The How of Happiness: A Scientific Approach to Getting the Life You Want (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "What do you think would make you happier?..." (more)
Key Phrases: total happiness score, happiness strategies, cultivating optimism, Managing Stress, United States, Best Possible Selves (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Finally we have a self-help book from a reputable scientist whose advice is based on the best experimental data.”
—Daniel Gilbert, author of Stumbling on Happiness

“Is lasting happiness attainable or a pipe dream? For the last eighteen years, University of California—Riverside professor of psychology Sonja Lyubomirsky has studied this question, and what she reports might even sway pessimists.”
—U.S. News & World Report

“Lyubomirsky’s central point is clear: a significant portion of what is called happiness . . . is up for grabs. Taking some pages out of the positive psychology playbook, she coaches readers on how to snag it.”
—The New York Review of Books

“The right place to look for science-based advice on how to become happier.”
—Martin Seligman, author of Learned Optimism --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Description

You can change your personal capacity for happiness. Research psychologist Sonja Lyubomirsky's pioneering concept of the 40% solution shows you how

Drawing on her own groundbreaking research with thousands of men and women, research psychologist and University of California professor of psychology Sonja Lyubomirsky has pioneered a detailed yet easy-to-follow plan to increase happiness in our day-to-day lives-in the short term and over the long term. The How of Happiness is a different kind of happiness book, one that offers a comprehensive guide to understanding what happiness is, and isn't, and what can be done to bring us all closer to the happy life we envision for ourselves. Using more than a dozen uniquely formulated happiness-increasing strategies, The How of Happiness offers a new and potentially life- changing way to understand our innate potential for joy and happiness as well as our ability to sustain it in our lives.

Beginning with a short diagnostic quiz that helps readers to first quantify and then to understand what she describes as their "happiness set point," Lyubomirsky reveals that this set point determines just 50 percent of happiness while a mere 10 percent can be attributed to differences in life circumstances or situations. This leaves a startling, and startlingly underdeveloped, 40 percent of our capacity for happiness within our power to change.

Lyubomirsky's "happiness strategies" introduce readers to the concept of intentional activities, mindful actions that they can use to achieve a happier life. These include exercises in practicing optimism when imagining the future, instruction in how best to savor life's pleasures in the here and now, and a thoroughgoing explanation of the importance of staying active to being happy. Helping readers find the right fit between the goals they set and the activities she suggests, Lyubomirsky also helps readers understand the many obstacles to happiness as well as how to harness individual strengths to overcome them. Always emphasizing how much of our happiness is within our control, Lyubomirsky addresses the "scientific how" of her happiness research, demystifying the many myths that unnecessarily complicate its pursuit. Unlike those of many self-help books, all her recommendations are supported by scientific research.

The How of Happiness is both a powerful contribution to the field of positive psychology and a gift to all those who have questioned their own well- being and sought to take their happiness into their own hands.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Press HC, The (December 27, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 159420148X
• ISBN-13: 978-1594201486
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (71 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #9,100 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

145 of 161 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An insider's account of happiness, December 31, 2007

By	Grateful Reader (Davis, CA) - See all my reviews

Which would you prefer: A second-hand account of happiness research written by a science popularizer or an insider's version written by one of the most original and creative scientists within the field of happiness studies itself? For me, the choice is an easy one. Sonja Lyubomirsky has earned her credentials as a leading expert on happiness-increasing strategies and she generously shares with her readers the secrets she has learned from rigorously conducted scientific studies. From expressing gratitude to taking care of one's body, she pours out the evidence for twelve happiness-enhancing strategies, offering persuasive rationales and practical suggestions for their implementation. The final chapter deals with the reality of depression, a topic often ignored in Pollyannish popular accounts of the happy life. You may want to start the activities before you finish reading the book, but do both and those all around you will be grateful that you did.

82 of 92 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Skeptical about the "Science" of Happiness? Buy (don't steal) this Book !, January 13, 2008

By	Beth Waddel "Ph.D" (Pullman, WA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

As a psychologist for twenty years, it has been drilled into my head that as psychologists we are both scientists and practitioners. Having been a clinician for the majority of my career as well as a book-a-holic, I have been anxiously awaiting Lyubomirsky's book. As Gilbert accomplished in Stumbling on Happiness, Lyubomirsky accomplished in this fine piece of work, a wonderful marriage of both the "science" of psychology as well as the "practical" aspects of psychology. A dream for scholars and clinicians...what a fine contribution this book is to our field.

Lyubomirsky has created a work which will be interesting, challenging, and useful to researchers, practitioners, and the general reader as well. Her book answers the questions about happiness by backing up her assertions with a fine review of the empircial literature. "Harumph", no more touchy-feely stuff for the "soft science of psychology"...Lyubomirsky has created a book that will appeal to both my neighbors as well as my colleagues. This book would be appropriate in a psychology graduate course or a local reading group....

Her tone is deliciously real and edgy, her presentation delightful and well-thought out, and her suggestions concrete, specific, realistic and engaging.

There is something for everyone in this book.

I hate goals, I rebel against goals, tell me I "should" and I certainly won't. Well, after reading this book, taking the tests, I have actually done some goal setting that I might find I can complete without gritting my teeth and gutting it out.

Thanks, Sonja, I will be thinking of you tomorrow at 6am as I head out to the gym.

Beth Waddel, PhD.

46 of 52 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Pinnacle of Science, January 26, 2008

By	F. Bailey Norwood "Bailey" (Stillwater, OK) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I have read almost every non-technical book written on the psychology of happiness and positive psychology. While they are all good, The How of Happiness is by far the best.

This is no generic self-help book with off-the-cuff suggestions stemming from the authors' own life or anecdotal evidence. Every single claim Dr. Lyubomirsky makes is backed by scientific evidence. Moreover, the book's content is supported by peer-reviewed journal articles. While I am an economist, and not a psychologist, I do know which journals are the most prestigious, and the bulk of this book is based on publications from the most prestigious psychological journals.

To illustrate how highly I recommend this book, consider this. I personally spent over $100 buying multiple copies of the book and giving them to several of my students, in hopes they will read it. If they do read it, they are certain to live happier lives.

I am naturally a very happy person, and can say without reservation that this book has made me happier. My friends have found it surprising that someone as happy as me would be reading a book on happiness. After hearing my profound respect for this book, they too purchased it and found it a life-changing experience.

Of the many reasons we do science, one is to improve the lot of humans, to become a happier society. We are fortunate to live in an age when science has uncovered the science of happiness, and fortunate to have Dr. Lyubomirsky to communicate this science to a non-technical audience so clearly. In my opinion, this book is the pinnacle of science.