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Liked It4 of 4 members found this review helpful “This is pretty much the opposite of a self-help book. Instead of telling you how you can be happier, Harvard Psychology professor Gilbert talks about why we are so bad at predicting what will make us happy in the first place. Gilbert is a smooth and entertaining writer, and he does a good job...” see full review » see other reviews » |
Didn’t Like It1 of 3 members found this review helpful “The title of Daniel Gilbert’s book is a bit deceiving - Stumbling on Happiness. This is not a self-help book nor is it specifically about happiness. The Dewey Decimal Classification system categorizes the book as “applied psychology”. |
Newest Reviews
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“Good overview of the primary research + implications; lacks prescriptive imagination”
Rafe F wrote this review 3 days ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Awesome book! I would recommend it to anyone. This book validated why I don't try rich coffees, fancy food, or high-priced wines... Once you try something, you won't get as much pleasure from something "less" because you know the difference. It also reinforced my reliance on recommendations and reviews based on other's experience as the correct thing to do. It's basically a psychology book but with a lot of easy to follow examples of how the human brain works. It's not going to tell you how to be happy, but it's going to explain why some things will cause different levels of happiness and at the end gives a few recommendations.”
Dawn and KiKi wrote this review 2 weeks ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Must read book”
nupurdas wrote this review 2 weeks ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“It must be tough to be a psychologist. First of all, no one really likes them because people think that they are going to glancing in their heads and know exactly what they are feeling and the reason why they are feeling that and what they are going to do about it. Secondly, knowing so much about how the human mind works can lead them to rationalize things which they would otherwise have enjoyed if they had not known them. There are some things where ignorance is bliss. How bumming would it be to know that all the hard work that we are doing for a better future might not make us happy at all? How boring it would be to not be excited about the upcoming World Cup final between “our” team and “our” arch rivals just because we know that we are not really going to be as elated as we think we are going to be when our team wins.
Himanshu wrote this review 3 weeks ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
These are the kind of things that the book talks about. And it makes a lot of sense. Happiness is a flawed concept with most of us. And Daniel Gilbert points out why that is so. Our thought processes are infinitely complex. And the author breaks it down for us with a series of astonishing hypothesis and weird experiments to prove them, which brings to light what we might think as obvious, but even a slightly truthful examination of ourselves would make us agree with the author’s point with regards to our reaction.
That said, he does falter on one point. He says that when deciding to choose a restaurant most people would prefer seeing its menu card than asking someone for an opinion. Not true. Restaurant’s thrive on reviews. Well, maybe the psychologist’s personal bias seeped into the book, eh Mr. Gilbert?
Overall, the book is an enjoyable read. Even the book is highly Americanized; you can’t blame the author for that. The writing style of the book makes the book a lively read. The Shakespeare quotes at the beginning of every chapter are in complete contrast to the otherwise colloquial (in a good sense) tone of the book. It’s just one line in every chapter so not enough for the non-Shakespeare readers to get intimidated, thankfully.
If there is one thing positive that you can pick up from the book is that if there is something that you think would happen and really fuck your happiness, truth is that it wouldn’t really fuck your happiness as much as you think it will. So stop dreading it so much. So says Daniel Gilbert.
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“Couldn't finish it.”
Snow White Bui wrote this review 3 weeks ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“How to be happy? Do not read this book for the answer. Stumbling on Happiness might give you clues why your level of happiness is what it is but not how to change it. He introduces the concept of synthetic happiness which means that people have a psycological immune system. People will like what they get not what they did not get. Or don't worry be happy. And if you like the book you will enjoy the film. ”
MOF wrote this review Sunday, November 22 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“Crap!”
Anwar B wrote this review Thursday, November 5 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“If you like reading psych text books, this is a book for you! ”
Sherryl wrote this review Wednesday, October 28 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“I liked this book, and learned a number of little tidbits about human psychology. It's not a great book, but it is jam-packed with information and can be enlightening at times.”
Bryan G wrote this review Monday, October 5 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
