The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom

"Jonathan Haidt is one of several front-line researchers in the field of Positive Psychology. This book, The Happiness Hypothesis, is a beautifully written, erudite series of lessons about how current research verifies or challenges a host of ancient teachings about happiness ranging from ancient Egypt,Greece, and China and crossing over to Hebrew and New Testament Bible teachings and 20th century psychology. Suitable for lay readers as well as psychology majors both undergraduate and graduate. The goals of this book are very ambitious but skillfully achieved at almost every turn. While the final chapter was somewhat anticlimactic, in my view, the time spent studying the book overall was well worth it. Highly recommended."
~ Written on 2008-06-27

"This book was referred to in a newspaper article on current brain research, which is of interest to me, so I bought it in spite of the somewhat gimmicky title. I'm so glad I did. It explains in layman's terms why the people with whom we disagree can't help being so darn stubborn! It also exposed my lovingly-cherished illusions about my own open-mindedness. If we all understood what the author explains so clearly, perhaps we could overcome some of our divisions and biases. And that just might save civilization."
~ Written on 2008-05-24

"This book explores many topics relating to happiness, from the silly game of conspicuous consumption and materialism, to the reason belonging to a social group such as a religion, may or may not make you happy. Through various psychological studies of the importance of the mother's (and father's) love of a newborn child to the value of setbacks and problems in a child's life in the late teens to early twenties, the author explores what seems to bind us and make us happy or in many cases, not happy.

There is information about the three realistic ways to fight depression, a lot of good information about the different types of love and then marriage, how we react to and find value (even atheists) in acts of kindness and giving, and how important it is to have good relationships with those around us.

All of the ideas are backed up by the ancient philosophers and current studies in psychology. I feel that he should expand many of the themes in the book and give us more and more. It's excellent, sometimes eye-opening information that can help us all to have better lives."
~ Written on 2008-05-19

"Do you believe that human beings are basically good? Well, then you're a liberal. You believe in freedom and equality as your highest goods. Tradition is a dirty word, something invented by the patriarchy to oppress the (choose your preferred victim) economically downtrodden, people of color, or women. Or do you believe that humans are basically selfish and sinful? Then you're a conservative. You think that traditions and religion are the tried and true ways of making people cooperate and act morally.

But if psychology has taught us anything, it is that people are neither basically good nor basically bad. They have selfish impulses and cooperative impulses. They want to be part of and loyal to groups, and at the same time they want to be autonomous individuals. We need societies and philosophies that acknowledge this conflict and complexity. Now along comes Jonathan Haidt, associate professor of psychology at the University of Virginia, to read the ancient and classical philosophers in light of new psychological research. And what a great job he does!

He takes ten great philosophical ideas, quoting from ancient and modern philosophers and theologians, and then adds the insights of psychology to the mix. The wisdom ranges from through all the really big issues: relationships, meaningful work and the sources of human happiness. Not only that, but the writing is lively and intelligent, and not at all contaminated by the deadly dull style that too often makes psychology inaccessible to lay people.

This is the point in a book review where the reviewer usually points out the book's minor flaws, and then goes on to a rousing conclusion. Alas, I didn't find any flaws, except perhaps that the book could have been longer and included even more subjects. For that, I guess I'll just have to wait until Haidt's next book."
~ Written on 2008-05-16

"Anyone who routinely reads Amazon.com reviews will find that most focus on the following themes:

(a) Readability of the book
(b) Value of the content
(c) The degree to which the reviewer agreed/disagreed with the premises, assumptions, arguments, and conclusions of the writer, with 1 star being the extreme negative evaluation and 5 stars being the reverse of that.

I rate this book five stars because it more than adequately satisfies criteria "a" and "b" and suggested above, and comports with my personal biases in "c" above.

The author speaks with a strong bias towards a rational attempt to understand human nature, and builds his arguments by invoking many commonly held beliefs. He starts by suggesting that hypocrisy in humans is a given, like it or not. He goes on to show why many of the so-called beliefs we have are shaped by the "non-thinking" part of the brain, or the limbic system of the brain. He continues to show us how much of the Old Testament in the Bible is really a re-hash of commonly held virtues in other cultures -- a revelation that is certain to churn some degree of indigestion in some people, and on, an infinitum.

Needless to say, the book challenges you to think hard at yourself and how you've been conducting your life. You will reap many benefits simply by reading it, but even more if you choose to apply the lessons that it reveals, of which there are too many to enumerate here.

Happy reading."
~ Written on 2008-04-24