Product Description

Can You Learn to Be Happy?

YES . . . according to the teacher of Harvard University’s most popular and life-changing course. One out of every five Harvard students has lined up to hear Tal Ben-Shahar’s insightful and inspiring lectures on that ever-elusive state: HAPPINESS.

HOW?
Grounded in the revolutionary “positive psychology” movement, Ben-Shahar ingeniously combines scientific studies, scholarly research, self-help advice, and spiritual enlightenment. He weaves them together into a set of principles that you can apply to your daily life. Once you open your heart and mind to Happier ’s thoughts, you will feel more fulfilled, more connected . . . and, yes, HAPPIER.

“Dr. Ben-Shahar, one of the most popular teachers in Harvard’s recent history, has written a personal, informed, and highly enjoyable primer on how to become happier. It would be wise to take his advice.”
--Ellen J. Langer, author of Mindfulness and On Becoming an Artist

“This fine book shimmers with a rare brand of good sense that is imbedded in scientific knowledge about how to increase happiness. It is easy to see how this is the backbone of the most popular course at Harvard today."
--Martin E. P. Seligman, author of Authentic Happiness

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7835 in Books
• Published on: 2007-05-10
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 224 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780071492393
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From Publishers Weekly
Though everyone wants to be happier, how many of us can actually define what that means? In his class, "Positive Psychology," one of the most popular courses at Harvard University, Ben-Shahar teaches that happiness isn't as elusive a concept as people think, and can actually be learned; he commits the fundamentals of his course to paper in this primer on getting happy, which he defines as a combination of pleasure (short-term happiness) and meaning (long-term). Divided into three parts, "What is Happiness?", "Happiness Applied" and "Meditations on Happiness," Ben-Shahar provides insight and exercises, prodding reflection in readers ("Do you accept negative emotions as natural?" "Do you see your work as a job, a career, or a calling?") while explicating the relationships among happiness, motivation and goals. Though it sounds simple, Ben-Shahar insists on keen self-awareness and purposeful action to overcome entrenched patterns of despondency and/or disbelief. For answer-seekers, this is definitely a good start.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review
"It is easy to see how this is the backbone of the most popular course at Harvard today."
—Martin E. P. Seligman, author of Authentic Happiness

From the Back Cover

Can You Learn to Be Happy?

YES . . . according to the teacher of Harvard University’s most popular and life-changing course. One out of every five Harvard students has lined up to hear Tal Ben-Shahar’s insightful and inspiring lectures on that ever-elusive state: HAPPINESS.

HOW?
Grounded in the revolutionary “positive psychology” movement, Ben-Shahar ingeniously combines scientific studies, scholarly research, self-help advice, and spiritual enlightenment. He weaves them together into a set of principles that you can apply to your daily life. Once you open your heart and mind to Happier ’s thoughts, you will feel more fulfilled, more connected . . . and, yes, HAPPIER.

“Dr. Ben-Shahar, one of the most popular teachers in Harvard’s recent history, has written a personal, informed, and highly enjoyable primer on how to become happier. It would be wise to take his advice.”
--Ellen J. Langer, author of Mindfulness and On Becoming an Artist

“This fine book shimmers with a rare brand of good sense that is imbedded in scientific knowledge about how to increase happiness. It is easy to see how this is the backbone of the most popular course at Harvard today."
--Martin E. P. Seligman, author of Authentic Happiness

If you're a “rat racer,” who lives in the hope of being happy in the future, and yet is unable to enjoy the here-and-now . . .

If you're a “hedonist,” who finds some pleasure in the good things in life--good wine, good food, good company--and yet is unable to enjoy lasting fulfillment . . .

If you're a “nihilist,” who’s completely given up on finding happiness . . .you can learn to be happier!

Thousands of Harvard University students have discovered that you can become happier. They learned the secret to lasting fulfillment from acclaimed teacher Tal Ben-Shahar’s class on positive psychology--a branch of psychology that combines the latest scientific research with good old common sense. Now you can join his class and learn how positive psychology can make you happier right now--no lottery windfall, job promotion, or new love required.

Think of Happier as your own personal workbook. As you read each chapter’s illuminating discussion on happiness and incorporate its simple exercises into your daily routine, you will see every aspect of your life with new eyes and a new sense of purpose.

When you learn how to live for today and for tomorrow at the same time, you learn how to balance your immediate personal needs with long-term goals and enjoy life as you never have before.

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Customer Reviews

Life is A Process, Not An End.
Life is a process, not an end. If you don't enjoy the process, you're going to hate the end.

I've read the ideas in this book many many times. Yet run through one more point of view is not a bad thing. Actually the author sums up the key to life well lived quite well in this thin book. Have meaningful goals, but enjoy the day to day process or realizing those goals. Appreciation is the key to life. The Psychic bank account. And then he applys them to school, to work, to love. And then he ends the book with meditations.

Give it a try. I'm sure you won't be disappointed.

The only criticism, yet not enough to substract a star, is that there are quite a few repeated ideas from his previous work. However, if you have a good idea, no harm in repeating that idea.

Better than the rest of the self-help books
This book approaches happiness with foundations based on research, peer-reviewed psychology publications, and observational logic. It is very well-written and uplifting, without being simplistic. It uses concepts from Csikszentmihalyi , Seligman, Jung, Campbell, Goleman, Branden, Gardner, Persig, and Kahneman, among others. The sections on happiness in education and in the workplace were especially helpful to me and made me realize I was focusing too much on financial rewards for happiness. This book gave me more focus and peace.

I'll give this partial credit...
I read "Happier" over the Christmas holidays. It is an easy read, maybe even a bit simplistic in its day glo presentation. It is rooted in the "positive psychology" movement, based on a popular course at Harvard. The findings are hardly groundbreaking: happiness, the author contends, is a mixture of small pleasures in the moment and a sense of meaning in life overall. There are practical exercises ("time ins") in each chapter that should help you center your life around things you enjoy.

A few months after reading this book (I did most of the exercises), I am more focused on small pleasures and am feeling happier than I was. I have also maintained a 25 lb weight loss since the holidays, a first for me. I'm not giving all the credit to this book, but I think it's fair to say it might be one of the things that has helped me this year. This isn't the be all, end all pop psych book, but it's worth a read.