The Happiness Myth: Why What We Think Is Right Is Wrong

This is a smart, clever, and happy-making book. I love books that make you have to stop and think before you can move on to the next chapter. The Happiness Myth has so much going for it, I often had to stop every few pages; the author's wry and uniquely iconoclastic insights kept spinning my mind in entirely new directions. The second reading I gave it freed me up to deeper considerations of my initial reactions of the first reading. And because I read it aloud to my husband, the book gave us many hours of spirited, enthusiatic debate about the breadth and depth of the author's work. Mostly we just found it so freeing; there's so many ways to build a life, live a life and make a life happy in this world. The author makes you realize that if we let go of the constrictions of being a citizen, or product, of one's own small cultural group in time and place, and instead look to the whole wide worldview of what it has meant to be happy in all of time and in the hundreds and hundreds of diverse human cultures, there's enormous potential for happiness for each of us. Do I have any negative critique to offer about this book? Only that I wish there were even more stories, more examples, more dialogue.

Upon a superficial, incomplete, or dogmatic reading of this book, it's easy to dismiss it as yet another issuance of the NY-chattering class. Indeed, its colloquial style, the quick traversals from end-to-end of various facets concepts related the happiness, and the brief pondering of the center (read: moderation) from the left on several issues concerning happiness, make for as many reasons to discount this book. However, should you look for a concise history of our take on happiness, and in effect how happiness is often a rather socially constructed path to whatever ends, then you'll be drawn into reading this book with great interest. Jennifer Michael Hecht (JMH) lines up many a view on happiness round concepts such a s wisdom, drugs, money, bodies, and celebration, from the ancient times to contemporaneity. Along the book, JMF hints only briefly at what might be viewed as her views/position on the above concepts. Some of the post-modern tools (e.g. irony) may even get in the way of any constructivist path to happiness, but this is just a sign of the times and intellectual debts of the author. Be patient though for the [C]onclusion chapter, titled "The Triumph of Experience" shows JMF's share of wisdom about happiness, which I dare summarize as moderation in experience. At a different level, the author seems to indicate that happiness and truth go hand in hand, and even though we may not learn the truth we should definitely be skeptical about the abounding lies that make some happy for a while. In other words, enduring happiness is rather the effect of wisdom. Those seeking a new religion (of happiness, that is), some self-help bullet-point list to happiness, or a survey of the scientific literature on happiness (those studies revealing the increase of some hormone in 10 mice under whatever lab-conditions), and especially those with preconceived ideas on happiness, will be in for a huge disappointment for the author does little to programmatically meet such expectations. All in all, a must read/have book. For the initiated reader (in Stoicism, say), this book is a healthy desert. For the open minded one, this may well be the first step to lasting happiness.

Jennifer Michael-Hecht's book is a pleasure to read and is a great stimulus for discussion. Her research is far-ranging and expertly synthesized giving the reader insights into different eras and varied cultures without the usual wordiness and ponderousness of so much modern scholarship. She reaches some surprising conclusions that are nothing short of fascinating. For example, money can (to some degree) buy happiness. Intuitively we all know this to be true. If put to its proper use, money can make our lives easier, and money can allow us to spend more time doing the things we treasure. Of course, money isn't a requirement for happiness, but it can be a tool for contentment. Also, letting one's hair down on occasion is liberating and exciting. Hecht mysteriously avoids drawing too many conclusions with this insight. I suspect she sees some forms of deviancy as good fun and harmless as long as the significant other is comfortable with the situation. I would have loved more of her analysis on this topic. Hecht's treatment of drugs and alcohol is intriguing. She seems to advocate narcotics as a means to an end, and she doesn't make any value judgments on those who wish to partake. Is this a blanket approval of engaging in such illicit activities? Ah...once again the clever professor decided not to reveal her own personal conclusions. Rather, she lays out the case and leaves it for the reader to decide. Hecht's writing is witty and engaging. I'd love to see her on C-Span's Book TV talking about her writings.

This book was just what I had been searching for. JMH breathes new life into classic historical and philosophical views on the cultural roles that influence the perceived happiness(es) of our time. At times, she is as insightful as a 21st century Emerson. Yes, I made the comparison. This book deserves it. A recommended read for anyone in the continuous process of sculpting their personal life philosophies. Insightful and modern views on age old discussions.

Historian, poet and philosopher, Jennifer Michael Hecht has written expansively on the history of doubt and examined atheism in the context of anthropology in late nineteenth and early twentieth century France. This skeptical theme continues with "The Happiness Myth: Why What We Think Is Right Is Wrong", as Hecht takes a long view of the subject to show that "the basic modern assumptions about how to be happy are nonsense." What are those assumptions? In the chapter on drugs, Hecht reminds us of the widespread use of opiates to treat even the most common of maladies and asks us reconsider the benefits of mood-altering drugs, cautioning, of course, against debilitating addiction. Money, though not a guarantor of happiness, nonetheless stimulates shopping and the gathering of shoppers into malls so that it becomes the "central public pleasure" where we "communicate with each other in the symbolic associational meanings of our ever shifting wardrobes and possessions." Our "cult of the body" Hecht dismisses by observing that "in the context of most of human history, our idea that a good life includes a lot of physical exercise is bizarre." Some people might dismiss the public fascination with dead or missing females such as Princess Diana or Elizabeth Smart as obscene or exploitative, but Hecht, harkening back to the Demeter myth in ancient Greek festivals, counters that because of the lack of regular, public displays of mourning, "People show their mutual grief because they have mutual grief; they show it in these eruptions when there are insufficient ways to show it scheduled into the regular calendar." Hecht's prescriptions for happiness extend from the "core, classic wisdom" which includes self-knowledge, moderation of desires, awareness of ones own worth, and an appreciation for mortality. Her practical advice, however, seems to center around trying new things and greater involvement in community and with others. "The Happiness Myth" ranges widely not only in pursuit of happiness, recalling not only classic philosophers and great humanist thinkers, but also exposes ephemeral, past attempts at happiness by characters like John Harvey Kellogg and fads such as "fletcherizing". This long view allows for a refreshing perspective on our own cultural times and asks us to question whether the goods offered to us to make us happy really do so. For all its wit, erudition and skepticism, "The Happiness Myth" barely stops to question the worth of the pursuit itself or the many, varied levels of happiness, which Hecht simply defines as "feeling good." I have felt good and not been happy, and I have been happy and not felt good. True happiness, for a fully moral and responsible individual, might include actions and states of being which include pain and suffering, but are nonetheless consistent within the ethical framework and self-idealization of the individual. Conversely, to indulge in happiness at the expense of ones most aspired self must, in the lon