Product Description
In his widely praised book, award-winning psychologist Jonathan Haidt examines the world's philosophical wisdom through the lens of psychological science, showing how a deeper understanding of enduring maxims-like Do unto others as you would have others do unto you, or What doesn't kill you makes you stronger-can enrich and even transform our lives.

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.5 based on 94 reviews)

One of my favorite books of all time. by Warren R. Grayson (Birmingham, AL United States)

5 Stars
November 16, 2009
This is the ONLY book I have read twice (and will definitely read again). Why? Because everything in it is so interesting, practical and useful. Not only that, the writing is top-notch. (I mean look at the reviews - as of my writing this - there is not one single 0 star review. I haven't seen any book on Amazon with that kind of record.) Haidt begins with this excellent metaphor, "Modern theories about rational choice and information processing don't adequately explain weakness of the will. The older metaphors about controlling animals work beautifully. The image that I came up with for myself, as I marveled at my weakness, was that I was a rider on the back of an elephant. I'm holding the reins in my hands, and by pulling one way or the other I can tell the elephant to turn, to stop, or to go. I can direct things, but only when the elephant doesn't have desires of his own. When the elephant really wants to do something, I'm no match for him." From here Haidt goes on to talk about the Divided Self: Mind vs. Body, Left vs. Right, New vs. Old and Controlled vs. Automatic. This is as good an introduction to psychology as I have ever come upon. Haidt concludes with this, "If you listen closely to moral arguments, you can sometimes hear something surprising: that it is really the elephant holding the reins, guiding the rider. It is the elephant who decides what is good or bad, beautiful or ugly. Gut feelings, intuitions, and snap judgments happen constantly and automatically...but only the rider can string sentences together and create arguments to give to other people." Just further along in the book Haidt discusses some very interesting concepts: naive realism, problem of evil, dualism, monism, Manichaeanism, and the myth of pure evil amongst others. All of this sets up the discussions on Happiness that comes starting in about Chapter 5. The remainder of the book includes a lot of information that comes from the research of Marting Seligman (author of Authentic Happiness: Using the New Positive Psychology to Realize Your Potential for Lasting Fulfillment, Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life & The Optimistic Child: A Proven Program to Safeguard Children Against Depression and BuildLifelong Resilience). It's a great fusion of wisdom, research and ideas. I can't recommend this book enough; it's invariably the first book I recommend to people. "To understand ourselves fully we must study all three levels - physical, psychological, and sociocultural...Here is one of most profound ideas to come from the ongoing synthesis: People gain a sense of meaning when their lives cohere across the three levels of their existence." I am recommending the following books because they are similar to The Happiness Hypothesis in many ways and you may like them if you liked this: Predictably Irrational, Revised and Expanded Edition: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions, The Mind of the Market: How Biology and Psychology Shape Our Economic Lives (or any book by Micheal Shermer), Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking (or any book by Malcolm Gladwell), Why We Make Mistakes: How We Look Without Seeing, Forget Things in Seconds, and Are All Pretty Sure We Are Way Above Average, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience (P.S.), Gut Feelings: The Intelligence of the Unconscious or How We Decide.

Opens your eyes.... by TheHaps (Provo, UT)

4 Stars
November 02, 2009
This book is a great read. Great insight and philosophically awakening. I was assigned to read this for a class I'm taking but found myself taking the time to really ponder the words and looked forward to reading it.

An Enjoyable Read! by Dan Wallace (Minneapolis, MN)

5 Stars
October 15, 2009
I saw Chris Anderson (Wired Editor and TED co-founder) asked by Charlie Rose to name his favorite book of the last few years. "The Happiness Hypothesis" was the immediate response. Now this book is one of my favorites, too. The Happiness Hypothesis compares traditional philisohpical traditions with the lastest scientific discoveries, and the two ends meet well in the center. The author's own experiences provide narrative glue. A major finding is that happiness is a set point for us, and that after good times and bad, we tend to return to our general level of happiness. At the same time, we can do things that help or hurt our happiness, and we can understand better how our minds and emotions work. Factors that decrease happiness include persistent noise, lack of control, shame, dysfunctional relationships, and long commutes. Strong marriages, physical touch, meaningful relationships and religious affiliation tend to improve happiness. Activities with others enhance our happiness; status objects tend to separate us from others. In terms of parenting, Haidt finds that secure children are well supported by parents who are nearby, providing safety and security. Avoidant children are neglected by their parents. And resistant children have parents who alternate between support and neglect. Haidt also shows how moral relativism is not good for children. I was also fascinated by Haidt's observation that modernity and commercial culture slowly replaced the ideal of character with the idea personality, leading to a focus on individual preferences and personal fulfillment. This movement reached a height during the "values clarification" movement of the 1960s which taught no morality at all. The result of this is "anomie," a lost sense of self and right or wrong and feeling of being detached from other people and the world. One of the most hopeful sections of the book talks about Martin Seligman's work on positive psychology, and the rediscovery of virtue. Seligman and Chris Peterson researched wisdom traditions and found that these six virtues are common across almost all cultures: (1) Wisdom; (2) Courage; (3) Humanity; (4) Justice; (5) Temperance; (6) Transcendence. These six categories serve to organize 24 character traits. (You can find the complete list on Wikipedia.) The conclusion is that you should work to cultivate your strengths, not your weaknesses. This area of study is a great breakthrough after 100 years of the psychological study of mental illness. There were also many insightful nuggets I found in the excellent book, including: - How oxytocin, cortisols and endorphins effect health and behavior. - Haidt's belief that the chief causes of evil are moral idealism and high self-esteem. - Letting off steam makes you angrier, not calmer. - Wisdom is the ability to adapt, shape the environment, and know when to move to new environments. - Pleasure comes more from making progress toward goals than from achieving them. - Social constraints enhance happiness; total freedom decreases happiness (an insight seconded in "The Paradox of Choice"). - Trauma has benefits in that it shows how much adversity you can cope with. It also filters out false friends and changes priorities and philosophies toward the present. - Passionate love cannot last; companionate love is what lasts. - Haidt sees two types of diversity, demographic and moral. - The three major dimensions of social relationships are liking, status and morality/ transcendence. Coherence across these spectrums leads to happiness. - The six basic emotions that can be read on the face include joy, sadness, fear, anger, disgust and surprise. - Happiness often results from the collective elevation in a church or political rally. - The three levels of work are a job, a career and a calling. The more autonomy at work, the more happiness. - Vital engagement in the world leads to love made visible, which is a sign of deep happiness. - Work that does good for others and leads to income and recognition will enhance happiness. - Apostates who try to leave a group and traitors who undermine a group are subject to atrocities. - Group chanting can lead to mystical experiences, which provide a sense of spiritual connection that leads to happiness. - Eastern views and conservative politics focus on the collective, while Western views and liberal politics tend to focus on the individual. - Volunteerism increases happiness, and service learning in schools reduces dropout rates. This is a brilliant and sweeping narrative, and well worth the read. The cross-disciplinary nature of this work reminds me of EO Wilson's seminal work, Consilience. And parts of this book remind me of one of my favorite books of contemporary philosophy: Status Anxiety, by Alex de Bouten. Status Anxiety Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge

Insufficient understanding of Buddhism and attachment theory by Nobo Komagata (Ewing, NJ)

2 Stars
September 05, 2009
Being interested in happiness, morality, attachment theory, and meditation, I picked up the book with a strong interest. The book was highly readable and moderately entertaining. However, I was rather disappointed. I felt that Haidt does not sufficiently understand Buddhism or attachment theory to provide a meaningful discussion involving them. For example, Haidt's description of meditation is limited to concentration meditation and does NOT discuss insight meditation. The latter is actually the hallmark of Buddhist meditation, which provides much of the good things. In addition, his comment that Buddhism discourages love and relationships is mistaken. So, I thought his ideas about Buddhism was rather off mark (cf. What the Buddha Taught: Revised and Expanded Edition with Texts from Suttas and Dhammapada). I also felt that his discussion of attachment theory was shallow, not really touching upon the aspects shared by Buddhism, e.g., how bereavement impacts people (Handbook of Attachment: Theory, Research, and Clinical Applications, esp. Ch. 32) and recent development in neuroscience (The Mindful Brain: Reflection and Attunement in the Cultivation of Well-Being).

Never Stop Searching! by John H. Eagan (Freehold, NJ)

5 Stars
August 28, 2009
The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom by Jonathan Haidt is a book that uses the world's greatest civilizations as a foundation to find if these lesions still apply today. The author begins by discussing how the mind works after which he addresses the issues of happiness itself and exactly where does it come from? The author uses the teachings of Buddha, Lao Tuz, Plato, Dr. Freud and even Dr. Phil. + + + + + + + + ++ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + Are you a spiritual retard, or are you on the path to ENLIGHTENMENT? + + + + + + + + ++ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

SIMILAR PRODUCTS

	The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less by Barry Schwartz (Author) In the spirit of Alvin Toffler’s Future Shock, a social critique of our obsession with choice, and how it contributes to anxiety, dissatisfaction and regret. This paperback includes a new P.S. section with author interviews, insights, features, suggested readings, and more. Whether we’re buying a pair of jeans, ordering a cup of coffee, selecting a long-distance carrier, applying to college, choosing a doctor, or setting up a 401(k), everyday decisions--both big and small--have...
	Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert (Author) • Why are lovers quicker to forgive their partners for infidelity than for leaving dirty dishes in the sink? • Why will sighted people pay more to avoid going blind than blind people will pay to regain their sight? • Why do dining companions insist on ordering different meals instead of getting what they really want? • Why do pigeons seem to have such excellent aim; why can’t we remember one song while listening to another; and why does the line at the...
	Flourishing: Positive Psychology and the Life Well-Lived by Corey L. M. Keyes (Editor), Jonathan Haidt (Editor) Emory Univ., Atlanta, GA. Text provides the application of scientific analyses to study the 'good' life. Articles are taken from the proceedings of the first Summit of Positive Psychology, held by the Gallup Organization in Lincoln, NE, on September 9-12,1999.
	The How of Happiness: A New Approach to Getting the Life You Want by Sonja Lyubomirsky (Author) A groundbreaking, practical guide to attaining happiness based on innovative scientific research, The How of Happiness is a powerful contribution to the field of positive psychology and a gift to people who have sought to take their happiness into their own hands. Drawing upon years of her own pioneering research with thousands of men and women, psychologist Sonja Lyubomirsky reveals that much of our capacity for happiness is within our power. Detailing an easy-to- follow plan, including...
	The Myth of Leadership: Creating Leaderless Organizations by Jeffrey S. Nielsen (Author) When we join an organization, we're immediately slotted into a hierarchy based on a rank-based system of "leaders" and "followers." We then make false assumptions about our place in these hierarchies that divide our efforts, limit our growth opportunities, and rob us of meaningful, dignified work. These assumptions are what Jeffrey Nielsen calls the "myth of leadership." In this unconventional book, Nielsen calls for an end to "rank-based" organizational structures, which foster secrecy...