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Happiness

Lessons from a New Science

By Richard Layard

(12)

| Hardcover | 9780713997699

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Book Description

There is a paradox at the heart of our lives. We all want more money, but as societies become richer, they do not become happier. This is not speculation: It's the story told by countless pieces of scientific research. We now have sophisticated ways of measuring how happy people are, and all the eviContinue

There is a paradox at the heart of our lives. We all want more money, but as societies become richer, they do not become happier. This is not speculation: It's the story told by countless pieces of scientific research. We now have sophisticated ways of measuring how happy people are, and all the evidence shows that on average people have grown no happier in the last fifty years, even as average incomes have more than doubled.

The central question the great economist Richard Layard asks in Happiness is this: If we really wanted to be happier, what would we do differently? First we'd have to see clearly what conditions generate happiness and then bend all our efforts toward producing them. That is what this book is about-the causes of happiness and the means we have to effect it.

Until recently there was too little evidence to give a good answer to this essential question, but, Layard shows us, thanks to the integrated insights of psychology, sociology, applied economics, and other fields, we can now reach some firm conclusions, conclusions that will surprise you. Happiness is an illuminating road map, grounded in hard research, to a better, happier life for us all.

From one of the leading voices in the new field of happiness studies comes a groundbreaking statement of the case: what happiness is, exactly, and how to get more of it, as individuals and as a society

Critics

  • Happiness: Lessons From a New Science, By Richard Layard

    Richard Layard's sometimes dogmatic and dismissive tone ("Some people think we should not talk about genes because it might give the impression that a person is foredoomed to happiness or misery when he is born... That conclusion would be absurd") ca ... (read full critics)

    independent published on Sun, 1 May 2011

2 Reviews

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  • What a mundane book of happiness. There are flaws in some arguments and survey. However, it does draw our attention to some interesting phenomenons and the hope of a rising "science". Overall, it is an interesting book. More like a combination of psychology and economics.

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    Xuxuliu1988 said on Apr 23, 2010 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

Book Details

  • Rating:
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  • English Books
  • Hardcover 320 Pages
  • ISBN-10: 0713997699
  • ISBN-13: 9780713997699
  • Publisher: Gardners Books
  • Pub date: Feb 28, 2005
  • Also available as: Paperback
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9780713997699 Hardcover $29.50 -- The Book Depository
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