The Happiness Project: Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun

New
Hardcover
2010
$15.74

Gretchen Rubin had an epiphany. One rainy afternoon on a city bus, she realized that she wasn't as happy as she could be. In danger of wasting her days - always yearning for something more, waiting for problems to miraculously solve themselves - she realized her life wasn't going to change unless she did something about it. On January 1, she embarked on her Happiness Project, and each month she pursued a different set of resolutions: to get more sleep, quit nagging her husband, sing in the morning to her two young daughters, start a blog, imitate a spiritual master, keep a one-sentence journal. She immersed herself in everything from classical philosophy to contemporary psychology to see what worked for her-and what didn't. Illuminating yet entertaining, profound yet compulsively readable, The Happiness Project is one of the most thoughtful and prescriptive works on happiness to have emerged from the recent explosion of interest in the subject. Filled with practical advice, sharp insight, charm, and humour, her story will inspire readers to navigate their own paths to happiness.

Synopsis

Gretchen Rubin had an epiphany. One rainy afternoon on a city bus, she realized that she wasn't as happy as she could be. In danger of wasting her days - always yearning for something more, waiting for problems to miraculously solve themselves - she realized her life wasn't going to change unless she did something about it. On January 1, she embarked on her Happiness Project, and each month she pursued a different set of resolutions: to get more sleep, quit nagging her husband, sing in the morning to her two young daughters, start a blog, imitate a spiritual master, keep a one-sentence journal. She immersed herself in everything from classical philosophy to contemporary psychology to see what worked for her-and what didn't. Illuminating yet entertaining, profound yet compulsively readable, "The Happiness Project" is one of the most thoughtful and prescriptive works on happiness to have emerged from the recent explosion of interest in the subject. Filled with practical advice, sharp insight, charm, and humour, her story will inspire readers to navigate their own paths to happiness.

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More Information

Format: Hardcover
Pages: 320
Edition: 1
Publisher: Harper
Published: 15 Jan 2010
ISBN 10: 0061583251
ISBN 13: 9780061583254

Media Reviews

An enlightening, laugh-aloud read. . . . Filled with open, honest glimpses into [Rubin's] real life, woven together with constant doses of humor. -- Terry Hong, Christian Science Monitor
For those who generally loathe the self-help genre, Rubin's book is a breath of peppermint-scented air. Well-researched and sharply written. . . . Rubin takes an orderly, methodical approach to forging her own path to a happier state of mind. -- Kim Crow, Cleveland Plain Dealer
Practical and never preachy . . . the rare self-help tome that doesn't feel shameful to read. -- Daily Beast
Packed with fascinating facts about the science of happiness and rich examples of how she improves her life through changes small and big The Happiness Project made me happier by just reading it. -- Amy Scribner, Bookpage

Author Bio

I'm the author of the New York Times bestsellers The Happiness Project, Happier at Home and Better Than Before. I write about my experiences as I test-drive the wisdom of the ages, current scientific studies, and lessons from popular culture about happiness, habits, and human nature. My next book will hit the shelves in summer 2017: The Four Tendencies: The Surprising Truth about the Four Hidden Personality Types That Drive Everything We Do. Find out your Tendency-are you an Upholder, Questioner, Obliger, or Rebel?-when you take the free quiz at GretchenRubin.com. Subscribe to my award-winning weekly podcast Happier with Gretchen Rubin (more than 1 million downloads each month) and hear my sister and I discuss strategies and tips for how to make your daily life happier. I also created an app to help people harness the power of the Four Tendencies. Learn more at BetterApp.us or search the app store for Better Gretchen Rubin. My previous books include a bestselling biography of Winston Churchill, Forty Ways to Look at Winston Churchill, and one of John Kennedy, Forty Ways to Look at JFK. My first book, Power Money Fame S..: A User's Guide, is social criticism in the guise of a user's manual. I wrote Profane Waste in collaboration with artist Dana Hoey. I've also written three dreadful novels that are safely locked away in a drawer. Before turning to writing, I had a career in law. A graduate of Yale and Yale Law School, I clerked for Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and was editor-in-chief of the Yale Law Journal. I live in New York City with my husband and two daughters.