The Happiness Hypothesis

Publisher's Summary

The best-selling author of The Righteous Mind draws on philosophical wisdom and scientific research to show how the meaningful life is closer than you think.

The Happiness Hypothesis is an audiobook about ten Great Ideas. Each chapter is an attempt to savor one idea that has been discovered by several of the world's civilizations - to question it in light of what we now know from scientific research, and to extract from it the lessons that still apply to our modern lives and illuminate the causes of human flourishing.

Award-winning psychologist Jonathan Haidt, the author of The Righteous Mind, shows how a deeper understanding of the world's philosophical wisdom and its enduring maxims - like "do unto others as you would have others do unto you", or "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger" - can enrich and even transform our lives.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

©2006 Jonathan Haidt (P)2018 Hachette Audio

Critic Reviews

"An erudite, fluently written, stimulating reassessment of age-old issues." (Publishers Weekly)

"The Happiness Hypothesis...has more to say about the pleasures and perils, the truths, of being alive than any book I've read in a long time." (San Francisco Bay Guardian)

"[T]he psychologist Jonathan Haidt shows in his wonderfully smart and readable The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom [that] modern science and history have a lot to say to each other." (Darrin McMahon, The Washington Post)

Awesome book, poor performance

Incredibly well-researched book, compelling arguments, perhaps at times a little bit too self-assured but definitely very valuable for our times and extremely common-sensical. Would have enjoyed much much much more had the performance caught any of the humor and irony obvious in the tone of the writer and sadly completely absent in this monotonous reading... so, a much better read than a “hear”, too bad. Still, I listened to the whole thing and am the better for having gained the knowledge in this book.

37 of 38 people found this review helpful

I feel happier already

I really enjoyed the way this book chose a few main topics to focus on from ancient ideas, then brought forth evidence for or against these ideas from scientific literature. Haidt is truly brilliant and I could stop and think about every few sentences in his writing and get so much out of it. I’m sure I will keep listening to this one in the future.

13 of 13 people found this review helpful

Amazing & Beneficial - A Must Have!

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this book when I first purchased it, but considering the fact that I highly enjoyed another book that was co-authored by Haidt I decided to give this book a try and am so glad that I did! Not only was this an intriguing book that continuously gave rich information about the mind and how people’s view of the world matters, it also broke down complicated subjects in a way that allowed me to follow along easily and thus reap the benefits of this book’s message. I actually have already listened to it twice and will be going for a third round after finishing a few others.

This book is without a doubt one of my new favorites because of the life-changing advice I was able to absorb, not to mention the fact that it was a delight to get through because of the entertaining way such advice is presented to the reader/listener by the author.

7 of 7 people found this review helpful

A message our divided culture needs

This is one of the most fair-minded and intellectually honest books I have read. The author does an excellent job of laying out his thesis without ever becoming dogmatic or didactic. The content is well researched and academically sound yet engaging and easy to read. Throughout the book, Jonathan Haidt hits the nail on the head again and again and again.

6 of 6 people found this review helpful

The origins of "The Righteous Mind"

I first read Haidt's "The Righteous Mind" and so this book goes over much of what he goes into further detail in that book. Given this, I think this book is likely an easier beginning to the ideas more developed in "The Righteous Mind." Overall fascinating ideas, and it's exciting to see the current and ongoing development(s) between science and religion. This book is a taster of Haidt and other moral psychological insights, and then his later book is a home run, in a sense. After reading both this and his other book I no longer really viewed things in what I now perceive to be a weird 'religious' vs. 'secular' mindset. I now think of almost all human group activity in a wider range, so that any radical group behavior, secular or religious, takes on the term 'fundamentalist' or 'radical,' among other useful ways of viewing the problems and limits in any perspective (and specifically the very heated US political Republican vs. Democrat positions). I now find myself in a spot in which I am pretty moderate with a libertarian flare, without agreeing fully with a lot of various policy issues (more so thinking that living personally in a libertarian manner promotes more self-respect and choice, but understanding that many libertarian policies may in actuality just be bad... this gets into Haidt's great distinction between useful and often correct personal intuitions in interpersonal relations but that on the scale of policy trusting intuitions is often terrible and has bad results).

In short: read or listen to this book and Haidt's following book, "The Righteous Mind," and (hopefully) expand your mind and worldview a bit further beyond limited partisanship and tribalism.

14 of 16 people found this review helpful

Thorough and easy to follow concepts

Very insightful and well presented ..definitely increased my awareness of links between ideologies I once considered in isolation

6 of 7 people found this review helpful

Nailed it!

Might be the best single book that I've read on the way to a happy life.

This book brings together some of the best time-tested ancient wisdom and weighs it against the most current and compelling scientific research relating to happiness; sometimes supporting it, sometimes overturning it, sometimes modifying and expanding on it.

Contrary to what many believe, science does have a great deal to say on some of life's biggest moral and philosophical questions, as this book reveals with refreshing clarity.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Great book

I read along with the audio book and this book gave me such create insights into creating a richer more fulfilling life. The author digs Into many subjects for creating happiness but the formula is the most simple and effective to apply.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Could have been great.

This is an extremely good book for the first eight chapters. Unfortunately, starting in chapter 9 this atheist author decides to take a stab at explaining God. Instead of it supporting the overarching thesis of the book, it comes off as a blind man trying to explain color. And his perspective on people's political ideologies is comedically elementary. Such a shame. Such a waste.

11 of 21 people found this review helpful

Shots of intrigue to wet your mind’s lips

Overall this was a very insightful book with many tidbits of information. Haidt does a remarkable job linking many concepts and theories from different disciplines. This is a heavy subject which involves some advanced understanding of the topic. If you’re relatively green to the subject matter, some of what he talks about may be difficult to grasp. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and recommend it to anyone who’s got a tamed elephant and an open rider. The narrator was a little dry (hence the 4 stars)

deeps your understanding of yourself and others

I knew most of what this book was putting forward but to hear it all together and explained as the rider and the elephant really helped put this into context of understand the behaviour of myself and others.

Great content. a shame not narrated by author

Great content. a little academic at times, but worth a read /listen for sure if you are interested in human psychology and how we operate. A pity it was not read by the author as the tempo of the narrator sometimes didn't flow with the text. A very balanced approach...

Worth a read

To sum this book up I’d say: it was interesting but also boring at times.

Good but not what I expected

It started greatly, with beautiful scientific and/or psychological explanations.... But it took an unexpected turn into religion and spirituality, that I think didn't need so much stress on. Or maybe I haven't understood the message yet.
Great book nevertheless, and great author.