The Pursuit of Happiness: Who is Happy--And Why

by David G. Myers and David G. Meyers

Book Overview

Social psychologist David G. Myers has reviewed thousands of recent scientific studies conducted worldwide in search of the key to happiness. With wit and wisdom, he explodes some of the popular myths... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0688105505
• ISBN13: 9780688105501
• Release Date: January 1992
• Publisher: William Morrow & Company
• Length: 331 Pages
• Weight: 1.52 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.4" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

A treasure-trove of modern wisdom

I first heard of "The Pursuit of Happiness" by David G. Myers as a recommended read in "Psychology Applied to Modern Life" by Wayne Weiten and Margaret A. Lloyd - a truly remarkable textbook. This obviously gives immediate credibility to this book, and I have to say that my personal assessment of it is in keeping with that of the two aforementioned authors. Take these few quotes as a preview of "The pursuit of Happiness" by David G. Myers, a treasure-trove of modern wisdom: "Happiness is loving what you do, and knowing it matters." "Well-being resides not in mindless passivity but in mindful challenge." "Growing up means gaining the wisdom and skills to get what we want within the limitations imposed by reality." "... two ways to be rich: One is to have great wealth. The other is to have few wants." "Realizing that well-being is something other than being well-off is liberating. It liberates us from spending on eighteen-hundred-dollar dresses, on stockpiles of unplayed CDs, on luxury cars, on seagoing luxury homes-all purchased in a vain quest for an elusive joy. It liberates us from envying the life-styles of the rich and famous. It liberates us to invest ourselves into developing traits, attitudes, relationships, activities, environments, and spiritual resources that will promote our own, and others', well-being." Happy reading! Laurent Grenier, author of the book "A Reason for Living."

Fascinating summaries of studies of well-being

David Myers summarizes and synthesizes studies on the sense of well-being and happiness. What makes us happy, or what makes us perceive to be happy? Study after study is cited to describe factors that are related or unrelated to happiness, sometimes disproving "conventional wisdom." Myers explains cultural factors and thinking patterns, and how they are related to how happy we are.After reading this book, I have a better understanding of what really matters in life, and why. I also better know how to foster my own happiness, and what to pursue after. Wealth doesn't matter. Thankfulness does help. Ethnicity doesn't matter. Having a close network of friends does.I highly recommend this book as a great information source on happiness. It is not a self help book, but a renowned psychologists wisdom woven with objective studies.

Why you are smiling or scowling?

This is one of the best books on the subject of happiness. It is a serious book written based on fact (backed up by research) and not fluff. When I say fluff I'm referring to all those books with the authors personal claim to 100 ways to happiness. In this book the bibliography is 40 pages alone, with about 520 books or articles used as reference. 520! You can see that there has been a great deal of hard-core research done. Other books tell you to picture your dreams or hug your neighbor. Not this one. David backs up all his arguments with numerous studies that have been performed in recent years. An early chapter on wealth and well being contains information from at least ten studies. One study covers sixteen countries and involves responses from 170, 000 participants. I'm happy to see that David has looked at happiness within the influence of a culture not just the individual itself. In happiness books I believe it is important to correlate happiness between the culture and the individual. Like David points out, a boy in Africa playing with a tin can, can be as happy as Richy Rich in North America and his fully loaded gaming lap top. Obviously our society places too much emphasis on wealth and materialism to fuel our happy cells when perhaps we should be simply fine-tuning our attitudes. The chapter describing the four traits of happy people is an excellent short list of reasons on why some are cheerful (and some grouchy). I see that they undoubtedly apply to me. · I like myself . . .(Self Esteem, happy people like themselves). · My destiny is my own in that I have "earned", a great job, super home, improving golf game and supporting family . . .(Personal Control, happy people choose their destinies). · I am positive about my future . . .(Optimism, happy people are hope filled). · I like giving presentations and also acting the fool around others. . (Extraversion . . .happy people are outgoing) David also discusses the topic of flow, which has been extensively researched by Mihal Csikszentmihalyi. Flow is about finding meaning in what you are doing and being engaged to the point of losing sense of time. I can't agree with him more on this important happiness trigger since time can torture us when we are idle, and be forgotten when we are fully engaged. Remember when the afternoon whizzed by? I don't think you were flicking channels on the TV. Perhaps you were engaging or stretching your mind (playing guitar, reading, scuba diving . . .etc) therefore growing as a human being. For more information on this subject see my review on Mihal's book focusing on Flow. David also presents his view on friendship and happiness again backed up by plenty of concrete research from various institutions. The same goes for love, marriage, and faith. The only weak area in this book, is the chapter on faith where religion is examined and whether it plays an important role in happiness. I found the chapter too long, it jumped around a lot and it did not end the book

easy to understand insight supported by research

Great book on explaining what truely makes people happy. Not a fluffy self-help book, but one that will make you think and put things into perspective. What I like the best was that most of the author's points were backed by research.

Well-informed, readable, smart, not for airheads.

People want to be happy more than anything else, of course. A no-brainer, huh? How ironic it is, then, that so few of us know the facts of happiness. How can happiness be defined and measured? Who is happy, who is not, and why? Does sex, money, status, marriage, or occupational success lead to happiness? If not, why not? The answers are surprising, to say the least. If you know them, you'll improve your odds of finding your own happiness and helping others find theirs.