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Happy At Last: The Thinking Person's Guide To Finding Joy (2008)

by Richard O'Connor(Favorite Author)

3.67 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

0312369069 (ISBN13: 9780312369064)

languge

English

genre

Nonfiction

publisher

St. Martin's Press

review 1: I've never taken quite so long to read a book as this one. I realized something about myself....I have this obsessive quality that once I start reading a book, I can't stop before I'm finished, whether I'm into it or not. I'm not saying that this is a horrible book, but, for some reason, I couldn't quite get into it. Parts of it spoke to me and kept my interest but those were fleeting moments which were soon forgotten. Perhaps it was just due to bad timing. Because I wasn't very compelled at any given time to pick up this book, I generally waited until I got into bed and was already tired. Thus, I just found myself getting drowsy most of time, finding it difficult to retain what I read. A part of me wishes I could give it a second chance at some point, but the greater... more part of me can't bear the thought of it. Besides, for the most part, I think I manage to feel happy enough without it.
review 2: Now THIS is my happiness guru! I have finally found someone who talks about happiness and positivity and achieving the goal in a way that does not sound too facile. Richard O'Connor does not sound like a guy who naturally walks on the sunny side of the street all the time. Not only is he a credential holding therapist..and a decently witty writer...he also admits to having fought his own battles with depression and phobic behaviors and other neurotic stuff. Too many of the positive psych crowd tend to come off as naturally bubbly...the sort of people who WANT to roll out of bed at 5:30 AM to hit the gym, do self affirmations for an hour and then head into their perfectly ordered super-lives. I can't take these people seriously. If we all got off on round the clock can-do-ism then I don't think we would need books on getting one's act together without driving oneself bedlamite.I related to the 'struggle' to find time to make oneself happier. The part of this book that had the most resonance for me was the section where O'Connor points out all the facets of contemporary society that are designed to make us UNHAPPY. We live, in this particular moment in time, in a manner that is exponentially different from the way human beings have ever lived and interacted with one another before. Some of these changes are fantastic. (flush toilets, anesthetic,) Others are terrible (isolation, the constant harangue to 'multi-task') This book was worth it if only for the way it pointed out that I am not alone in feeling so out-of-step with the way modern life is set up. However, there was a lot of other information in this particular happiness book that I liked so much that I am going to recheck the book out and copy out several passages for future thought.All in all, this was exactly what a 'thought provoking' read should be. I was interested in O'Connor's take on happiness. I am further interested in trolling his bibliography for more titles that he made to sound worthwhile. And, I will look for his other books.Being happy takes work. But, as he says several times: happiness is smaller than you think. Be mindful. Keep perspective. Don't follow the crowd in society if it does not work for you. (And there is solid evidence that it does NOT work for a lot of us.)I am a fairly happy person. But I have my limits. I can't get into a perspective of constant Pollyannaism. And I'll never truly get over my sarcasm. Nice to know that there are some crunchier approaches to the happiness movement out there. less

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