Behavioral Sciences Books

Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions

Dan Ariely

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 135 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Figure Out People By Identifying Patterns 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

In writing and speaking on the subject of human behavior, I often remind people the secret to dealing with a person's explosive anger. Although the anger may be unexplainable, the explosions are quite predictable.

Such is the framework of a relatively new discipline called behavioral economics, which is featured in Dan Ariely's book, "Predictably Irrational-The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions." Where standard economics presumes humans to be rational beings, Dan Ariely and the theory of behavioral economics portend we are not only fundamentally irrational, but that we make the same mistakes over and over.

Ariely has plenty of fascinating research to back up his claims, including information on procrastination, a suggestive language technique called priming, a marketing technique referred to as "decoy pricing" and why, as a society, we steal from our own employers.

Stealing is a crime, so it's especially intriguing to learn that it's easier for most people to justify stealing when the pilfered item is one step removed from cash such as supplies.

Employee-related theft and fraud in the workplace costs American businesses around $600 billion annually. By comparison, all robberies, burglaries, larceny and auto theft cost about $16 billion in 2004.

There's a name for what people do when they buy clothes, wear them and then return the garments for a refund. It's a type of stealing called "wardrobing" and it costs retailers $16 billion per year.

This information has far-reaching consequences. The author is convinced that our irrational consumer spending habits can errantly convince someone that he is affluent.

Noting that Americans regard uniqueness as a positive character trait, Ariely notes that people with a need for uniqueness are sometimes willing to sacrifice personal utility for "reputational" utility.

One might think the concept of predictable irrationality to be rather depressing, but the author offers many suggestions for improving our situation, including self-control credit cards and a program called, "save more tomorrow," that allows employees to save a percentage of future salary raises.

It seems as though Ariely performs the bulk of his research on college students, who one might argue are even more irrational and less predictable than the rest of us.

"Predictably Irrational" is read by the Simon Jones in his great British accent. Socrates said, "The unexamined life is not worth living." Marketers, business owners and anyone who examines human behavior will find this book a very worthwhile read. -Michael Angelo Caruso, www.EdisonHouse.com.

The Anxiety & Phobia Workbook, Fourth Edition

Edmund J. Bourne

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Total reviews: 104 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Since its first edition in 1990, The Anxiety and Phobia Workbook has sold more than 600,000 copies. Its engaging exercises and worksheets have helped millions of readers make real progress in overcoming problems with anxiety and phobic disorders. The Authoritative Guide to Self-Help Resources in Mental Health (Norcross, et al., 2003) gave the book its highest rating and praised it as "a highly regarded and widely known resource." Thousands of mental health and medical professionals recommend this book to their clients and patients every year. Simply put, it is the single finest source of self-help information on its topic available anywhere.

The text of this fourth edition has been fully revised and expanded and includes two new chapters: a discussion of physical conditions that can aggravate anxiety and an overview of the use of mindfulness practice in the treatment of generalized anxiety disorder and some forms of obsessive-compulsive disorder. As in previous editions, the book offers the most up-to-date information on medications, natural supplements, and complementary strategies that can alleviate anxiety symptoms. The sections on relaxation, nutrition, and exercise have all been updated and broadened.

Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns

Clayton M. Christensen, Curtis W. Johnson, Michael B. Horn

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Total reviews: 10 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

A crash course in the business of learning-from the bestselling author of The Innovator's Dilemma and The Innovator's Solution…

“A brilliant teacher, Christensen brings clarity to a muddled and chaotic world of education.”
-Jim Collins, bestselling author of Good to Great

According to recent studies in neuroscience, the way we learn doesn't always match up with the way we are taught. If we hope to stay competitive-academically, economically, and technologically-we need to rethink our understanding of intelligence, reevaluate our educational system, and reinvigorate our commitment to learning. In other words, we need “disruptive innovation.”

Now, in his long-awaited new book, Clayton M. Christensen and coauthors Michael B. Horn and Curtis W. Johnson take one of the most important issues of our time-education-and apply Christensen's now-famous theories of “disruptive” change using a wide range of real-life examples. Whether you're a school administrator, government official, business leader, parent, teacher, or entrepreneur, you'll discover surprising new ideas, outside-the-box strategies, and straight-A success stories.

You'll learn how

• Customized learning will help many more students succeed in school
• Student-centric classrooms will increase the demand for new technology
• Computers must be disruptively deployed to every student
• Disruptive innovation can circumvent roadblocks that have prevented other attempts at school reform
• We can compete in the global classroom-and get ahead in the global market

Filled with fascinating case studies, scientific findings, and unprecedented insights on how innovation must be managed, Disrupting Class will open your eyes to new possibilities, unlock hidden potential, and get you to think differently. Professor Christensen and his coauthors provide a bold new lesson in innovation that will help you make the grade for years to come.

The future is now. Class is in session.

The Feeling Good Handbook

David D. Burns

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A Critical Analysis of the Feeling Good Handbook 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 7 people found this review helpful.

Abstract

The following study investigates the text, The Feeling Good Handbook, by David Burns. Specifically addressed are issues regarding the cognitive-behavioral model of twisted thinking, moral relativism, and the denial of objective truth. It was found that the text provides an inadequate definition and application regarding moral and objective truth issues. Recommendations for revision of the model are included.


A Critical Analysis of the Feeling Good
Handbook: Its Usefulness in Counseling Practice

In addition to the popular text Feeling Good, which became a national bestseller, and The Therapists Toolkit, a resource developed for mental health practitioners, David Burns released The Feeling Good Handbook, a 729-page (including index) guide to cognitive-behavioral therapy techniques. Semantically speaking, the text is well written, in simple (approximately 8th grade level) English, and is specifically marketed as a self-help text, though its usefulness for counselors is evident in that throughout the text the reader is often asked to assume the roll of the counselor, and after Burns describes a therapeutic technique, the reader is asked in a presented milieu, to implement that technique (for example, responding to a hypothetical client in a vignette empathetically).

In beginning to review this text, it is noticed a review can be accomplished in two ways. One, the text can be analyzed in respect to how it communicates the points it attempts to make (presentation), how it facilitates the ability in the reader to implement what is learned into his/her life or practice (application), and it can be reviewed in regards to how accurately the book delivers the ideas of cognitive therapy, mood therapy, empathetic response, etc. In all these aspects the book veers well--quite well--for even Albert Ellis (who holds a reputation of not being impressed with others' therapeutic approaches) critiques the text as "Clear, systematic, forceful."

The second approach to analyzing the text, the approach that will be taken, involves an investigation of one can trust as a suitable methodology the tenets from which the text is written, the tenets of cognitive therapy. It will address where the tactics disclosed by Burns are believed to be useful, and when it is hypothesized they would falter in a counseling practice.
Understanding Your Moods

Burns begins discussing moods by stating the fallacy clients often share, which is "I just can't help the way I feel" (Burns, 1999, p. 3). He then states a grounding premise of cognitive behavioral theory, which is that one's thoughts create moods. Quoting Ellis, the acronym A + B = C is stated. In this formula, A is the presenting event, B is the thoughts of the client, and C is the way the client feels. This formula is to show As do not create Cs--that is, what happens to a person does not effect that person's mood. The thoughts the person maintains affect the person's mood.

However, in reading the text, it is found that the true formula used in the text is not A + B = C, it is B = C, A = 0. The point being, the book extremely minimizes the effect of A. A, in essence, is described as a force that is prone to trying to manipulate one's B to produce unpleasant C's, but is in itself generally insignificant. More clearly, the situations, trials, relationships, and anything else external a person confronts merely challenges a person's thoughts. If the thoughts can be changed, or maintained as healthy thoughts, the person will always report a pleasant mood (C).

According to Burns, "sadness and depression result from thoughts of loss," "Anxiety and panic result from thoughts of danger," and "Guilt results from the thought that you are bad" (Burns, 1999, p. 5). To Dr. David Burns' credit he does state the following, which he titles a disclaimer: that there are times when negative feelings are appropriate and healthy, and that "learning when to accept these feelings and how to cope with a realistically negative situation is just as important as learning how to rid yourself of distorted thoughts and feelings" (p. 7). The reader must ask him/herself at this point, if Dr. Burns believes this amazingly astute point (i.e. equal importance), why then is only one line spent addressing that As are relevant, while 728.5 pages are spent denying their relevance?
False Sincerity of the Empathetic Response

A rebuttal to the statement that Burns' methodology denies all relevance of coping with a negative situation would probably include the premise that such is accomplished with the use of the empathetic response. The problem with this premise however, is the use of the empathetic response validates nothing. The therapist agrees to none of the truth that the client speaks. The empathetic response simply makes the client aware that the counselor is aware of his/her hurtful thinking.

Reading the text a reader might be perplexed with the question, when is there objective truth in thinking? More specifically, can not hurtful thinking (i.e. I have been a terrible father) be accurate? And if it is accurate, who is to say disposing of this accurate--though hurtful thought--is in essence better for the client than allowing the client to maintain this thought until the client changes his/her behavior so that the client can display another more healthy, and accurate, thought, (i.e. I am no longer a terrible father). However, by Burns' model, the man who states he is a terrible father, even if it is true (by all ability to quantify what a terrible father is), will be handled in the following way.

One, the client would be empathized with: "You are telling me that you are not a very good father, and you are clearly upset with that." Two, the counselor might disclose an "I feel" statement: "I would definitely not want to feel like I was a terrible father. That must be a horrible feeling." Three, it would be suggested to the client that he has twisted thinking which include "Should Statements" (You are wrongly telling yourself you should not be a terrible father), "Labeling" (there is no such thing as a terrible father, just persons who act the roll sometimes), "All-or-Nothing thinking" (surely you have done something that was not terrible--for example you are in therapy), "Overgeneralization" (Being a terrible father is a general simplification. Burns states "there are no Jerks in America" only persons who act like jerks from time to time), "Mental Filter" (you are pretty upset over this whole fatherhood thing. Lets think on things you're not terrible at), and the list goes on.

Burns' model provides no basis for determining what is "twisted thinking" and what is thinking that is the downright painful truth. He states, there are no Jerks in America--just those that act like Jerks. But if a "jerk" does not exist, then from what basis can one state an action as jerk-like? Furthermore, in the 700 plus pages of text on how to handle clients, not once does Burns confront a client because his/her thinking was pleasant but skewed. Therefore, it is a safe conclusion that--though Burns may briefly claim otherwise--to Burns pleasant thinking is correct thinking.

This is further evidenced in text when Burns addresses confrontation. Choices of words include "it was unpleasant when" or "I felt uncomfortable when" (Burns, 1999, p. 156). Both are notoriously relative remarks. There is no claim to objective truth; there is no "what you did was wrong," or "I was treated unjustly." Such relativism can be no more apparent than in the following excerpt:
You may have difficulty with this idea [that there is not use for shoulds]. You may insist that there's nothing wrong with using the word "should." You may think that it's your duty to clean your desk or to study hard. You may feel it is something you should do!

There are actually [only] three valid uses of the word "should" in the English language. One is the "moral should." You "should" not intentionally take advantage of someone, because this violates your moral code. The second is the "legal should." You should not drive at 90mph because it is dangerous and you'll probably get a ticket. The third is the "laws of the universe should." Things "should" happen because the forces of nature make them happen. For example, if you drop a pen, it "should" fall because of the force of gravity (p. 179).

The enormity of the errors in the thinking above is staggering. First, the only two claims of truth presented above are (one) that it is wrong believe one ought to believe there are moral shoulds or shoulds caused by one's duty, and (two) that the English dictionary agrees with David Burns. Both claims are false.

It is very possible that someone could have a duty to study. A physician being paid to study the effects of a rare disease infecting his/her patient, for example, is an explicit instance when there is a definite "should" due to duty. One would concur that the situation would not have to be so dire (matter of life and death) to still constitute a legitimate should. Though Burns--in the quote above--states that one "feels" shoulds, and does not know them or objectively understand them (lines 3-4).

Next, Burns' first definition of a true should is logically meaningless, in that he states it is truth that one should not take advantage of someone (a valid should) because it violates the person's moral code. Therefore, Burns is saying, as long as one is not violating their own relative moral code, he/she can take advantage of anyone and not be violating a "should." Burns' second definition, regarding the legal should, is quite depraved in that he states speeding violates a legal should (true) because one could hurt him/herself or get a ticket. In reality, Burns is not addressing a legal should at all for legally the should would remain constant whether on not the violator injures him/herself, or receives a ticket for the violation. What Burns is really stating in his example is the claim that one should not partake of behavior that may cause As that could instigate unpleasant Bs.

Lastly, Burns demotes the laws of physics, to the shoulds of physics! If one drops a pen according to Burns, it should hit the floor. According to the law of gravity however, if one drops a pen, it will hit the floor.
Discussion

Cognitive-behavioral therapy is effective. Burns does a fantastic job of describing how to implement cognitive principles into one's personal life, even into one's counseling practice. The ideas are useful for healing. However, the theory is weak in that it does not provide the practitioner, nor the client, correct direction regarding what is twisted thinking, and what is true--though painful--thinking.

Final Note: Telephone and Online Counseling may be a good way to provide quick and effective care to clients. Learn to provide Telephone and Online Counseling with this very well done book: The Therapist's Clinical Guide to Online Counseling and Telephone Counseling: The Definitive Training Guide for Clinical Practice

Editorial Review:

With his phenomenally successful Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy, Dr. David Burns introduced a groundbreaking, drug-free treatment for depression. Now in this long-awaited sequel, he reveals powerful new techniques and provides step-by-step exercises that help you cope with the full range of everyday problems.

* Free from fears, phobias, and panic attacks
* Overcome self-defeating attitudes
* Discover the five secrets of intimate communication
* Put an end to marital conflict
* Conquer procrastination and unleash your potential for success

With an up-to-date section on everything you need to know about commonly prescribed psychiatric drugs and anxiety disorders such as agoraphobia and obsessive-compulsive disorder, this remarkable guide can show you how to feel good about yourself and the people you care about. You will discover that life can be an exhilarating experience.

Mind Over Mood: Change How You Feel by Changing the Way You Think

Dennis Greenberger, Christine Padesky

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Total reviews: 51 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Excellent short cut through therapy 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

This book is a wonderful to take charge of the twists and turns of your mind. I have found that through discipline and practice, I have a healthier outlook and less anxiety. This book really breaks things down very simply so I could understand them and apply them to my life. I highly recommend it!

Editorial Review:

Developed by two master clinicians with extensive experience in cognitive therapy treatment and training, this popular workbook shows readers how to improve their lives using cognitive therapy--one of the most effective and widely practiced forms of psychotherapy. The book is designed to be used alone or in conjunction with professional treatment. Step-by-step worksheets teach specific skills that have helped thousands of people conquer depression, panic attacks, anxiety, anger, guilt, shame, low self-esteem, eating disorders, substance abuse and relationship problems. Readers learn to use mood questionnaires to identify, rate, and track changes in feelings; change the thoughts that contribute to problems; follow step-by-step strategies to improve moods; and take action to improve daily living and relationships. The book's large-size format facilitates reading and writing ease.

The Time Paradox: The New Psychology of Time That Will Change Your Life

Philip Zimbardo, John Boyd

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Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Your every significant choice -- every important decision you make -- is determined by a force operating deep inside your mind: your perspective on time -- your internal, personal time zone. This is the most influential force in your life, yet you are virtually unaware of it. Once you become aware of your personal time zone, you can begin to see and manage your life in exciting new ways.

In The Time Paradox, Drs. Zimbardo and Boyd draw on thirty years of pioneering research to reveal, for the first time, how your individual time perspective shapes your life and is shaped by the world around you. Further, they demonstrate that your and every other individual's time zones interact to create national cultures, economics, and personal destinies.

You will discover what time zone you live in through Drs. Zimbardo and Boyd's revolutionary tests. Ask yourself:

• Does the smell of fresh-baked cookies bring you back to your childhood?

• Do you believe that nothing will ever change in your world?

• Do you believe that the present encompasses all and the future and past are mere abstractions?

• Do you wear a watch, balance your checkbook, and make to-do lists -- every day?

• Do you believe that life on earth is merely preparation for life after death?

• Do you ruminate over failed relationships?

• Are you the life of every party -- always late, always laughing, and always broke?

These statements are representative of the seven most common ways people relate to time, each of which, in its extreme, creates benefits and pitfalls. The Time Paradox is a practical plan for optimizing your blend of time perspectives so you get the utmost out of every minute in your personal and professional life as well as a fascinating commentary about the power and paradoxes of time in the modern world.

No matter your time perspective, you experience these paradoxes. Only by understanding this new psychological science of time zones will you be able to overcome the mental biases that keep you too attached to the past, too focused on immediate gratification, or unhealthily obsessed with future goals. Time passes no matter what you do -- it's up to you to spend it wisely and enjoy it well. Here's how.

The Beck Diet Solution: Train Your Brain to Think Like a Thin Person

Judith S. Beck

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Total reviews: 87 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

This isn't what cognitive behavioral training is for. 2 out of 5 stars.
2 of 4 people found this review helpful.

I have very mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand, it clearly has helped some people to succeed at dieting and to lose weight, although there has never been a study on well this works in the long run. (One year is not "the long run"!) On the other hand, I think it promotes some incorrect ideas about what cognitive behavioral therapy is actually for, and what it can accomplish.

In my (informed) opinion, CBT in its original form, as first pioneered by Dr. Aaron Beck, really only works for things like minor depression and adjustment disorders. (Yes, Dr. Beck wrote the foreword, too.) I lead PHP (partial hospitalization groups) for a very large mental health provider. These are designed for people with very serious mental health issues-- bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and major depressive disorder.

We use CBT techniques a lot, and it's true that CBT has been proven to show results for people with these serious mental illnesses. The problem, though, is that the way it works in this context is just not the same as the way it works for people who are, say, depressed because they have specific problems in their lives. This is a really important point, because I think it explains why this diet technique isn't any more likely to work for most people than any other technique is.

Nobody with minor, low-level depression has a biological need to think negative thoughts or make negative evaluations of situations. So a therapy like CBT, which is designed to correct these types of thoughts because they tend to lead to negative feelings, will work very well. But there is NO psychotherapy-- whether it's CBT or anything else-- that will work to control the symptoms of severe and persistent mental illnesses all by itself. The reason is that these symptoms ARE biologically based. It would be considered malpractice for any doctor to use only CBT for these mental illnesses. It can help, but there is just too much of a biological reason why the symptoms are there.

Similarly, people DO have a biological need to eat (quite apart from the whole world of psychosocial reasons why people eat how and as they do.) You just can't use CBT to control a biological urge. It doesn't work. If it did, then we wouldn't need drugs like lithium, Lamictal, and Seroquel. But trust me, we do! Some people with mental illnesses really are able to control them with therapies like CBT for a limited amount of time. A good example is a bipolar woman who becomes pregnant and can't take her normal medications. CBT can work in the short term to control her symptoms. (I have to be honest, though-- I've never actually seen this work very well at all.) But in the long run, it just doesn't happen. I have to say it-- I just plain don't believe that this diet works in the long run any more than any other diet does, except for a very small number of people. And I'm afraid that it provides the same setup for failure and self-hatred as all the other diets do. That's my .02 cents, and I'm sticking to it!

Editorial Review:

Any sensible diet will help you lose weight, but the challenge for 90% of Americans is actually staying on the diet they choose.Enter Dr. Judith Beck and The Beck Diet Solution.Dr. Beck, one of the foremost authorities in the field of Cognitive Therapy, has created a four-week plan that will help people stick with their diet, lose weight with confidence, and keep weight off for a lifetime. This program is not only based on the authors personal success and on her success with her many clients, but also on published research. It all starts with how you think. With other programs, you think about nothing but food: counting, weighing, and worst of all, food you cant have. This way of thinking inevitably contributes to diet failure. The Beck Diet Solution is the only program that helps dieters use Cognitive Therapy methods scientifically proven over 20 yearsto forever change those treacherous thought patterns that lead to overeating, cheating, excuses, and other dieting downfalls.

Cognitive Therapy: Basics and Beyond

Judith S. Beck

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Total reviews: 27 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Since its development in the 1960s as a structured, short-term psychotherapy for depression, cognitive therapy has come of age. Today the approach is successfully applied in the treatment of a broad range of psychological disorders, an evolution reflected in the myriad titles now available. Regardless of the disorder, all these applications are based on core, underlying principles, which are clearly articulated in this volume. Providing readers with a solid foundation for practice, Cognitive Therapy: Basics and Beyond delineates the fundamental building blocks of cognitive conceptualization and treatment.

Written in a clear, step-by-step style, this text helps therapists sharpen their conceptualization skills, plan more effective treatment, expand their repertoire of techniques, and trouble-shoot difficulties. Throughout the volume, the author offers clinical examples and transcripts drawn from one patient's treatment to illuminate the narrative and illustrate cognitive therapy in action.

Introductory chapters describe how to conceptualize clients according to the cognitive model, plan and conduct the first session, identify initial problems and goals, and structure therapy within and across sessions. Then the basic steps for conducting cognitive therapy are presented, with specific instruction on how to identify, evaluate, and respond to a client's automatic thoughts. Effective strategies for modifying underlying assumptions and core beliefs are also explicated.

Methods for increasing homework compliance, preparing for termination, and preventing relapse are laid out. Even experienced cognitive therapists will find new strategies and insights in chapters on planning treatment, diagnosing problems, using imagery, and bringing about behavioral change.

In addition to numerous practical suggestions, this volume features a variety of sample patient worksheets and appendices that detail resource materials and reading lists for both the practitioner and the client. A final chapter offers guidance in progressing as a cognitive therapist.

An important resource for any therapist's shelf, Cognitive Therapy: Basics and Beyond is necessary reading for the practitioner or student new to cognitive therapy who wants to learn about this tested approach, and for the clinician already practicing cognitive therapy who wants to learn the cutting-edge strategies of conceptualization and treatment.

Stumbling on Happiness

Daniel Gilbert

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Editorial Review:

Do you know what makes you happy? Daniel Gilbert would bet that you think you do, but you are most likely wrong. In his witty and engaging new book, Harvard professor Gilbert reveals his take on how our minds work, and how the limitations of our imaginations may be getting in the way of our ability to know what happiness is. Sound quirky and interesting? It is! But just to be sure, we asked bestselling author (and master of the quirky and interesting) Malcolm Gladwell to read Stumbling on Happiness, and give us his take. Check out his review below. --Daphne Durham

---

Guest Reviewer: Malcolm Gladwell

Malcolm Gladwell is the author of bestselling books Blink and The Tipping Point, and is a staff writer for The New Yorker.

Several years ago, on a flight from New York to California, I had the good fortune to sit next to a psychologist named Dan Gilbert. He had a shiny bald head, an irrepressible good humor, and we talked (or, more accurately, he talked) from at least the Hudson to the Rockies--and I was completely charmed. He had the wonderful quality many academics have--which is that he was interested in the kinds of questions that all of us care about but never have the time or opportunity to explore. He had also had a quality that is rare among academics. He had the ability to translate his work for people who were outside his world.

Now Gilbert has written a book about his psychological research. It is called Stumbling on Happiness, and reading it reminded me of that plane ride long ago. It is a delight to read. Gilbert is charming and funny and has a rare gift for making very complicated ideas come alive.

Stumbling on Happiness is a book about a very simple but powerful idea. What distinguishes us as human beings from other animals is our ability to predict the future--or rather, our interest in predicting the future. We spend a great deal of our waking life imagining what it would be like to be this way or that way, or to do this or that, or taste or buy or experience some state or feeling or thing. We do that for good reasons: it is what allows us to shape our life. And it is by trying to exert some control over our futures that we attempt to be happy. But by any objective measure, we are really bad at that predictive function. We're terrible at knowing how we will feel a day or a month or year from now, and even worse at knowing what will and will not bring us that cherished happiness. Gilbert sets out to figure what that's so: why we are so terrible at something that would seem to be so extraordinarily important?

In making his case, Gilbert walks us through a series of fascinating--and in some ways troubling--facts about the way our minds work. In particular, Gilbert is interested in delineating the shortcomings of imagination. We're far too accepting of the conclusions of our imaginations. Our imaginations aren't particularly imaginative. Our imaginations are really bad at telling us how we will think when the future finally comes. And our personal experiences aren't nearly as good at correcting these errors as we might think.

I suppose that I really should go on at this point, and talk in more detail about what Gilbert means by that--and how his argument unfolds. But I feel like that might ruin the experience of reading Stumbling on Happiness. This is a psychological detective story about one of the great mysteries of our lives. If you have even the slightest curiosity about the human condition, you ought to read it. Trust me. --Malcolm Gladwell

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Authentic Happiness: Using the New Positive Psychology to Realize Your Potential for Lasting Fulfillment

Martin Seligman

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Total reviews: 77 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

In this national bestseller -- Martin Seligman's most stimulating, persuasive book to date -- the acclaimed author of Learned Optimism introduces yet another revolutionary idea. Drawing on groundbreaking scientific research, Seligman shows how Positive Psychology is shifting the profession's paradigm away from its narrow-minded focus on pathology, victimology, and mental illness to positive emotion and mental health. Happiness, studies show, is not the result of good genes or luck. It can be cultivated by identifying and nurturing traits that we already possess -- including kindness, originality, humor, optimism, and generosity.

Seligman provides the tools you need in order to ascertain your most positive traits or strengths. Then he explains how, by frequently calling upon these "signature strengths" in all the crucial realms of life -- health, relationships, career -- you will not only develop natural buffers against misfortune and negative emotion, but also achieve new and sustainable levels of authentic contentment, gratification, and meaning.