Customer Reviews

14,000 Things to Be Happy About

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This book is just a list of 14,000 things. There is no order to the list. The book is small enough that you can carry it around with you. Many of the happy things will not make a reader happy. However, many of the happy things will make you, the reader, very happy. You will want to have a highlighter handy as you go through the book. A fun thing to do is to make your own list.

A few of the things on my list in no special order are: golden retrievers, library research, premoistened towelettes, the car heater, down quilts, dog walking, taking a walk when the world is too much, towels that absorb well, marble sinks, using candles, drawstrings, the wonder of life, dining out, country music, salad bars, and psychology.

The book helps one trigger memories of happy events in the past and this process brings happiness into the present. Everyone's list will be different because we all have different pasts. By using a highlighter one can make the list his/her own list of happy memories. Most of the things on the list are simple things available to anyone.

My good friend knew someone who had purchased this book and thought it was cute. My dear companion bought the book and gave it to me as a gift because she knew I was not feeling very good about some things at the time. Of course, there is no cure for depression that lies within a cute little book like this one, but if there were one cute little book that could cure someone, it would be this. The book is a giant list of things that should make you happy. Some of the things are so cute you just can't help but smiling. I think that you probably won't read it cover to cover, but you'll read it a lot. But you really have to picture the images the author is mentioning to make it sink in how lucky we are to have some of the things we have. Where could we be without Scrabble or curtain calls or cereal? It's so fun to imagine all the little things we take for granted. And such a cute little book that this woman made.

This book inspired me to make my own "happy list" once upon a time!! It is basically 612 pages of things that make the author happy. You might say, "how boring!" But, it's not! She received a PHD in Linguistics and that's quite obvious, because not many people could pull this off! I used to use this as a mood book, where I would underline things that made me happy. It would always take away my bad mood, because it would remind me that there is no reason to focus on the bad when there are so many little things in life to remember!
Some examples:
a chance to sleep in
naming your baby
buying fresh flowers
the pleasure of water
smelling corncob-smoked bacon sizzling, maple-scented muffins, and pancakes off the griddle
hair towels
going to three museums in a row
roller skating around the block

See what I mean? A lot of the things on the list have to do with food, really good, home cookin', so beware if you read it while hungry!! It reminds you of all the tiny, great things in the world! Keep it by your bedside table and drift off to sleep with corn muffins, lazy sunday afternoons, and kittens floating in your head!

I found this book at the library in early 1994 and was so enchanted by it I told the library I lost it and was going to pay for it. Instead I had our local bookshop order it for me and returned the much thumbed taxpayer's copy to the library. I love books - all kinds of books - but this is my all time favorite. It is DELIGHTFUL!! I have read it cover to cover at least 6-7 times and made many, many, more random readings. Each time I read it I highlight new passages (by now more than half the book is highlighted). I read it when I'm feeling lost and abandoned, when I'm feeling nostalgic, when I'm looking for ideas for dinner, and even when I'm already happy - this book NEVER lets me down! I also have read "The Wish List", by the same author, but I'd love another 14,000 things to be happy about - heck, it doesn't even have to be 14,000, I'll settle for 1,000 (put the bug in Barbara Ann Kipfer's ear!).

I grabbed this book off the shelf at a Used
Book store and immediately wondered why
I hadn't seen it before.

I suggest my students write gratitude
lists from their own lives and then
free write from their own lists.

Barbara Ann Kipfer has written a sweet
little compilations of gratitude that
we can all choose to connect to, to
amp up our happiness and in a moment,
make the world a brighter place.

Here are some more ways to use this treasure...

Use as a springboard to writing

Use to make your heart feel better

Use to feel connected to other people
who think the same way you do

Use to become more happy, when you are happy

Use to feel more happy when you are sad

Use to invoke giggles, smiles, pure joy

Use to connect with the simple treasures
in your own life

Use simply to use it for the sake of
using it!...

This little book caught my eye at the bookstore while shopping for other (more serious) things. I started at page one, and as I turned the pages I realized I needed to grab a highlighter and start over! I marked all the things I could relate with, that brought positive feeling to my heart, and spent hours and hours over the past few years putting it down now and then, and picking it up to see if my tastes and interests had changed. Most of the things she mentions are universal experiences, some are regional and give you an idea of joys you didn't even know about. It was a very positive experience and I plan to get one for everyone I know.

I am a high school counselor and picked up this book at a workshop. It is not keenly witty or deep, but I have found that if I keep a copy on my desk, the kids pick it up and thumb through the pages. More often than not, they will find something to make them smile. It is a great conversation starter or a wonderful way to forget a problem. I give many of these little books away as graduation, off to college, going overseas, or hospitalization gifts.

Great book for a mental pick me up.
Helps my gratitude grow despite difficult
times we live in.

I bought this book a few years ago on a whim. I really have enjoyed going through it numerous times. One of the things I have done as I have been reading it is I highlight the ones that make me happy. That way if I am having a bad day I can pick up the book and at a glance find something that can make me feel better or remind me to do something to make me feel better. I really enjoy this book.

I love this book. This is something that I think everyone should own and read as often as possible. It is inspirational and fun to read. It will always put a smile on your face. I also recommend this as a gift. Who wouldn't enjoy getting something that makes them happy?