The Happiness Experiment: A Revolutionary Way to Increase Happiness

by Carl B. Barney

Overview

Are you ready to take control of your future, significantly increase your own happiness, and transform lives?

 

After a terrifying brush with death, entrepreneur and philanthropist Carl Barney created the innovative idea of “pre-quests” or Happiness Grants—inheritances provided to the grantees while the grantor was still alive.   

     When he decided to give these grants to twenty friends, the Happiness Experiment was born. The experiment provided a deeply meaningful and fulfilling way for Carl Barney to use his wealth to enhance his own life and the lives of those he cared about. And now heshows how you can do this too.

     The Happiness Experiment describes how the recipients reacted to their grants and how their lives were changed forever . . . along with their perspectives on what true happiness means. The book also reveals how to

• discover your core values to achieve happiness,

• use deliberate planning to find your purpose, 

• determine what brings you real joy and fulfillment,

• create a step-by-step plan to increase your happiness.

     Through a groundbreaking process of Happiness Planning, Happiness Coaching, and Happiness Grants, The Happiness Experiment provides a completely new way to intensify your happiness and change lives.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9798886452891
Publisher:	Greenleaf Book Group Press
Publication date:	07/08/2025
Pages:	300
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Carl B. Barney is a successful educational entrepreneur and philanthropist known for his

commitment to advancing rational philosophy. He is an autodidact, a self-taught, lifelong learner in a range of subjects focusing on philosophy, psychology, and management. His leadership and business strategies are influenced by his admiration for Aristotle and Ayn Rand, particularly Rand’s philosophy of Objectivism, which Carl regards as the “philosophy for success.”

     In 2014, he founded the Prometheus Foundation, which promotes rational philosophy and helps others discover and benefit from the principles that have shaped his success. He has served on the boards of several influential organizations, including the Ayn Rand Institute, the Clemson Institute for the Study of Capitalism, and the Cato Institute.

     Carl B. Barney’s life and work are a testament to his belief in the transformative power of education and philosophy. Through his leadership, writings, and philanthropic initiatives, he continues to influence the cultural landscape, fostering enlightenment and success among individuals eager to learn and flourish.

Editorial Reviews

2025-05-14
Barney, a successful educational entrepreneur and founder of the Prometheus Foundation, tells how a near-death experience led him to investigate what happiness is and how to achieve it.

The author opens his book with an account of when he was a passenger on a Delta Airlines flight in which an engine exploded shortly after takeoff from Reno, Nevada. Eerie silence ensued, and the author’s thoughts turned toward his loved ones, and his gratitude that they were in his will. He envisioned them in a “formal, cold meeting,” he says, listening as his last will and testament was read to them by an attorney. Thinking about this grim scene, he realized that he “didn’t like this picture one bit. There had to be a better way”; he wanted to see the most important people in his life “experience the pleasure and happiness” of his bequests while he was still alive. He then shares how he created and conducted what he ultimately coins the “Happiness Experiment,” in which he offered money—not bequests, but what he calls “pre-quests”—to his loved ones with explicit directions that they work with a Happiness Coach and create a Happiness Plan; this, he says, would ensure that they spend their funds in ways that bring them true joy. With each pre-quest, he revised his ideas about joy, ultimately learning that “the way to achieve real, lasting happiness is through values and virtues.” Backed by the author’s own expertise in Aristotelian thought and his work in education, this book clearly provides readers with intriguing concepts about happiness, taking off from the notion that “few people take enough time to think about what would make them happier [and] few intentionally create a plan to pursue it.” The “Lives Transformed” portion, which shows the impact that his experiment had on his loved ones’ lives, is particularly compelling. Throughout, the author’s inclusion of conversations with his business partner makes his thoughts easy to follow. An accompanying workbook and pre-quest guide effectively provide further explanation and an action plan.

A fresh take on well-being with clear, easy-to-follow self-help elements.

Kirkus Reviews