Haidt's book was engaging. I read it as a personal reminder to continue to meditate regularly. Fortunately, it delivered on so many other levels. The mixture of positive psychology, science, and "ancient advice" was a joy to read.

Apparently the title appeals to total strangers too. I was reading this book on a bus when a man sitting a few rows ahead of me stood up, walked back to my seat, and asked me to elaborate on whether or not I thought he should read it. He commented that the title grabbed his attention. At any rate, I felt like I finished the book too quickly. I'm looking forward to reading more of Haidt's material in the future.

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"This is a book about ten Great Ideas. Each chapter is an attempt to savor one idea of [ancient wisdom] that has been discovered by several of the world's civilizations--to question it in light of what we now know from [modern psychological] research, and to extract from it the lessons that still apply to our modern lives."

The above is found in the introduction to this illuminating book by social psychologist and Associate Professor of Psychology Jonathan Haidt.

In order to appreciate this book, you have to understand the meaning of the word "hypothesis." A hypothesis is any statement or assumption that serves as a tentative explanation of certain facts. In this book's case, the facts are what the ancients have said about happiness and Haidt forms his hypothesis based on these ancient facts, then applies it to modern life.

I will give a general outline of the entire book. Chapters (1 and 2) deal with how the mind works. Chapters (3 and 4) are concerned with how we can get along with others. Finding happiness is the theme of chapters (5 and 6). The idea behind chapters (7 and 8) is how to grow psychologically and morally while chapters (9 and 10) deal with finding purpose and meaning in our lives. The last chapter presents the author's surprisingly brief conclusion concerning happiness.

Haidt does a good job of showing that "the insights of ancient [wisdom] and of modern [psychology] are both needed to reach a full understanding of human nature and the conditions [for] human [happiness]." Every page gives insight about the good life and where to look for it.

Finally, I did find some problems with this book, the main two being the following:

(1) The author advocates the use of the drug Prozac. A conscientious doctor once stated that "every drug stresses and hurts your body in some way." Thus, I would be very, very careful with this recommendation.

(2) Sometimes, Haidt uses absolute statements. For example, "we are ultra-social creatures." I found these statements somewhat irritating.

In conclusion, I found this book to be a good investigation into the psychology of understanding life and happiness!!

(first published 2006; introduction; 11 chapters; main narrative 245 pages; notes; references; index)

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