I've read a lot of happiness books and those written for the popular read always seem to fall into one of two general categories. Some of them, like
Finding Happiness in a Frustrating World, are based on scientific research and what has positively been proven to make people happier in controlled trials. Yet others take a less scientific approach and try to make you happier by re-framing your thinking through wisdom and enlightening stories- which is just what you'll get in
Happiness Now!: Timeless Wisdom for Feeling Good FAST.
Now while I'm a little more biased towards the scientific approach, let it be said there is MUCH to be gained by reading a book like this. It's what I like to think of as a "cognitive therapy" approach to making one happier. Cognitive therapy is a type of psychotherapy that helps people overcome their problems by identifying and changing dysfunctional thinking- which is just how I feel this book accomplishes its goal of trying to make people happier.
One interesting point of the book is that happiness is a decision, and that you can have it right now- hence the title of the book. Of course if it was thar easy, you or I wouldn't need to be reading a book about how to be happy, now would we? Therefore, the bulk of the book is spent discussing obstacles that get in the way.
To that end, one of the many quotes in the book goes like this, "A happy person is not a person in a certain set of circumstances, but rather a person with a certain set of attitudes." And changing your attitude for the better is definitely one thing this book succeeds at. Happy trails!
