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The Happiness Manifesto (2000)

by Nic Marks(Favorite Author)

3.58 of 5 Votes: 3

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English

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review 1: Some absolutely amazing take home messages in this little book. One of the key points he made was this: happy people contribute more to society, come up with more creative solutions and are more community-minded. How I wish we could get the Australian public and the current government to understand this. Unhappy, frightened people do not make for an optimal society.And this psychological observation that is far too often overlooked by would-be activists trying to rouse the masses:"So returning to the challenges that we face to become both happy and sustainable, I suggest that it is exceptionally unhelpful to over-stimulate a fear response about the future of the planet. Environmentalists have tended to try and grab people’s attention by describing worst-case scenarios an... mored the horrors they entail. Fear grabs attention. But fear also tends to galvanize the action of fleeing. This is why talk of sustainability too often causes eyes to glaze over. Mentally, we flee the problem."Damn, what an observation! This guy is brilliant. Combining hope and happiness with sustainability: FTW.
review 2: This is really a long essay rather than a book as such, but interesting. Drawing together economics and psychology, it describes how we (individuals as well as nations) have been mistakenly pursuing wealth when we should be pursuing well-being, specifically sustainable well-being. It seems to have been written just as the coalition government took over and the optimistic bit about Cameron made me squirm, but that doesn't mean that the suggestions for improvements (5 for individuals and 7 for nations) don't hold. less

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