The Happiness Project: Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Hav

To paraphrase a song, "Where you end usually depends on where you start." I find it hard to believe that those of us in the 99 percent could get a book deal out of such thin gruel. It's full of references to her research, much of it in popular magazines. In college we referred to that as a literature review, not research. It's chirpy and not incredibly challenging if that is what you are looking for. There are several histories of happiness on this site which might leave you with more of a sense of accomplishment upon completion.

This is a good book, I’d recommend. Again this is her experience on the “happiness project” take what you want from her experience. I love my new 12 commandments. I would definitely reread this book. Made me cry, happy, appreciated, etc. 💖

I don't know that I'd be friends with Gretchen if I met her on the street. She's way too much into cleaning out closets while I'm working hard to "artfully clutter" my entire apartment. There were quite a few moments during this book that I really felt like I didn't connect with the author/main character. But she set herself due dates, designed this huge project, and she stuck with it. And that's impressive!

I knew that this book would be a good read--The Happiness Project blog is consistently compelling, colorful and thought-provoking--but I was dubious that it would have a major effect on me. Read a book and get happier? It's not like happiness is something you can order up, like a pizza, right? But as it turns out, this book has been a complete eye opener. Gretchen Rubin's thoughtful exploration of happiness research, lively prose on her own efforts to achieve bliss and ideas for everyday, do-able actions really can transform the way you view happiness and your potential to achieve it. I have been feeling happier and less stressed since reading her book and putting a bunch of her tactics into play. As I type this, I am eyeballing the little post-it I have put up on my computer on which I wrote out a quote from the book: "The days are long, but the years are short." The Happiness Project is filled with similarly inspiring thoughts. It motivated me to clear out household clutter, a major energy suck (my kids' playroom is now in some semblance of order for the first time in seven years); find pockets of time for pleasure in my day (I've started writing and crocheting again); and "spend out" (actually using too-precious items like real silverware or fancy notepaper instead of perpetually saving them). These bitty examples don't do the book justice; it is packed with gems, big and small. There is so much to absorb, in fact, that I am planning to go back and read the book a second time (and I don't have a whole lot of time to read books, let alone read the same one twice). Gretchen Rubin's book is a tour de (bliss) force.

I've been reading Gretchen's blog for two years, and pre-ordered this book the first day it was available. It finally arrived, and I was a bit worried at first... Would I be disappointed? (A lot of bloggers are better at shorter format than full books.) Would I learn to sing in the morning and "fight right"? (I wasn't crazy about either idea.) Would $14.03 make me happy? (Maybe not, but it was worth a shot.) The verdict arrived almost right away: I'm so glad I bought and read this book. It's philosophical without being overly-intellectual, funny without being silly, and practical without being preachy. "The Happiness Project" deserves to go out to a wide audience, and I'm glad to see it's well underway to bestseller status. You'll be glad you spent the $14.03, or whatever it costs by the time you read this.

This book is part memoir, part thinking person's self-help book. I like the fact that it draws not only on recent research in the new field of positive psychology, such as the work of Martin Seligman, but on the wisdom of thinkers as disparate as Samuel Butler and the ancient Stoic philosopher, Seneca. Many wonderful and wise quotations are included in the text. Gretchen Rubin has done a lot of research and reading, and distilled it all here, attempting to answer some vital questions. Is it possible to become a happier person? Is happiness a meaningful and worthwhile goal? She comes to the conclusion that while we may have a happiness set point, and a great deal of our mood is--researchers believe-- determined by heredity (50% or so), to some degree it is under own control (perhaps 30%). It may seem that someone who is not suffering from a painful mood disorder should be focused on other (more worthwhile?) goals than mood elevation. But happiness, after all, is something just about every human being wants, the goal that motivates much of our day to day striving. And rather than suggesting a life of self-centered hedonism, research indicates that the very factors that make for a meaningful life--good relationships, acting in a loving and generous way, engaging creatively with the world--contribute to happiness. Will revamping your life and taking a systematic approach to seeking happiness work? Research indicates that it may. "I really am happier," says Rubin after a year of following through on her own personal happiness plan. She goes into enough specific detail here about how she got to her more happy state that I have no trouble believing her. Very responsibly, Rubin points out that her intent is to help people who are well become happier, not to treat a medical condition, i.e., depression. I can imagine her book, however, being an aid for those who are mildly depressed, perhaps as an adjunct to medical treatment, though perhaps they need to be a bit easy on themselves and not follow the plan in a perfectionist, pressured way. I'm with Rubin when she says that even though we are all very different, learning about someone else's successes and failures can be a better catalyst for change than studying ideas in the abstract. She is generous about revealing the details of her own life--her own "happiness project." What is most transferable is not the specifics--particular actions she decided to experiment with in order to become more happy--but the idea of identifying potential sources of joy, designing steps to take to become happier, making monthly resolutions, carrying through and being accountable--i.e., quantifying the results. The average reader is not going to be as thorough and focused as Rubin was--but in my view that does not negate the value of this book. I'm into progress, I guess, and I believe that even a couple of changes modeled on the plan could make a difference in people's lives. The book is written