Pursuit of Happiness by David G. Myers

Pursuit of Happiness Reviews

• 
  Bret

  Money doesn't matter, age doesn't matter, gender or race doesn't matter, where you live doesn't matter in determining your happiness.
  
  What does enable happiness:
  
  * fit and healthy body
  * realistic goals and expectations
  * positive self-esteem
  * feelings of control
  * optimism
  * outgoingness
  * supportive friendships
  * socially intimate, sexually warm, equitable marriage
  * challenging work and active leisure
  * adequate rest and retreat
  * faith that entails communal support, purpose, acceptance, outward focus, and hope
• 
  Robb Seaton

  The book is a bit dated. Specifically, more recent results suggest that the disabled are significantly less happy and satisfied than the book would lead you to believe (although they are still better off than one would naively suspect), the theoretical foundations of Pennebaker's work on trauma-writing have advanced significantly and focus on the benefits of sense-making and its mediating role in cognitive accessibility, most people adapt to marriage within two years, negative affect peaks in late adolescence, etc.
  
  Myer's has a tendency to use anecdotes, which work well stylistically, but are probably too easy to believe, which is to say: readers may come away convinced of the truth of more than they would based on a careful review of the evidence.
• 
  Hayley Brentmar

  This book (and the studies it sights) are a bit dated, but it was still interesting. It felt like sitting through a good lecture in a sociology class. I enjoyed it, but wasn't surprised by anything.
• 
  Franziska

  This was a great research book on who is happy, when and why. However, I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who's already read "The American Paradox" by David Myers, since a lot of it is in that book already. However, if you want more detailed reading on happiness, this is a great book.
• 
  Maria

  This was a statistical look at what makes people happy which was a really interesting approach. It concluded many things that we already know deep down but aren't always good at actually living.
• 
  Katt Hansen

  The study of happiness is a journey that takes one through the examination of every aspect of their lives. How much one is content, physical health, even whether they're married or not has a certain impact according to this book. But why are we so worried about being happy? This endless pursuit has gone on for generations - and I expect it to continue endlessly. We want desperately to be happy - and I wonder just how many people truly are.
  
  This book wasn't particularly helpful though. So much is common sense. So much information is outdated. So much doesn't hold up well under scrutiny. I can even see where the author's personal bias has affected the outcome of some of his conclusions.
  
  While this book was researched to death (just look at the bibliography and chapter notes to see that - there's well over 100 pages of just that material) I can't help but wonder how this book would have been written today. What studies have been done since that have disproved quite a bit of this (I know for a fact some of it has been)? And how has the world changed to where even that impacts happiness. I know an entire section could be dedicated to social media at this point (or an entire book or three).
  
  Overall, I'm glad I read this. It truly was like sitting down to an interesting lecture (as another reviewer said). The biggest value though lies in the questions that this book raises. We, as reader, might not always agree with the answer given, but the fact is, there are some excellent talking points here, and things to consider in your own life.
  
  I for one, am going to try harder after reading this book to be happier. Perhaps, that's the best outcome you can have from a book like this.
• 
  Melsene G

  This book dates from 1992 so many of the examples/research might be considered out of date. That being said, there's plenty of good information in here about what is well-being and happiness. Per Aristotle, happiness is the supreme god. The founders of the Declaration of Independence included the pursuit of happiness as an 'unalienable' right.
  
  There are chapters on wealth and well-being, demographics, mind power, traits of happy people, flow, friendship, love & marriage, and faith, hope, and joy. Here are the key takeaways to be or what to do to be happy: Be fit and healthy. Set realistic goals. Have positive self-esteem. Have a feeling of being in control. Be optimistic and outgoing. Have good friendships. Have a good marriage. Have challenging work and active leisure. Rest. Enjoy faith with communal support, purpose, acceptance and outward focus. Have hope.
  
  All of this is good stuff. Having money doesn't make you happy. What I didn't like was the anti-American individualism theory and the various political jibes about Ronald and Nancy Reagan and other right of center politicians. Authors need to keep their personal politics out of these type of books as it erodes objective research and theories. Lastly, this book was written about 25 years ago and is somewhat outdated. The positive psychology movement was not exactly underway when this book and its research was published. (Marty Seligman founded it in 1998) So, I would suggest reading more current books on happiness and meaning, which there is a plethora of.
• 
  Jolene

  This book asks and answers the important questions about the nature and value of happiness. Is happiness rare? Can money buy happiness? Does age affect happiness? Are men happier than women? This is my favorite quote I found in the book. The essence of happiness is pausing to savor the gift of our present moments.
  In a world of multi-tasking happiness may be eluding us more and more. We need to take time over our coffee, tea or soda. We need to focus on eating when eating and realize we are nourishing our bodies. We need to see the beauty in a fresh fallen snow and let the worries about traffic keep for when you have to deal with the traffic. We need to treasure the times that our pets cuddle with us, when a friend takes time to say hello, when a neighbor needs help, when our child takes time to need us.
  
• 
  Naomi Phung

  3.5/5 - Even though this is old, it still introduced me to new concepts I can look into.
  
  I just didn’t like all the mentions of celebrities and famous people. And I found the book to be really boring at times which had to do with how it was written/the author’s voice. But besides that, this book touched on the relevant topics and made me think about lots of concepts.
• 
  Laurie

  I'm looking for someone to invite to our campus to talk about how to increase our emotional wellness, or "happiness," in times of mental crisis. A colleague put me on to Myers' work, which has been a well-written introduction to positive psychology. Thought-provoking, with a few good take aways.
• 
  Leonardo

  Citado en los artículos de Easterlin y de Angner de
  Capabilities and Happiness.
• 
  Selmoore Codfish

  The author summarizes the state of the positive psychology movement. The purpose of the movement is to help those of us who aren’t currently in counseling to continue to lead healthy lives.
  At the time of reading this, the book was getting out of date. However, the content still seemed to adequately introduce the positive psychology movement.
  The author’s suggestions seem very useful in making happy lives. Although the author talks about a couple theories of psychology, anyone should be able to read this book.
  One thing that I look for in books, especially related to psychology, is how they handle religious belief. Generally, psychologists seem more skeptical of issues of faith. However, the author was very supportive of faith’s roles in a positive life. In fact, the author has one chapter that is devoted to promoting faith as a means to support happiness. (He says that as long as it involves a God that loves, there are positive effects.) However, this brings up whether the author has pushed his evangelical Christian faith too much into his book. It is possible that he might turn away a few readers who think that he’s pushed too hard on this.
  I read a hardcopy, and the print was very small. It took my eyes some time to get used to it.
  
• 
  Jana Light

  Rather than posit a new theory on happiness, this book collects and summarizes various academic studies on happiness. I appreciated the purely statistical focus for the first 90% of the book, and even though he turns into a bit of an apologist for his personal faith at the end, since he disclosed his bias upfront it wasn't too jarring in tone and purpose. I didn't necessarily learn anything surprising, but it was great to read all those studies in the collective.
• 
  Jaume Batlle-i-Perales

  A not-to-miss on this topic.
  
  If Happiness is in your interest list, you must read this book.
  
  A pleasure to read, instructive, well written, interesting. A must-read!
• 
  Meg Imperato

  Reads very similarly to his Psychology textbook. LOTS of anecdotes. Slightly dated, but pretty good all in all. Emphasizes optimism and perspective above all else.