A great discourse on the topic of happiness

From the viewpoint of a Buddhist, it has many jewels of insight. I recommend it.

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3 people found this helpful

Matthieu Ricard you save my life

Matthieu's teachings and Buddhist philosophy saved my life. I suffered for many years from panic attacks, generalized anxiety, and agoraphobia. Thanks to Matthieu I was able to learn about the concept of neuroplasticity and use meditation as a tool to change my mind. Thank you my friend I hope someday you can read this.

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2 people found this helpful

Truly a Work of Genius!

Loved it! A scholarly review of the literature on happiness with a Buddhist philosophy sentiment. I've read several books on this topic and this one is clearly superior. The narration is also flawless and so it is a delight to listen to. You will have much to contemplate while listening to this amazing audiobook.

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2 people found this helpful

I hope to see this become a foundational public school text.

This is a critically important work and I would love to see these concepts broadly understood and mindfulness incorporated into the training of children everywhere. These teachings provide a path to a much more humane and sustainable world.

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1 person found this helpful

Good except for partly subtle xenophobia

This is an incredibly good book. A lot of good gems, but it seems to be very biased against some countries. I wonder why. The author did not have to be like that. Spread love but not hatred.

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Meh, old fashioned & disproven

Old fashioned, outdated and disproven guidance on happiness. Much of what is stated confidently within has since been disproven. I think there are much better books out there that chronicle happiness. The myth of happiness by Sara L, the blue zones findings disprove much of this old fashioned “research” which is really just personal male dominated belief. Singles are not less happy than marrieds, childless not less happy than those with children, extroverts not happier than introverts, broke not happier than those more affluent. Happiness is not this black and white and has been proven to be far more nuanced and complex than the information presented within this book. I did enjoy the authors detailing of scientific research on meditation and the brain but on the whole I think the findings within are closed minded and typical, ie nothing new here. Daniel G provides his biased beliefs around extroversion/extroverts in this book and basically how they are superior but this too has been disproven. I find Daniel’s influence in the realm of EQ is damaging, particularly in the workplace because his “beliefs” on EQ perpetuate our current problems in society and particularly in the workplace and politics where there currently is zero thought diversity or acceptance of those different from us. I’d recommend Daniel read the book Quiet, he might learn something on the importance of introverts in the workplace and society. There are people doing much more in depth research on happiness and EQ than the authors of this book. The meditation and mental findings the most interesting portion - all coming from academic research. There is so much that we do not know and are learning and this book is too much of where we have been, not where we are going.

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Pedantic

I was disappointed in this book. For me it was nothing but pendantic lecture on buddhism I have heard better presented in Robert Wright’s work. I felt oddly brow beaten.

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Happiness

Thank you Matthieu Ricard for writing about happiness in different situations. It helped me a lot.

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Fantastic

I read this after I finished Altruism. Both are fantastic, I’ll be waiting for whatever comes next.

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Nice introduction to Buddhism concepts

Seeing from the perspective of the author, a Western that had found himself happy through the Buddhist concepts, it's very interesting starting point for someone who has never heard about it. It's also great to have neuroscience and Buddhism explained side by side.

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