Most Helpful Customer Reviews
51 of 54 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A great way to brighten your day!, June 19, 2000
By A Customer
What I like about this book is that gives you really solid information about the things happy people do. Some of the advice is so practical that you could use it, and benefit from it, this afternoon. Other entries focus on the long term practices of happy people. What's most important for me about this book is that it made me feel better, because it let me see many things I'm already doing right, and many more things I could do to feel better.
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79 of 89 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Plenty of simple wisdom, but ultimately superficial, April 19, 2001
Wouldn't it be nice to read a little book and become happier? That is what David Niven offers in his brief book <The 100 Simple Secrets of Happy People>. Niven lists his 100 secrets in a simple, digestible form. First there is the headline, ranging from "accomplish something every day" to "watch less television" to "have a purpose." Then for each of these "secrets" Niven provides a brief description of what the headline means, followed by an example of putting this "secret" in to practice, and finally a summary of the study from which the "secret" was derived. There is, no doubt, a lot of wisdom in these 100 secrets. While none of the insights surprised me, they did nicely reinforce some of the practices I have set for myself. But one has to wonder if a brief book such as this can really lead to increased happiness. The philosophy behind the book, Niven states in the introduction, is: "all I can do is point and hope you look." (p. xv). Well, it seems that this is ignores a central issue: how do people change? Is simply offering up advice the best means to changing behavior? It would be surprising if this were the answer from academic psychology. Couldn't some of the secrets address directly the question of "how to change" alongside this advice of "what to change?" Another question on which Niven is silent is what is cause and what is effect? If people are happier who watch less television, couldn't this be because they have other things they prefer doing and have nothing to do with the effects of television watching? Finally, one wonders on reading this book what definition of happiness or contentment was used and whether it was used consistently across the many studies cited. At least a footnote on this matter would have been appreciated. No doubt there is a lot of wisdom captured in the 100 "secrets." This book also provides a bibliography of recent psychological studies concerning factors correlated with contentment and happiness. And perhaps a book like this is better than a similar one with no scientific backing. But too many fundamental questions are simply ignored. What is cause and what is effect? How does a static view of correlations help one understand the dynamics that actually lead to change? And what is meant by these definitions of happiness or contentment? On all these issues the book is silent, and I fear that this may well reflect the state of the academic psychological thinking as well as this author's limitations.
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33 of 35 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Short, Sweet, & Inspiring, April 16, 2001
Many of these secrets are common sense, such as #54 "Get a good night's Sleep or #6 Cultivate Friendships; a few are debatable, such as #72 "You always have a choice." Overall, however, I find this little book fun and inspiring. Each "secret" follows this formula, as found in one of my favorites #50, "Cherish Animals." Niven gives a brief explanation of how animals have much to teach us about love. After the explanation is an anecdote: the story of an animal shelter that brings a vanload of small dogs each week to cheer up nursing home residents. Each entry concludes with a research finding: "Those with a loved pet are 22 percent more likely to feel satisfied than those without. - Barofsky and Rowan 1998." Most folks probably won't go looking up the references in the back, but my inner scientist is pleased by how Niven, a Ph.D. handled the research. Each reference is: 1. alphabetically listed in the back by author (with journal information), so curious souls can easily look up the study. 2. a meta-analysis (an analysis of multiple studies of the same topic). So when Niven says, "regular readers are about 8 percent more likely to express daily satisfaction" compared to non-readers, this is based on multiple studies, not just one. My only complaint about the book is that there's so much empty space. Many pages have 3 to 4 inches of empty space, well over half the page. Conclusion: Fun, inspiring, easy reading. A great gift idea when you don't know what to give.
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