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Happiness by Design

Written by: Paul Dolan, Daniel Kahneman - foreword
Narrated by: Jonathan Cowley
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Publisher's Summary

This is not just another happiness audiobook. In Happiness by Design, happiness and behavior expert Paul Dolan combines the latest insights from economics and psychology to illustrate that in order to be happy we must behave happy. Our happiness is experiences of both pleasure and purpose over time and it depends on what we actually pay attention to. Using what Dolan calls deciding, designing, and doing, we can overcome the biases that make us miserable and redesign our environments to make it easier to experience happiness, fulfillment, and even health. With uncanny wit and keen perception, Dolan reveals what we can do to find our unique optimal balance of pleasure and purpose, offering practical advice on how to organize our lives in happiness - promoting ways and fresh insights into how we feel, including why:

  • Having kids reduces pleasure but gives us a massive dose of purpose
  • Gaining weight won't necessarily make us unhappier, but being too ambitious might
  • A quiet neighborhood is more important than a big house

Vividly rendering intriguing research and lively anecdotal evidence, Happiness by Design offers an absorbing, thought-provoking, new paradigm for fans of Stumbling on Happiness and The How of Happiness.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2014 Paul Dolan (P)2014 Penguin Audio

What the critics say

"Outstanding, cutting-edge, and profound. If you’re going to read one book on happiness, this is the one." (Nassim Nicholas Taleb, best-selling author of The Black Swan and Antifragile)

"Happiness by Design is the best kind of psychology book: the ideas are fascinating, understanding them will make your life happier and more meaningful, and Dolan expresses them beautifully. Whether you’re a novice or a voracious consumer of happiness research, Happiness by Design hits all the right notes." (Adam Alter, best-selling author of Drunk Tank Pink)

"Dolan gives a comprehensive overview of the science of happiness and useful tips to achieve it. In his quest to explain what makes us happy, Dolan touches on a powerful idea: happiness need not be pursued, simply rediscovered. In other words, sources of pleasure and purpose are all around us, if only one knows where to look." (Scientific American)

What listeners say about Happiness by Design

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