Customer Reviews

The Conquest of Happiness (Routledge Classics)

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The other reviewers have done a fine job reviewing the book, and I'd just like to emphasize a few points.

1. Although a few of the references are dated because the book was written in 1930, all of the ideas are still perfectly relevant.

2. This is not a book of formal philosophy; more of introspection. Of course Russel introspected with the same brilliant and critical mind that he used to contribute to mathematics and philosophy. But this is not rigorous, apologetic or systematic. Actually, it's more like gentle advice. And quite reasonable.

I'd like to quote a few passages that I found thought-provoking, to give a reader a sense of what to expect if you purchase and read this book:

p. 27, "[T]o be without some of the things you want is an indispensable part of happiness."

p. 29, "The habit of looking to the future and thinking that the whole meaning of the present lies in what it will bring forth is a pernicious one. There can be no value in the whole unless there is value in the parts."

p. 43, "I do not deny that the feeling of success makes it easier to enjoy life.... Nor do I deny that money, up to a certain point, is very capable of increasing happiness. What I do maintain is that success can only be one ingredient in happiness, and is too dearly purchased if all the other ingredients have been sacrificed to obtain it."

p. 74, "The essentials of human happiness are simple, so simple that sophisticated people cannot bring themselves to what it is that they really lack."

p. 94, "[R]emember that your motives are not always as altruistic as they seem to yourself... don't overestimate your own merits... don't expect others to take as much interest in you as you do in yourself."

p. 99, "No satisfaction based upon self-deception is solid, and however unpleasant the truth may be, it is better to face it once and for all, to get used to it, and to proceed to build your life in accordance with it."

p. 107, "One should respect public opinion in so far as is necessary to avoid starvation and to keep out of prison, but anything that goes beyond this is voluntary submission to an unnecessary tyranny, and is likely to interfere with happiness in all kinds of ways."

p. 109, "Happiness is promoted by associations of persons with similar tastes and similar opinions."

p. 123, "The secret of happiness is this: let your interests be as wide as possible, and let your reactions to the things and persons that interest you be as far as possible friendly rather than hostile."

p. 142, "In the best kind of affection a man hopes for a new happiness rather than for an escape from an old unhappiness."

p. 175, "To ignore our opportunities for knowledge, imperfect as they are, is like going to the theater and and not listening to the play."

Well, that's a reasonable sample. It's not a philosophical masterpiece, but it is mature, wise and edifying. I think most people who read books would do well to read this one too, so I give it a hearty endorsement.

This is a wonderful book, despite the passage of considerable time. Written shortly after WWI, there are occasional references to people and things no longer on the modern radar scope. And, as philosophical writing goes, Russell is better than most in constructing intelligible sentences and paragraphs that don't require repeated reading to understand.

This book is about life. Russell uses his analytic empiricism to discuss typically pop-psychological issues: Boredom, Excitement, Envy, Sin, Persecution, Public Opinion, Zest, etc. But his approach, dated back in time, is refreshingly new and helpful in the present. Indeed, Russell shows himself redolent in wisdom, the true aim of philosophy, and tackles issues that are at the core of what constitutes happiness and its opposites.

Because Russell appeals to his empirical views analytically arrived, there is a sense of wonderment and awe at such simple solutions to difficult problems in modern life. These solutions aren't dressed in pop-ism, but in a perennial philosophy that takes wisdom, not pop-up tapes of life, seriously.

The Atlantic Monthly claimed this book to be a "primer of self-regeneration . . . a most excellent book." This praise is not unwarranted, and given that commonsense is the center of the whole enterprise, its wisdom will endure not only when it was written in the 1920s, but today, and tomorrow.

I must admit I'm a fan of Russell, so I tend to be a bit biased. But I also think that Russell really has, as one person put it, "hit the nail on the head" with this book on happiness.

Russell divides the book into two parts (essentially). One is devoted to the causes of unhappiness, with chapters on persecution mania, fear, envy, boredom and excitement, fatigue, the sense of sin, and fear of public opinion, among others. I found the chapter on fear to be the most interesting, although they all were fascinating. In chapter 9, Fear of Public Opinion, Russell alleges that many people drive themselves to unhappiness by trying to conform to others and/or being afraid of opprobrium from friends, family, or co-workers. Of course, the chapter itself is much better than my terse summary.

The next part of the book is devoted to the causes of happiness, with chpaters on: zest, affection, family, work, hobbies, and effort. I found this part to be of lower quality than the first. If one works backward from Russell's causes of unhappiness, than one would come across interesting ways of finding happiness. In others words, if you discovered that you were submerged in unbearable (perhaps religious) guilt all the time, than perhaps some rationalization would help. For example, let's say you're a woman, you've been raped, and you have an abortion. You are under a tremendous amount of guilt because you happen to be a conservative (theologically) Baptist. What do you do about your religious guilt, which is ruining your life?

I think Russell should've devoted a section to his causes of happiness part of the book to getting out of the causes of unhappiness. Not that he doesn't make a half-attempt to do this, but I really would've liked to see whole chapters devoted to the subject, not whole paragrahps or pages.

All in all, this book, taken with all of Russell's work on social problems, is (as "Time" magazine says) a modern substitute for the Bible. Russell really does see the problems of modern society, and his solutions are still relevant after more than 70 years.

In this book Bertrand Russell writes about things that cause unhappiness and--as the author himself explains--having no outside cause, are all the more distressing since they seem to have no solution. Russell proposes answers for the everyday happiness that every human being is bound to suffer. His chapters include Envy (the greatest of human passions, according to him), Persecution Mania (a VERY interesting chapter), Family, Work, and so on. A few things in the book must be taken with a grain of salt; however, I fell that on the whole Russell hits the nail on the head and offers us a work that is part philosophy, part psychology, and very effective in doing what it proposes. The second part of the book contains chapters that explain the cause of happiness, and how one can attain it. In the end, I put down the book knowing a bit more about human nature, and realizing that a book that was written so long ago is incredibly current--the truth that human nature never changes is one of the book's corollaries.

Russell makes a departure from philosophy with this work, which is really more akin to bibliotherapy. In various chapters, he discusses all kinds of things that make people both unhappy (e.g., competition, boredom, fatigue) and happy (e.g., affection, family, work). His focus is really on what we can do to be happy on a consistent basis; he's not looking for a temporary fix.

Perhaps his 'philosophy of happiness' can best be summarized in this wonderful quote: 'Of all forms of caution, caution in love is perhaps most fatal to true happiness.' Succinct and true.

The monograph, written by Russell at the age of 58 (he lived to 98), is first and foremost a self-help book. As Russell clearly states in the preface, the book contains "no profound philosophy or deep erudition," and was "aimed only at putting together some remarks which are inspired by what I [Russell] hope is common sense." And how wonderful those remarks were.

As with any self-help book, there aren't that many _new_ facts to learn within. Rather there is a certain view of the world the authors offer, and it is their congeniality and their own conviction in their view that provide readers with consolation, and motivation to try out such view. Russell's view is that the world is abundant with joy to be explored and discovered. The programs he suggests for conquering happiness, most notably, were 1) to face whatever fear you behold with sincerity and conviction that they are possible to overcome (Russell regards even one's unconscious changeable with sufficient vigor and intensity), 2) enjoy to its fullest extent what life has to offer no matter how trivial the source of enjoyment are perceived by others insofar as the act of pursuing enjoyment do not harm others (example: Russell's Gardner was fascinated in hunting rabbits!), and 3) to realize that whatever happens to oneself is not all that important after all (Russell's such laissez faire-ish view is exemplified by his words: "in the broad stream of history nothing is of paramount importance..."). With a mathematician's rigor Russell in each chapter scoped out what the problem he wished to take on, and laid out his solutions, logically deduced from common sense. I was convinced.

However it was not so much the solutions Russell provided that made me enjoy this book. What I enjoyed most was the chance to peek into a mind that appeared to me to be naive and held no pretense: "I shall therefore assume that the reader would rather be happy than unhappy. Whether I can help him to realize this wish, I do not know; but at any rate the attempt can do no harm." To see people attempting to overcome difficulties in their utmost sincerity, in my view, provides one with the ultimate consolation.

Iam in my late twenties and am of a somewhat introspective
nature. I had struggled for a time to find what really made me
happy and had come to the conclusion that it was taking interest
in people and my work amongst other things. I started reading
this book and was absolutely amazed that someone had put
into words so beautifully some of the thoughts I had been
fumbling towards. I read the entire book in the first sitting.
It is filled with much rationality and logic rather than new-age truisms.
Or just read it for Russell's language which is quite exquisite.

I had been a long-time reader and admirer of Bertrand Russell but had not heard of this book until recently. Because I'd been going through some trying times personally, I ordered this book for its practical benefits, rather than as an exercise in philosophical discourse. I was not disappointed.

This book was written over 70 years ago, but its message is profoundly relevant. In the entire book, there might have been three or four paragraphs that were outdated, such as Russell's stating that most women stay home while their husbands work. In 1930, that was indeed the case. But 99 percent of the book is right on target in the year 2004, for both men and women.

I highly recommend this volume because of the benefits the reader will derive. As I mentioned, I myself had been suffering through an extremely difficult period. This book helped me considerably. I took a pen to highlight the most helpful parts of the book. It would have been more efficient for me to highlight the parts that were not helpful, since I ended up underlining most of the text. If you're considering psychotherapy to help you with an emotional problem or family crisis, save yourself a bundle of money -- and get better results -- reading this outstanding volume by one of the 20th century's most brilliant thinkers and writers.

David Mills

Author of 'Atheist Universe'

A nice combination of philosophy and self-help guides the reader through what makes a person feel the way they do and how to change it. It is divided well: because first you'll want to know what's wrong, then things that make it better, then the total person to walk away as. Many of his examples of what makes us unhappy are definitely around today, retaining much of what made the book poignant.

Surely, it is dated. Russell explains to the reader how much of a stress it must be to see planes in the air. Stuff like this does not change the flow of the book to a modern reader though. My mind replaced Russell's old examples with new ones. His general arguments still apply.

This book from Bertrand Russell is a rather atypical book for a philosopher, as it really at its core is a self-help book. He discusses causes of unhappiness and happiness in the contemporary Western society of his times (which isn’t too much different from that of our times).

He criticizes what in America and, to a lesser extent, England was (and still is) perceived as "the struggle for life", and puts it in its right dimension as what it really is, i.e. "the struggle for success". We will all (at least most of us in the developed countries) have our breakfast next morning, and at any rate, most middle managers will.

He deems zest to be "the most universal and distinctive mark of happy men" and discusses in great length other aspects conducive, in his mind, to happiness, such as family and work, and even impersonal interests.

Overall, this is a good book and I would recommend it to anyone if they asked (whatever my recommendation may be worth). Having Bertrand Russell writing what amounts to a self-help book is like having a violinist from the symphonic orchestra playing by your table at a Hungarian restaurant. This is not a "Chicken Soup" style of book â€" it is just Russell trying to help people become happier. Naturally, this is not something that can be achieved by reading one book (or many books for that matter). However, this book may help; perhaps more than 9 out of 10 things people do trying to achieve that goal.