' failures and undoings." So she's basically saying that if you're unhappy, you root for your friends' failures. I was insulted by this. Yes at times I might not be as happy as I'd like to be, but I do genuinely care about my friends and family and want them to suceed! To suggest that I am an unkind and uncaring person just because I am unhappy is not a very nice thing FOR THE AUTHOR to do! Perhaps she was going through an unhappy time in her life as she was writing that part of the book!
3. She tells you what's wrong with being unhappy, but does not give you a concrete guide to actually becoming a happier person. The entire book talks about all the perks of being happy, how happy people are nicer, smarter, better looking... basically better in every way than unhappy people. It examines 12 different areas in which you could supposedly improve yourself to become happier. Yet, she does not give you a concrete guide to action in any of those chapters. The basic layout of a chapter is this: 80% of the chapter is "scientific" evidence about why you should be happy in this area (which is mostly anecdotal, and a lot is open to interpretation as we saw in point #1), and the rest is a pathetic attempt to help you achieve happiness in this area. Usually this last 20% of "help" consists of really bad advice that doesn't help at all - if you've read self help books before, you know what I mean... "write a letter of forgivness" "don't fight with other people" yadda yadda yadda. Nothing in this book is really going to help you, it will just make you feel worse about yourself that you're not one of the happy people she talks about!
4. Another thing that bothered me about this book is it's blatently unlogical layout! Some chapters have 2 or 3 strategies in them, some have 1, and it makes no sense at all why they are grouped like this. If this is supposed to be a serious scientific study, then why couldn't they take 5 minutes to set up the book in a logical way??
It really upsets me that the author has basically used science as a cover to sell exactly the same ca-ca that everybody else in the self-help field is selling. Another fairy tale, pie in the sky self help book.
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5: The How of Happiness
This is an excellent source for scientifically tested ways to increase one's happiness. I know of no other book of this type so well documented. I highly recommend the book
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