My Experiments in the Practice of Everyday Life

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October 31, 2006
13 Comment

If you’re in the mood to read recent studies about happiness…

BookstackOn the last day of each month, I include a list of happiness-related suggested reading.

As you’ve probably noticed, there has recently been an explosion of books applying science to the study of happiness. Quite fascinating.

Of course, one of the points of the Happiness Project is that I will read all these books and figure out what actually works in practice, so you don’t have to plow through this reading yourself — but here are some suggestions, if you want to forge ahead. It’s great stuff.

Jonathan Haidt, The Happiness Hypothesis: Why the Meaningful Life is Closer Than You Think
Daniel Nettle, Happiness: The Science Behind Your Smile
David Lykken, Happiness: The Nature and Nurture of Joy and Contentment
Gregory Berns: Satisfaction: The Science of Finding True Fulfillment
Barry Schwartz, The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less
Daniel Gilbert, Stumbling on Happiness
Martin Seligman, Authentic Happiness
Kahneman, Diener, Schwartz, Well-Being: The Foundations of Hedonic Psychology

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  • http://sayingyes.typepad.com/saying_yes/ Jennifer

    “How We Choose to Be Happy” by Foster and Hicks is also an interesting read. It’s all about the choices we make.

  • annmarie

    Gretchen, seeing your suggested reading list reminds me that I’ve been meaning to thank you for leading me to “A Pattern Language” by Alexander et al. I thought I would turn to it as a reference book occasinally, but it’s really fascinating and hard to put down. For me it’s turning into one of those life-changing, turning-point kind of volumes. And it’s something that I would never in a million years have picked up on my own. Thanks so much!

  • Helen

    Gretchen:
    I noticed that your October focus was to try Hypnosis – did you?
    By the way, I’d add ‘What Happy People Know: How the New Science of Happiness can Change your Life for the Better’ by Baker and Stauth to your list.

  • http://www.happiness-project.com Gretchen Rubin

    Thanks for these additional suggestions, I’ll check them out.
    So glad to hear from another fan of A Pattern Language! I agree, it is an extraordinary book, not like anything else. It makes me so happy to have helped another reader find it.
    Yes, I did try hypnosis. I went once, got a tape, still listening to it 4 or 5 days a week. I haven’t decided yet whether I think it’s working. Stay tuned!

  • Asinistra

    You really should add Daniel Goleman’s new book Social Intelligence to this list. Remarkably optimistic.

  • http://www.HappinessHabit.com Michele Moore, CEO Happiness Habit

    Great fun Gretchen, thanks for your comments! Other tips include to always Focus On How You Want To Feel, Avoid the Fault Finding Feel Goods and Live According To Your Aspirations, Not Your Inclinations.
    We never feel better by focusing on how badly we feel.
    See “How To Live A Happy Life – 101 Ways To Be Happier” for additional insights to live a happy, spiritually successful life.

  • http://www.tamtookwan.com Ramin Assemi

    Nice list. There’s a video of Barry Schwartz online where he explains his theory why choice makes us miserable. And whether one agrees with it or not, like most TED talks, it’s a great piece of ten-minute edutainment and inspiration:
    http://www.ted.com/tedtalks/tedtalksplayer.cfm?key=b_schwartz&flashEnabled=1

  • Julie Petersen

    Just came across this and immediately thought of this blog/project – thought you might be interested: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061126/ap_on_he_me/be_happy_1

  • Sylvia Moestl Vasilk

    Thanks for the pointer to the book The Happiness Hypothesis by Jonathan Haidt. I’m only on p. 43, but it’s a fascinating read, and packed with information that really makes you think.

  • Karen Cooke

    There was a BBC series a couple of years ago called “Making Slough Happy”. I didn’t pay much attention at the time, but spotted the associated book – How to be Happy by Liz Hoggard – in the library this week. Haven’t finished reading it as yet but I can certainly recommend it based on what I’ve read so far. (http://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Be-Happy-Making-Slough/dp/0563493208/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/203-0117819-2485535?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1190065050&sr=8-1)

  • http://enjoyparenting.blogspot.com Michael Gorsline

    I am reading Johnathan Haidt’s book right now, and it is off to a tremendous start. Very readable so far. Seligman’s work I find useful overall, but he is not a writer by trade. I also enjoyed Happiness: Lessons from a New Science by Layard, lots of solid social psychology in there. Stumbling on Happiness was really interesting. Of course it has the somewhat sobering theme of social psychology that we are terrible at predicting what decisions and events will make us happy. The upside is that we, on average, are very good at manufacturing happiness after the fact, even when circumstances are grim.

  • http://www.gtwyh.org/vancouverbc Paul Cody

    I just opened the Vancouver BC, Happy Heartbeats Counter where kids and adults can count, upload and share their daily Happiness from Positive Actions with the World in a manner that was selected and presented by Google, O’Rielly, Microsoft, Adobe, UBM Tech as 1 of 5 of the Most Innovative Community Health Concepts in the World.
    Every City, School,Hospital and sick child in the World will have a Happy Heartbeats Counter.
    You simply count up to 10,000 of your real heart beats that you used doing actions that make you Happy and that benefit yourself, your family, community or the World.
    Since you visited this website you must be Happy so I ask you to Give The World Your Heart by Uploading 10,000 of your Happy Heartbeats at the Vancouver Happy Heartbeats Counter.
    P.S. over 53,000,000 Happy Heartbeats have been given in Gratitude to the World.

  • http://bringingthefunk.wordpress.com Rachel Funk

    Another great one is the How of Happiness by Sonja Lyubomirsky. She’s done a lot of research in positive psychology, so the book is a nice combination of science and self-help.

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