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Product Description

Steven D. Levitt, author of Freakonomics
‘Gilbert is the perfect guide to some of the most interesting psychological research ever performed.’

Daniel Goleman, author of Emotional Intelligence
‘If you stumble on this book, you’re guaranteed many doses of joy.’

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Inside This Book (Learn More)
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index

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Customer Reviews

19 Reviews

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
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Average Customer Review

4.0 out of 5 stars (19 customer reviews)

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36 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars New Possibilities!, 9 May 2009

By	Colleen Messina - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Stumbling on Happiness (Vintage) (Paperback)

Author Daniel Gilbert mentions that the mind can only imagine what it already knows. Therefore it can be a challenge for us to have new experiences because we make decisions based on what we already know. And we wonder why we keep having similar circumstances repeated over & over again in our lives, that may or may not bring happiness! Gilbert has a great way of explaining the mechanics of the mind.

Yet the mind can be tricked when one discovers living life in the present moment. Like Daniel Gilbert, authors Ariel and Shya Kane explore the reality of well-being in their books Working on Yourself Doesn't Work: The 3 Simple Ideas That Will Instantaneously Transform Your Life, How to Create a Magical Relationship: The 3 Simple Ideas that Will Instantaneously Transform Your Love Life and Being Here: Modern Day Tales of Enlightenment. With these books, I have experienced new possibilities in my relationships and career that I couldn't have even imagined, where everyday is new and original thought exists. "Stumble into Happiness" by checking out books by Daniel Gilbert and the Kanes.

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46 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars An interesting but flawed book, 19 May 2007

By	Andrew Barrett (UK) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

2007 Harper Perennial reissue of 1st edition (2006), 238 pages

My view of Stumbling on Happiness upon finishing it seems to be rather different to that I had whilst actually reading it. I read most of the book in a single day, zipping straight through it, very interested in what Gilbert had to say. However, I felt disappointed after I'd finished.

That may well say more about my wish for Gilbert to distil the secrets of happiness into concentrated form for easy consumption - which, unsurprisingly, turns out to be rather unrealistic - than it does about his book.

Even so, I think he could have done a better job of the conclusion. For example, the best practical advice he gave for coping with the entire theme of his book (that humans are very poor at both predicting and remembering what makes us happy) didn't even make it into the book (except by inference). It is contained in the Q&A section at the back of the above edition:

"Q: Does what you know about how the human brain works in any way help you to be happy?
A: Knowing that people overestimate the impact of almost every life event makes me a bit braver and a bit more relaxed because I know that whatever I'm worrying about now probably won't matter as much as I think it will."

Gilbert is also clearly a man who finds himself pretty amusing. I did too - some of the time - but he often became irritating. Gilbert himself is well aware of this, as he says in the short autobiographical section at the back:
"Admirers of my book call it personal, warm and funny, and critics call it juvenile, self-indulgent and annoying. I suspect that all these adjectives describe me pretty well."

Overall, the book contains plenty of interesting material but the flaws I've described detract from it. However, I suspect that Gilbert's writing style will act as a polariser and some people will love it, whilst others will find him insufferably smug.

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57 of 61 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's all in the imagination., 20 April 2007

By	SARAH MCCARTNEY (London, England, UK.) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Did you ever wake up with a hangover on Sunday morning and say, "I'll never drink again," then go out and do it again the following weekend. Well, then Stumbling on Happiness can explain why that happens. I won't give away the plot though.
Happiness is hot, which is probably a good thing. Now that science can measure what really makes us happy, some excellent books are coming out on the topic and with any luck they will help us to achieve it. Mind you, this involves dismantling a hundred years worth of western beliefs. Gilbert's take on it is that we think we know what's going to make us happy in future but we invariably get it wrong. Most of us can't predict what we're going to feel like in future; we can only imagine what life is like today, right now at the exact moment.
We can only feel pain when it's there; when it's not we don't plan for having it back again and vice versa. We plan for being in love while we're in love. We buy houses by the seaside when it's sunny. We order too much food when we're hungry and get stuck half way through. And we all think we're different from everyone else.
Except me, I know I am. But that's precisely his point.
This book is intelligent, fascinating, a little distressing - but only because it's full of observations which make you kick yourself for not noticing earlier. If you do manage to learn and internalise its message, then at the very least you won't over order next time you go for a Chinese meal and you may even avoid some terrible decisions about what you imagine will make you happy in future.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars My real feelings about this book
This book is mainly about the mistakes we make in predicting how we will feel when we do something in the future and the mistakes we make when trying to remember how we felt in... Read more

Published 10 months ago by Ian Ward-Bolton

4.0 out of 5 stars Really interest approach to the Happiness Question
Not a 'how to be' book at all, but a popular treatment of issues in cognitive psychology which uses happiness as something of a test bed. Read more

Published 14 months ago by Jezza

3.0 out of 5 stars Witty and engaging but unlikely to bring you happiness.
This is a well researched book that is both witty and engaging and makes the rather dry subject of psychology fun to dip into. Read more

Published 17 months ago by K. Alexander

4.0 out of 5 stars no solutions just a little more self awareness
Gilbert mentions more than once that his friends are frustrated by his continual identifying of problems without providing solutions. Read more

Published 18 months ago by Karen Loasby

5.0 out of 5 stars Convincing... but then... you might have different preferences
The book puts forward a very convincing and persuading argument. The problem is though, I don't think it applies to everyone. Read more

Published 18 months ago by Theis Egeberg

4.0 out of 5 stars Popular psychology
This book is about human imagination: according to the author, that is the one thing that separates humans from other animals. Read more

Published 18 months ago by Mikko Saari

5.0 out of 5 stars Refreshingly honest!
What a relief to read a book that spares us the drivel and indulgent thinking that pervades most 'self-help' literature on the shelves. Read more

Published 21 months ago by Summer migrant

2.0 out of 5 stars It made me unhappy
I had high hopes for this book after reading several good reviews. Unfortunately I didn't like the author's style or find his sense of humour funny. Read more

Published on 2 Jul 2007 by A reader

2.0 out of 5 stars Like a Eunuchs Guide to a Brothel
Unfulfilled and a waste of time. A 1970's alchemist with a bag of tricks and anecdotes to impress.
It could be synopsised into 15 pages (ok then maybe 20 pages). Read more

Published on 24 Jun 2007 by N. K. Ohannain

2.0 out of 5 stars Like a Eunuchs Guide to a Brothel
Unfulfilled and a waste of time. A 1970's alchemist with a bag of tricks and anecdotes to impress.
It could be synopsised into 15 pages (ok then maybe 20 pages). Read more

Published on 19 Jun 2007 by N. K. Ohannain

› See all 19 customer reviews...

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