The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom by Jonathan Haidt

Haidt gives a broad overview of a number of social psychological studies on a wide variety of subjects including happiness. He also weaves in a variety of religious doctrines to address the meaning of life based on the wisdom of both science and religion.

Not sure why this one didn't grab me, but I found it just OK.

Some of his assertions about the scientific evidence backing meditation and attachment theory are questionable in my mind. From what I've read and heard elsewhere, the case is not nearly as clearcut as he makes it seem in this book.

I also feel like the “ancient wisdom” schtick is just a schtick to sell books. He pulls quotations from ancient/old texts and then talks about how they are supported by current scientific theory. The problem is that those quotations are taken out of context and although he tries to provide the broader context, he often leaves out notable elements such as superstition and other irrational claims.

I also think there are several points where one could take up serious philosophical quibbles with his argument.

In spite of these problems he makes a lot of thought-provoking arguments that are worthy of consideration if not application in one's own life. I really appreciate his support of meditation, positive psychology, and cognitive therapy. So, overall, I guess it's really a pretty interesting book... but for some reason I just did not love it.

4.5 stars.

I found very interesting the hypotheses described in this book, and will definitely study more some of the concepts that the author explained in order to improve my own “happiness level” and become more conscious of my own behavior. I fully recommend this book to anyone that wants to understand more clearly how our mind and emotions work together.

4.6 !

Very enjoyable insight on “the meaning of life” and happiness. I think the audio book version was perfect for the informational content - not bornong or dragging at all! Some of it was a little repetitive but still insightful.

And thus we move, logically, to The Happiness Hypothesis. Ben Tanaka, main character of Shortcomings, could use The Happiness Hypothesis. Ginger Pye and the rest of the Pye family apparently intuitively knew The Happiness Hypothesis.
Haidt looks at ancient wisdom and compares it to the result of the new science of positive psychology. Some of the things I learned from this book:

Reciprocity is the best guide to life. This is the classic “Do unto others” thought. There are three effective ways to happiness: meditation, cognitive therapy, and Prozac.

People have good insight about other people, but are terrible in judging themselves. They cannot see their own flaws.Instead of trying to improve weaknesses, we should work on our strengths. Often we can use a strength to get around a weakness.

The personality is now thought to have three components: (1) our basic and classic traits of neuroticism and extroversion, (2) the ways we characteristically adapt including openness to new experiences, agreeableness, and conscientiousness, and (3) our life story, the way we have made sense of our lives.It takes adversity to reach our highest levels. Posttraumatic growth is rising to the challenges of problems, which reveals hidden abilities and changes our self-concept.