The Progress Paradox

How Life Gets Better While People Feel Worse

By: Gregg Easterbrook

Narrated by: Jonathan Marosz

Length: 11 hrs and 13 mins

Publisher's summary

In The Progress Paradox, Gregg Easterbrook draws upon three decades of wide-ranging research and thinking to make the persuasive assertion that almost all aspects of Western life have vastly improved in the past century; and yet today, most men and women feel less happy than in previous generations. Why this is so and what we should do about it is the subject of this book.

Between contemporary emphasis on grievances and the fears engendered by 9/11, today it is common to hear it said that life has started downhill, or that our parents had it better. But objectively, almost everyone in today's United States or European Union lives better than his or her parents did.

Still, studies show that the percentage of the population that is happy has not increased in fifty years, while depression and stress have become ever more prevalent. The Progress Paradox explores why ever-higher living standards don't seem to make us any happier. Detailing the emerging science of "positive psychology," which seeks to understand what causes a person's sense of well-being, Easterbrook offers an alternative to our culture of crisis and complaint. He makes a compelling case that optimism, gratitude and acts of forgiveness not only make modern life more fulfilling but are actually in our self-interest.

Seemingly insoluble problems of the past, such as crime in New York City and smog in Los Angeles, have proved more tractable than they were thought to be. Likewise, today's "impossible" problems, such as global warming and Islamic terrorism, can be tackled, too.

Like The Tipping Point, this book offers an affirming and constructive way of seeing the world anew. The Progress Paradox will change the way you think about your place in the world, and about our collective ability to make it better.

©2003 Gregg Easterbrook (P)2003 Books On Tape, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Easterbrook...writes nothing that is not brilliant." (Chicago Tribune)

"Easterbrook is perhaps the finest general science writer in the country." (Forbes)

"Easterbrook...is a serious author with serious points to make." (The New York Times)

"This is an important, timely, and well-reasoned book that is sure to have people talking." (Booklist)

Full of contradictions

This book is full of statistics, yet criticizes others for using statistics to make their points. Its argument is uninteresting and unimportant.

Get down off the soapbox, please!

I wish I would have read the other reader reviews first. It would have saved me the sad experience of wading through the extended opening of statistical recitation only to get harangued by the author's personal viewpoints. It's not that I necessarily disagree with the author's sense of morality--but I certainly did not buy the book to be subjected to an accusational political diatribe. Stay away from this book, unless you like being preached to.

Nothing New...

If you are already a "righty" and believe in unfettered "free-markets" then there is nothing new in this book for you. If you think more like a "lefty" and believe there are social issues that need to be addressed, then you will find yourself arguing with almost every sentence you hear, questioning Mr. Easterbrook? motives in writing the book. If you're just looking for a book to fulfill your monthly subscription quota, then just pick another one. It is a pointless book.

Saving Lives

The title of this book should really be saving lives. Really what is the world's facination with saving lives? Is that our main function here, to clean up the mess someone else created? The author's conclusion at the end of a long laundry list of how much better we are doing is that to be happier we should give all this money to poor people so they're not as poor anymore. Hmmmm, I'm not quite sure that is the reason we are unhappy. I'm not very happy because my potential is rotting away because our system isn't set up to recognize and use it. Our world should be obessed with giving people what they want within a general purpose of positive progress...the first thing on my mind isn't how another country can't respect it's environment and grow within it's means. They need to take responsibility and say no, I'm sorry you can't have a family because our resources can't provide. But because of some apparent "right" that everyone is born with to birth children, everyone gets to suffer. Problems are a result of bad design. The author didn't mention this at all. I did enjoy information on how we are doing better, but his conclusions were all wrong. Our society should be able to build acording to our abilities. We are evolutionary beings, our first purpose was to grow and develop...once we reaffirm that purpose and get back on track, you will see happiness soar.