Stumbling on Happiness (P.S.)
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Review
‘“Stumbling on Happiness” is an absolutely fantastic book that will shatter your most deeply held convictions about how your own mind works. Ceaselessly entertaining, Gilbert is the perfect guide to some of the most interesting psychological research ever performed. Think you know what makes you happy? You won’t know for sure until you have read this book.’ Steven D. Levitt, author of ‘Freakonomics’
‘He does for psychology what Bill Bryson did for evolution.’ Scotsman
‘In “Stumbling on Happiness”, Daniel Gilbert shares his brilliant insights into our quirks of mind, and steers us toward happiness in the most delightful, engaging ways. If you stumble on this book, you’re guaranteed many doses of joy.’ Daniel Goleman, author of ‘Emotional Intelligence’
‘This is a brilliant book, a useful book, and a book that could quite possibly change the way you look at just about everything. And as a bonus, Gilbert writes like a cross between Malcolm Gladwell and David Sedaris.’ Seth Godin, author ‘All Marketers Are Liars’
‘Everyone will enjoy reading this book, and some of us will wish we could have written it. You will rarely have a chance to learn so much about so important a topic while having so much fun.’ Professor Daniel Kahneman, Princeton University, Winner of the 2002 Nobel Prize in Economics
‘If Daniel Gilbert is right, then you are wrong … everything you have ever thought about life choices, and about happiness, has been at the least somewhat naïve and, at worst, greatly mistaken.’ New York Times
‘In a book that is as deep as it is delightful, Daniel Gilbert reveals the powerful and often surprising connections between our experience of happiness and how we think about the future. Drawing on cutting edge psychological research and his own sharp insights into everyday events, Gilbert manages to have considerable fun while expertly illuminating some of the most profound mysteries of the human mind. I confidently predict that your future will be happier if you read this pathbreaking volume.’ Daniel L. Schacter, Harvard University, author of ‘Searching for Memory‘ and ‘The Seven Sins of Memory’
Daniel Goleman, author of Emotional Intelligence
‘If you stumble on this book, you’re guaranteed many doses of joy.’
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
73 of 76 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
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.
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.
69 of 73 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
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.
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.
29 of 31 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Despite being a voracious reader I would not have expected to enjoy a book on psychology.I read this book solely because it recently won the Royal Society Prize for Science Books. I took as an indication of how much I might enjoy this book the opinion of the Royal society's judging panel.
If this sounds like an odd way to start a review that's because the book ends with a similarly odd conclusion. No Matter, the book is excellent. The two things that stand out from this book are firstly that Gilbert never allows the reader to build up too much scepticism about a line of argument before presenting some piece of research which causes you to accept the premise. And secondly, he punctuates the book with enough wit to keep it a lively read. In fact there is a third thing which is even more prominent. Gilbert's prose sparkles with the kind of clarity that
puts him in the first rank of science writers.
Thoroughly recommended.
If this sounds like an odd way to start a review that's because the book ends with a similarly odd conclusion. No Matter, the book is excellent. The two things that stand out from this book are firstly that Gilbert never allows the reader to build up too much scepticism about a line of argument before presenting some piece of research which causes you to accept the premise. And secondly, he punctuates the book with enough wit to keep it a lively read. In fact there is a third thing which is even more prominent. Gilbert's prose sparkles with the kind of clarity that
puts him in the first rank of science writers.
Thoroughly recommended.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Brilliantly thought provoking
One of my favourite books and one that I've most consistently recommended to friends (who've all loved it). Read more
Published 3 months ago by Sparkey
A surefooted guide to happiness but no guarantees
One thing we know about happiness is that it comes in all sorts of shapes and sizes including, for me, this wonderful book. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Sphex
Pop Psychology
I selected this book on the strength of it having won the Royal Society prize,but found that it lacked a certain academic rigor that I would expect from a piece of work with such a... Read more
Published 5 months ago by nicholas hargreaves
Amazing book
Involving, easy to understand, humorous, entertaining book. Dan Gilbert has a talent to present scientific notions in a clear and fun way. Must to read! Complements to the author.
Published 13 months ago by Elena Khartchenko
Good reading, bad cover.
Very interesting book. Horrible cover design though: not reflecting at all what this book is about. Seems like the publisher haven't actually read the book while choosing the... Read more
Published 17 months ago by Arina
Good ideas written in style
This book is about how we try to predict the future and how we think we can predict what will make us happy or unhappy. Read more
Published 17 months ago by vincent ryan
A feast of insights
If I told you here's a very good book on the difficulty of remembering past emotions, of imagining future ones and of gauging those of other people, you might think it sounded... Read more
Published 22 months ago by Pipistrel
Like a Gladwell book but actually good
Based on the title, I was worried that I was going to be reading some self-help book, telling me to stay positive. This book is nothing like that. Read more
Published 23 months ago by austinmiller
A Greek review
Gilbert chooses to deal with happiness because it is a fundamental aim and indisputable right of human life, a fact which is sometimes stated in a clear, constitutional way (like... Read more
Published on 6 Mar 2010 by Panayiota Chatzipanteli
Interesting enough, but...
I found this book interesting enough, but quickly became irritated by the style - a kind of flashy, fake I'm-your-mate style meant to be funny, but which rapidly became quite... Read more
Published on 3 Jan 2010 by Roslyn Young
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