Psychology

Stumbling on Happiness

Stumbling on Happiness

  • Downloads：8103
  • Type：Epub+TxT+PDF+Mobi
  • Create Date：2022-10-10 08:55:43
  • Update Date：2025-09-06
  • Status：finish
  • Author：Daniel Todd Gilbert
  • ISBN：0007183135
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Summary

In this fascinating and often hilarious work – winner of the Royal Society of Science Prize 2007 – pre-eminent psychologist Daniel Gilbert shows how – and why – the majority of us have no idea how to make ourselves happy。
We all want to be happy， but do we know how？ When it comes to improving tomorrow at the expense of today， we're terrible at predicting how to please our future selves。

In ‘Stumbling on Happiness’ Professor Daniel Gilbert combines psychology， neuroscience， economics and philosophy with irrepressible wit to describe how the human brain imagines its future – and how well （or badly） it predicts what it will enjoy。 Revealing some of the amazing secrets of human motivation， he also answers thought-provoking questions – why do dining companions order different meals instead of getting what they want？ Why are shoppers happier when they can't get refunds？ And why are couples less satisfied after having children while insisting that their kids are a source of joy？

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Reviews

Sarah ，

3。5 I liked this audiobook in the sense that the author has a great sense of humor that I appreciated。 And the psychological research experiments started out very interesting… but then I just couldn’t take it anymore。 The writing started to feel choppy- I lost the thread （if there ever actually was one） as to how all these experiments and scenarios tied back to happiness。 I don’t need a ton of application and step-by-step instructions in my nonfiction reading， but this one struck me as odd…。Why 3。5 I liked this audiobook in the sense that the author has a great sense of humor that I appreciated。 And the psychological research experiments started out very interesting… but then I just couldn’t take it anymore。 The writing started to feel choppy- I lost the thread （if there ever actually was one） as to how all these experiments and scenarios tied back to happiness。 I don’t need a ton of application and step-by-step instructions in my nonfiction reading， but this one struck me as odd…。Why in the world did they give this book the title， cover， and synopsis they did when it doesn’t at all accurately represent the book？ This is focused far more on general psychological principles than happiness alone， and there’s zero application here。 So I don’t know who this was written for… fellow psychologists or academics （in which case， it’s too broad and simplistic） or the public who want self-help books （in which case， they’re going to be disappointed）。 If the author was going for a Malcolm Gladwell vibe， he could have done it with a different approach， title， and by tightening this up so it focused on specific topics within psychology， rather than somehow trying to make the case that everything he covered somehow ties back to happiness （which I didn’t see and he didn’t explain well， if that was what he was going for）。 I really did like the author’s tone throughout- I think he’s very talented， and I would like to try a more focused effort from him in the future。 。。。more

Kerry ，

An interesting read but not what I thought it was going to be

Alexey Averyanov ，

Мы часто не задумываемся о том， что делаем многие вещи лишь для того， чтобы получить что-то важное для нас потом， а не сейчас - работаем что есть мочи， строим карьеру， берем кредиты， выплачиваем кредиты。。。 Как раз эта， книга и поможет разобраться， почему？

Valerie Ott ，

The Happiness Advantage was better。

Ricardo Carriedo ，

First and last chapters are five stars。 The rest of the book is too scientific for me and repetitive。 This book could be an extraordinary 45 min podcast。

Michael G ，

It became a bit redundant of a read near the end。 Although the writing initially drew me in， it truly is just a PSYC 101 recap。 Very interesting in what experiments were brought up and used， though。

Ahmed ，

Book in a nutshell: To know how you will feel when subjected to any experience， Ask others about their current experiences。 Imaging Future or recalling past provides incorrect conclusions。

Adhitya Veeraraghavan ，

Fabulous。 Engaging and humorous。 You’ll know yourself and your mind better by the end of this book。

Justin ，

Ok… so to start off， I want to clarify what one should expect when reading this book。 “Stumbling on” happiness is not referring to the meaning of stumbling equivalent to “discovery”。 It refers to the meaning equivalent to “erring”。 So thus， this book doesn’t discuss the process of finding happiness， but rather how we have “stumbled on” （or misconstrued） the idea of happiness。This is important because my expectations of this book were that it would be akin to the former。 In fact， throughout the e Ok… so to start off， I want to clarify what one should expect when reading this book。 “Stumbling on” happiness is not referring to the meaning of stumbling equivalent to “discovery”。 It refers to the meaning equivalent to “erring”。 So thus， this book doesn’t discuss the process of finding happiness， but rather how we have “stumbled on” （or misconstrued） the idea of happiness。This is important because my expectations of this book were that it would be akin to the former。 In fact， throughout the entirety of this book， I felt a strong sense of dissatisfaction。 80% of it is Gilbert bringing up various scientific studies about why we simply cannot predict our own happiness。 There are multiple digressions into the nature of human psychology。 And for most of the book， I felt extremely bored by the monotony of these facts。The exciting bit for me comes in his last section of “Corrigibility”， when everything begins to be put together。 In this section， Gilbert finally mentions a method of accurately predicting our own happiness。 And it was in this section that I FINALLY understood the title “Stumbling on Happiness” and what it actually meant。 I initially intended to give this book three stars because I simply did not enjoy it until this last section because my expectations were wildly off from what the book would actually cover。 I gave it that additional star for cleverness and the idea that I may read this book again in the future。 And I am unable to accurately pinpoint the pleasure it will bring me then。 。。。more

Rahul ，

It was okay， but could be summarized as a 10 page blog post perhaps。

Mr Mike ，

Fascinating book。 It makes you think about how you think， and in doing so， how others think。 Well， at least to some degree。

Ryan Miller ，

Extremely entertaining and informative。 What sets this book apart from other reports on happiness studies are Daniel Gilbert’s prose， which is clear and carries just the right level of humor， without falling to condescension or pandering for laughs。 Most of this book explains why we as humans do not accurately forecast our own happiness， which is interesting， if not fatalistic。 At the end， Gilbert gives some advice， but warns that we won’t take it。 The advice？ Use others as surrogates to find ou Extremely entertaining and informative。 What sets this book apart from other reports on happiness studies are Daniel Gilbert’s prose， which is clear and carries just the right level of humor， without falling to condescension or pandering for laughs。 Most of this book explains why we as humans do not accurately forecast our own happiness， which is interesting， if not fatalistic。 At the end， Gilbert gives some advice， but warns that we won’t take it。 The advice？ Use others as surrogates to find out how happy they felt in situations， rather than simply imagining how we think we would feel。 We don’t do this because we tend to think more highly of ourselves than we think of others， or at least believe that we are more different than others than we may be。 So we discount others’ experiences， especially if they don’t match our imagination， and we lose any chance we had of accurately predicting future happiness。 。。。more

Cesar Gandara ，

I really enjoyed this book， every chapter left a lasting impression and I loved the ending。 I understand the author describes this book as "the opposite of a self-help book"， but I was able to gain a lot of understanding about myself and the people around me。 I have read a few books with little bits and pieces of what makes people happy， but none go quite as in-depth as this book does。 I love it！ Thank you。 I really enjoyed this book， every chapter left a lasting impression and I loved the ending。 I understand the author describes this book as "the opposite of a self-help book"， but I was able to gain a lot of understanding about myself and the people around me。 I have read a few books with little bits and pieces of what makes people happy， but none go quite as in-depth as this book does。 I love it！ Thank you。 。。。more

Mskychick ，

Stopped reading at 59% （Chapter 9）。 I didn’t think I was learning enough to warrant the continued time to read and finish this book。 Recommended from The Science of Wellbeing online class from Dr。 Laurie Santos at Yale。

Cosmin ，

This book is good，i mean information based，i learned a lot of new things about how i and my brain works and also how to improve myself。Over all，I’ll recommend it。

Vinay Kumar ，

What else one can expect than a delivery of truth packed with perfect sense of humor。

Kimberly Good ，

Wasn’t really planning on the science of why we delude ourselves and which scenarios are more appropriate for doing so。 Choc full of fun and interesting facts。 Maybe I missed the part about happiness。

CharlieRoth ，

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers。 To view it， click here。 There was a lot of fluff。Interesting point on how we view happiness - with our imagination。 But our imagination is flawed - so ask someone else。I would more say this book was how our imagination makes us unhappy - seems to really drive home ignorance is bliss。

Vince Snow ，

One cannot divine nor forecast the conditions that will make happiness; one only stumbles upon them by chance， in a lucky hour， at the world's end somewhere， and hold fast to the days。。。Willa Cather Accurately predicting the mid-long term future was not something human evolution selected for。 Humans have any number of biases that prevent us from seeing accurate views of the world。 The book is purposefully anti-prescriptive。 The closest thing he gives to advice is this: If you want to know if a gi One cannot divine nor forecast the conditions that will make happiness; one only stumbles upon them by chance， in a lucky hour， at the world's end somewhere， and hold fast to the days。。。Willa Cather Accurately predicting the mid-long term future was not something human evolution selected for。 Humans have any number of biases that prevent us from seeing accurate views of the world。 The book is purposefully anti-prescriptive。 The closest thing he gives to advice is this: If you want to know if a given thing will make you happy， ask someone who is like you who has done that thing if it made them happy。 This is one I would like to re-read。 It was a fun read and the writing was punchy。 words:Svelte: （of a person） slender and elegant Prophylactic: intended to prevent diseaseGossamer: a fine， filmy substance consisting of cobwebs spun by small spiders， seen especially in autumn。Gustatory: concerned with tasting or the sense of tasteSenescence: the condition or process of deterioration with age。Turpitudes: depravity; wickedness 。。。more

Jennifer Margolian ，

interesting findings

Camille ，

Audio， read by the authorEnjoyed this one！

Kathryn ，

A book with no real point to make， although the smirky author seems to think he has a lot to say about nothing。

Bimal Kumar ，

Good

Hosein ，

نسخه نشر تالیف با ترجمه سمیه خانلری و حسین خانلری جزو بدترین ترجمه هایی بود که تو عمرم دیدم。 اصلا قابل خوندن نیست و بیشتر از 20-30 صفحه نتونستم ادامه بدم。 فکر خریدنشم نکنید。 به معنای واقعی افتضاح و فاجعست。لازم به ذکره که از کیفیت ترجمه نشر درسا که فعلا چاپ تمومه و نتونستم پیداش کنم اطلاعی ندارم。

John Angelella ，

Decent。 The book elucidates a lot of psychological facts about how we view and interact with the past， present， and future yet loosely connects them to the topic of happiness。

Aniket Bhor ，

There have been very few books that are scientific in nature， attempting to answer the most important questions of being alive， and yet are surprisingly hilarious like this one。 Thoroughly enjoyed。

Peyton Gibson ，

I liked that this book was more focused on the human brain and the psychological "hurdles" to happiness rather than the junk books selling happiness that have become more and more common。 However， I have two major gripes with this book。 1） Half of the book is （sometimes poorly） regurgitated academic lab studies that are somewhat unconvincingly extrapolated to the human condition。 Some of the descriptions of the recounted studies were so convoluted that I had to read them multiple times to unders I liked that this book was more focused on the human brain and the psychological "hurdles" to happiness rather than the junk books selling happiness that have become more and more common。 However， I have two major gripes with this book。 1） Half of the book is （sometimes poorly） regurgitated academic lab studies that are somewhat unconvincingly extrapolated to the human condition。 Some of the descriptions of the recounted studies were so convoluted that I had to read them multiple times to understand。 I'll give this gripe somewhat of a pass， though， as this style of writing （i。e。 recreating academic literature for general consumption） was just gaining popularity 15 years ago in 2006 when the book was released。 2） It is often painfully obvious when a book is written by a "prestigious" ivy leaguer-- this one is no exception and there were plenty of cringeworthy paragraphs。 The conceit and privilege from the author （like many of his peers） oozes off of almost every page。 I think the real kicker for me， and where I almost gave up on the book because I just couldn't stand the author， was when he riffed SCHINDLER'S LIST for feigning sympathy （or some similar ridiculous notion that I'm not going to bother looking up）。 。。。more

Sarah ，

Didn't get very far into this book。 It just didn't catch my interest。 Didn't get very far into this book。 It just didn't catch my interest。 。。。more

Jaclyn ，

I enjoyed this immensely！ A well researched book that looks at how we plan for the future and how we can be so wrong in our predictions about what will make us happy。 Full of scientific studies yet really accessible and a fun read。

Duckoffimreading ，

This took me way to long to finish for as short as a book as it is。 I got the gist in the first 20%: we are terrible at forecasting what will make is happy。 We don’t really know until we do it…。society tells us that marriage， kids， money will make us happy - and while sometimes elements of those things will， we will hardly be happy all the time。 Our brains usually overestimate how much joy something will bring us， so literally， happiness isn’t something we can actively achieve - we just stumble This took me way to long to finish for as short as a book as it is。 I got the gist in the first 20%: we are terrible at forecasting what will make is happy。 We don’t really know until we do it…。society tells us that marriage， kids， money will make us happy - and while sometimes elements of those things will， we will hardly be happy all the time。 Our brains usually overestimate how much joy something will bring us， so literally， happiness isn’t something we can actively achieve - we just stumble across what leaves us content。 。。。more

Reference

google book https://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&q=Stumbling on Happiness

hathitrust digital library https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/ls?q1=Stumbling on Happiness&field1=ocr&a=srchls&ft=ft&lmt=ft

The British Library https://bll01.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/search?query=any,contains,Stumbling on Happiness&tab=LibraryCatalog&search_scope=Not_BL_Suppress&vid=44BL_INST:BLL01&lang=en&offset=0