Books on Happiness

When you understand the key things that contribute to your own unique state of happiness, the more effective you will be in achieving long-term fulfillment, contentment and joy. Begin your crucial quest to lead a happy life today with the best books on happiness.

The Happiness Book List

The Art of Happiness by Dalai Lama
The Art of Happiness is a collection of interviews between western psychologist Howard Cutler and his holiness, the Dalai Lama.  Cutler takes the eastern views on happiness accounted by the Dalai Lama and translates and explains them into more western scientific terms.  The author shows how practising the simple art of kindness, compassion, and peace of mind, leads to happiness.  The core teachings in the art of happiness are simple  When you identify factors that lead to happiness in your life and identify the factors that lead to suffering, set out to eliminate the negatively impacting factors in your life.  A message so simple yet easy to miss!  At times, the Dalai Lama’s words are a little difficult to grasp, for this he offers everyday examples to explain.  Described as a manual to living, it might be worth while reading it a number of times, each time gaining a new insight into the art of happiness.  

Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert
Stumbling on Happiness is a scientific study, albeit a humorous one, on our own beliefs on happiness.  According to Dan Gilbert, we are terrible at remembering our past happiness and even worse at making decisions that will improve our future, this is part of the message in the words of ‘Stumbling on Happiness’.  Gilbert tells us that we cannot tell how happy we were or how happy we are going to be, because our memory plays a variety of tricks on us. The book itself does not make you happy, rather it explains the process involved in changing your thinking.  Although not a traditional self help guide, the book offers insights into where we go wrong when predicting our future and remembering our past.    This is an alternative and really interesting read!  

Authentic Happiness by Martin E. P. Seligman
From one of the founders of the positive psychology movement, authentic happiness takes the lessons learned in the past on building happiness in ones life and reinforces these findings with solid evidence.  Seligman takes the opportunity to focus on what is right with us and not what is lacking in our lives.  The author identifies through in-depth research how we can avoid negativity and depression and lead happier, more fulfilling lives.  The book offer a series of self evaluation exercises to help us understand our strengths and how we can adjust our view on life to achieve authentic happiness. 

Learned Optimism by Martin E. P. Seligman
The book is based on decades of research in the field of positive psychology.  This powerful book is filled with findings on the power of optimism and pessimism, and the lifestyles one leads when influenced by either.  Seligman sheds light on the source of our learned optimism/pessimism and enlightens us on how to alter our perception.  The self help quiz at the beginning will make you think about your attitude to life’s situations and whether or not you are really an optimist or a pessimist.   

Happiness Habit by Brian Colbert
The Happiness Habit is filled with intriguing insights, engaging stories and remarkably effective exercises that will lead you to a significantly happier life.  Brian Colbert combines wisdom, wit, clarity and practicality in this all encompassing book that will guide you to develop authentic confidence, achieve your goals and become more effective, efficient and successful. If you want to develop your potential, achieve positive results and find greater fulfilment, then allow Brian Colbert to guide you in that direction with The Happiness Habit.

Happier by Tal Ben-Shahar
Tal Ben-Shahar states that happiness is not the top of the mountain; it is in fact, the journey itself through which authentic happiness is found.  The book is full of common sense but it is organised in a legible and structured way, easy for all to understand and apply in their pursuit of meaningful happiness.  The author uses quirky names for each example and a simple easy to follow structure based on research in the field of positive psychology.  Happier is an excellent book with useful exercises, one to refer to over time.  

 

The Happiness Hypothesis by Jonathan Haidt
Jonathan Haidt uses findings in the fields of psychology, neurology and anthropology to assess how we think about the world we live in.  He questions why we direct ourselves to do one thing and our minds do something else and discusses the answer through a simple elephant and rider metaphor.   The book is research heavy but uses wisdom from Greece, India and China to supplement the scientific findings.  Haidt does not offer the answers on a plate instead, he takes apart all aspects of life and organises them logically for the reader to understand.  

The Sedona Method by Hale Dwoskin
The Sedona method originated with New Jersey born Lester Levenson, a man told he had only several weeks to live and decided to change his life, his thinking and his emotional state, only to defy his sentence and live for forty more years.  The Sedona method will teach you how to let go of negative feelings and give you the ability to deal with challenging situations.   This book is filled with real stories depicting through others, how you might be unintentionally sabotaging your success.  You will learn how you can change your emotions from feeling shame, guilt and fear to experiencing joy and happiness. 

How to Stop Worrying and Start Living by Dale Carnegie
How to Stop Worrying and Live your Life is at least 50 years old yet its message is as profound today as it was then.  A great message to take away from this book  is that you can stop worrying if you accept the worst and move on from it, realising that the worst is not that bad. Dale Carnegie, as one of the early thinkers in the field of self help, presents us with useful advice that can be applied effectively and easily to any of our lives. It is presented to us through real examples of his own colleagues and students, making it an uplifting read, once you realise that you are not the only one that worries.