author: Daniel Gilbert

name: Steev

average rating: 3.69

book published: 2006

rating: 5

read at: 2012/06/08

date added: 2012/06/08

shelves: spirit-self, fun

review:
This is a really great book that basically makes the point, over and over again, that we silly humans are really bad at figuring out what did, does, or will make us happy. Daniel Gilbert cites a huge array of studies with fascinatingly great, counterintuitive results about how people make choices, estimate their future well-being, and more, and he explains them in a very clear and easy manner. Sometimes he tries a little too hard to be funny, in this kind of "silly old grandpa" style of humor, but for the most part I would be totally psyched (pun intended) to take a college course from this guy.

My favorite line, toward the end, is:
"My friends tell me that I have a tendency to point out problems without offering solutions, but they never tell me what I should do about it."

This passage actually kind of sums up the book and underscores the frustrating thing about it - Gilbert spends 250 pages expertly explaining why and how we are so dismally bad at figuring out how to live, and even why we're unlikely to use the more reliable methods of doing so, but then we're left with the uneasy conclusion that there's not really anything to do or change. We're just going to screw up in our quest to be happy, so just get used to it. At the very end he points out that until recently (in generational terms), most people never really had many choices in their lives anyway, so our problem with knowing how to live and be happy is really a very new one.

Cold comfort. But if you read this book at least you'll know several of the many reasons why we all make so many mistakes on that path.