Happiness: The Science behind Your Smile

I call this the perfect happiness sandwich because Nettle's work can be either the perfect Introduction to the incredibly magnetic discussion of happiness or the erudite summary of a lifetime's work evaluating happiness. In the middle of the two pieces of bread (introduction or summary) is all the work from the authors that form the meat.. Be it Kahneman, Seligman, Brene Brown, and dozens more.Three things amazed me about this book.1. It Was Written nearly 15 years ago with a 2005 copyright. Still it comes across as fresh as anything you can read today2. The breadth and clarity of the work or in some cases astonishing. It's written with humor and incredible insight3. It's just been under the radar. Nettle may not have done much of his own original work. But this introduction and summary deserves to be on everyone's bookshelfRead it at the beginning of a happiness exploration or read it at the end. Either way it's a wonderful approach to the happiness sandwich.

This book delves between Economics, Psychology, Neuroscience and Evolutionary Biology to try and survey our general understanding of human happiness, and discuss the major ways in which happiness can be measured. Nettle does a good job of moving quickly from topic to topic, summing up the necessary data without going into too much detail in any particular place. This book is not an in-depth study in and of itself, but provides a good starting point for people interested in learning more. (It ends with a "Further Reading" section which suggests the book's purpose is exactly that.)The one major criticism I have of the book is that there are some places (just a few!) where Nettle proves unable to resist the temptation to insert his own theories and explanations without very much supporting evidence. He seems particularly keen to dismiss external conditions as strongly affecting happiness, in favor of his theory that "neuroticism" is responsible for the greatest differences. He also puts forth that the increased happiness found in married individuals is probably mostly temporary, and a large spike in happiness for newlyweds may be driving the average up. While there is nothing wrong with either hypothesis *as such*, he does little to make these cases, and they're put forth fairly prominently.Still, this is a minor criticism. For the range of topics it covers, and its relatively short length, this book contains a wealth of information and ideas for further places to study happiness.

I heard the author discuss this book on NPR and had to have it. I liked it so much, I bought a copy (after previewing it via the library). This is science based information, that is also an easy read. The gist of it is: So much of who we are, how we react, is hard-wired. You can be practical; if you can change your thinking, you change your feelings. Even if you can't change it completely, you can be aware that alot of it is about how you are thinking about it. It is not set in stone. It changed my mind-set because it made perfect sense and it worked for me! After receiving the information, I was infinitely happier with my lot in life. Nothing changed, except how I perceived my thinking and how my thoughts influenced my emotions. It was one of the few books I consider worth owning. Use it as a "reminder" from time to time; you may not be able to control all the events in your life, but you have some control about how your "feel" about them. Thanks for the eye-opener Mr. Nettle.

I read mostly fiction, but I really enjoyed this. I particularly liked the discussion about what people want vs. what actually makes people happy. It was astonishing how they aren't related at all, and how short of a time a new status item (new house, car, etc.) pleases us before the "new" wears off and we need another one. This book has changed how I think about my own life and happiness in a positive way. Not too many books you can say that about. I recommend!

'Happiness: The Science Behind Your Smile' surprisingly enabled me to gain a lucid view of my emotions & purpose of living; I've become happier in a calm & rational way. In less than 200 pages, the book is packed with scientific findings from different disciplines (e.g. psychology, biology, philosopy, religion), various common myths were also analyzed; Daniel Nettle put these findings in a coherent context & intelligently show us why 'Happiness is like a butterfly which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.'

I have become interested in the modern theory and science of happiness, books such as  The Geography of Bliss , Happiness: A History  and  Satisfaction . Nettle's contribution is a gem of literary precision: short, sharp, clear, wise, well-informed and funny. You can read it for the pleasure of the language alone, or just for the congent summary of the science. If you enjoy both, this will be one of your favorite books.

Good

The science of happiness does not make you necessarily more happy but surely more intelligent

After reading Nettle's impressive book on personality, which excellently summarises wordy and pretentious scientific articles into readable information (albeit somewhat biased against the conscientiousness trait), I decided to buy this book. Nettle did not let me down. Just like his book on personality, this book provides accessible information and summarises it in a way that makes it seem very interesting. The book is highly useful in life, it makes you question whether what you're doing really makes you happy or not. Nettle intelligently argues that we evolved to think that we will be happier in the future, but we rarely ever are. It is instead how we frame our situation. Plenty of other fascinating insights by this intelligent yet accessible author.

This is the most intelligent, well informed, and realistic book I've read about psychology in a long time. Quite easy to read (and understand) too. Far from being a self help book, it makes the reader, through knowledge and understanding, br more comfortable with the complexities of contradictions of our ways to happiness.

This book is wonderful and very uplifting. My only criticism was that, when discussing depression, it is spoken of as something that has been blown out of proportion and over-medicated. As a depression sufferer, I felt slightly misunderstood by this section. However, overall this book is flawless and easy to read. I couldn't distract myself from it.

This book was delivered to me very soon after my order, thank you.Its very interesting, I enjoyed it

Happiness is like paradise in that you do not notice it until it has gone; the lack of unhappiness indicates pain. Pursuing happiness is thus, unlike life or liberty, fairly pointless.The book relies on copious studies by tenured academics, but frankly I wonder, whether it might not be better for them to go and do a proper job, for even if they could work out happiness it would add nothing to mine.