The Happiness Equation
I picked up this book mostly because I was running out of books to listen to. I also found that I listen to non-fiction much better than I read them - I can read fiction all day on a kindle or paper book but non-fiction, unless its riveting just drags. Probably my old age showing.
Anyhow, this book is interesting because it condenses really well things that i try to tell people about how to be happy. Happiness isn’t really so much a goal as it is a journey and this book tries to tell people about that. The author’s own example of setting reachable goals and then achieving them and then going “well, now what?” is really a summary of why goal oriented happiness, “i want to have x million dollars”, “i want to win this spelling bee”, “I want to get a promotion”, are all incredibly fleeting as happiness goals.
Towards that end, the book actually tries to tell people how to be happy, and that happiness is probably going to be more about ephemeral goals, such as “i want to learn new things everyday”, or “i want to see the sunset and maybe take some pics”, or “i want to help people” mostly because these are things that are sustainable.
the other key thing that the author makes note of is that social connection really is important to people’s long term happiness, and i think this is part of what the pandemic really broke. It broke a lot of social bonds that people have, either tenuous like having to be in an office type, or stronger, like not being able to visit your sickly relative because of fear you’d bring something worse to them.
i think this is one of those books that are unnecessary for people who already have a strong sense of purpose in life, but for those who don’t, i think this is a short easy important book to read.
recommended, even if the author is a bit insufferable. =)