Sane and entertaining
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This hand sized paperback by Daniel Nettle has it all: wisdom, wit, useful information, philosophical discourse, groundbraking psychology and, good old common sense. The subject is happiness (of course) and, from the very beginning of the book, some myths and misconceptions are challenged and dispelled and, taking their place appear the well reasoned arguments and conclusions from the author. If you enjoy a brilliant mind at work this book is for you.
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Great summary of current thinking on happiness
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Nettle summarises the various studies and statistics available on the subject of what make people happy. Importantly, he has a useful discussion on the types of happiness; feelings of joy, judging oneself to be happy, and realising one's potential. He focuses on the second, and crunches through the studies, also provding useful scientific explanations of how the brain works. Three of the most interesting things that stood out for me were that most people are actually happy, control within one's job is more important than income, and there is a distinct (biological) difference between wanting and liking. The latter is the root of addiction (and advertising), and also shows how getting what one wants may not lead to happiness.
I would have been interested in seeing a greater discussion on why the rates of depression are on the rise, yet most people are happy. Is it the case that the extremes of society are getting more pronounced? Or simply, we are more aware of depression than before. I also thought that his view that those who are neurotic (tendency to negative emotions) and introverted (closed to experiences) tend to be less happy was somewhat circular. This is the crux of the issue, that is, what causes what! Does being happy lead one to be less neurotic or the other way around?!
On balance, the book was informative, concise and life-enhancing
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A scientific study of happiness
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'Happiness' explores what happiness actually means from a biological and social viewpoint and how we can best attain happiness. This isn't a self-help book, but more of a mini psychology textbook.
I found it quite difficult to get into as it was slow at the beginning, but the chapter about brain activity and the small amount of info on Cognitive Behavioural Therapy were quite intersting.
I have recently read, 'Emotions' by Dylan Evans (also published in Oxford) and found this a lot more informative and easy to read.
Ok, just not brilliant.
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Scientific Approach to happiness - Illuminating
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The book tries to cover all the ways you could look at happiness from a non-emotional perspective. Are you happier when you're older/younger/slimmer/fatter/married/single? Is it genetic, and are there different kinds of happiness? The book tries to answer all these questions... and it does so with limited success. I found the book hardgoing in one part with too much statistical sociology information.
The part on how your brain works was fascinating, about how the different chemicals in your brain work to keep you happy/sad etc. Overall a good read, enlightening.
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Clear, sensible and useful
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This book is an enjoyable read, a good survey of the science, and actually useful in thinking about personal happiness. I won't say 'it changed my life', but it will influence the way I think about my wants, needs, and life choices.
I particularly liked the way that it was grounded in an evolutionary approach while holding back from some of the dafter aspects of 'sociobiology'. If you are searching for the meaning of life, you could do worse than start here.
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