Happiness: The Science Behind Your Smile

by Daniel Nettle

Overview

Everybody wants it. But what exactly is happiness? The pursuit of happiness has been recognized by everyone from poets to politicians as what makes the world go round. The world's largest and fastest-growing industries - alcohol, pharmaceuticals, mind altering drugs, self-help books, counselling, travel and tourism - all profit heavily from our intent to become completely happy with our lives. In the first comprehensive book to address this most basic of human desires, Daniel Nettle explores why we want to be happy, how we assess our levels of happiness, and the different ways that happiness is interpreted in different cultures. Using statistical information from the National Child Development Study, a project that has collected social and emotional data from thousands of people since 1958, Nettle shows the ways in which definitions and sources of happiness have changed over time.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780191604744
Publisher:	OUP Oxford
Publication date:	05/12/2005
Series:	The Science Behind Your Smile
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Daniel Nettle is Lecturer in Biological Psychology at the Open University. As well as specialist in scholarly and scientific articles, he is author of three OUP books, Vanishing Voices (with Suzanne Romaine), Linguistic Diversity, and Strong Imagination: Madness, Creativity, and Human Nature. Vanishing Voices was winner of the BAAL prize for 2001, and was described by The New Yorker as 'a superb study of endangered languages'. Strong Imagination was described as 'a fascinating, pithy little book' (Sunday Times), giving 'a critical survey of current psychiatric knowledge that is as good an overview as is available from any source' (Times Literary Supplement).

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• 1: Comfort and Joy
• 2: Bread and Circuses
• 3: Love and Work
• 4: Worries and Enthusiasts
• 5: Wanting and Liking
• 6: Placebos and panaceas
• 7: A Design for Living
• References

Editorial Reviews

"Provocative.... The author unearths a few everyday characteristics shared by people who say they are happy, including good health, a feeling of autonomy, and social connectiveness. To that list, one might add browsing through this thought-provoking book."—O: The Oprah Magazine

"Buy the couch or go for the resort vacation? Scientists around the world have explored such questions to learn what makes the human animal happy. In 'Happiness,' Daniel Nettle translates recent studies on brain systems, dopamine, anti-depressants, hallucinogens and the marketing of happiness.... He also quotes Nathaniel Hawthorne: 'Happiness is like a butterfly which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.'"—Los Angeles Times

"The glib, pop-psych title of biological psychologist Daniel Nettle's book belies a provocative argument: Our unending quests for life's big and little perks—a new iPod, a tenured professorship—have little or no impact on our happiness. Most of Happiness is devoted to assailing popular myths about happiness.... But, as if to compensate for reducing these assumptions to ashes, Nettle presents an unexpected jewel: Understanding the irrational characteristics of happiness makes it easier to manipulate ourselves into being happy."—San Francisco Chronicle

"For your summertime science reading, there's Daniel Nettle's 'Happiness: The Science Behind Your Smile'.... Nettle picks through the latest research in psychology, psychiatry and philosophy to tell us who the happiest people are around the world and why; how negative thoughts served evolving humans; and how the brain systems behind emotions and moods really work."—los Angeles Times Book Review

"In this enjoyable, thought-provoking book, Nettle digs into the subject with great insight and just a bit of cheeky irreverence.... With absolute clarity and admirable brevity, Nettle explores the pursuit of happiness and, happily, makes good sense of it all."—Publishers Weekly

"Nettle's presentation of evolutionary, societal, and brain chemistry-related forces that influence how we define and try to achieve greater happiness makes for a thought-provoking read." —Library Journal

"From page one, Nettle takes a commanding, level-headed approach to his subject, turning out accessible cleverness and even intermittent cheekiness. Nettle recognizes the prevailing backbone of happiness—our constant need to outdo and out-consume—as a fairly sizable sham. And he predicts our perception of happiness is so closely tied to competition with others that there will always be a disparity between what we have and what we think we want."—Ottawa Citizen

"Engagingly and accessibly written."—Buffalo News

From the Publisher