Stumbling on Happiness

I am an avid reader, and I “stumbled” onto this book a while ago and found it to be an incredibly thought provoking read.  The book is called “Stumbling on Happiness” by Daniel Gilbert, and on the back cover it states:

“Vividly bringing to life the latest scientific research in psychology, cognitive neuroscience, philosophy, and behavioural economics, Gilbert reveals what scientists have discovered about the uniquely human ability to imagine the future, and about our capacity to predict how much we will like it when we get there.”

If you think from the title that this is just another piece of fluff, feel good, positive thinking, been there read that type of book – then you would be way off track.  This was a very unique book with a very solid base of science to explain some fascinating insights into the way we think, imagine and create happiness.

I found a 20 minute talk by the author on TED talks, and it is a great summary of some of the main points of the book, and the author presents the premise of how we synthesise our own happiness, in a very entertaining way.

If you have a spare 20 minutes, I think you would find it a very enjoyable talk.

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/dan_gilbert_asks_why_are_we_happy.html

Leisa