Stumbling on Happiness

Harvard psychologist Daniel Gilbert examines why people are so poor at predicting what will make them happy. Drawing on behavioral economics, philosophy, psychology and cognitive neuroscience, he argues that imagination fails in consistent ways: it invents or drops details, makes the future look too much like the present, and misses how a psychological immune system will soften bad outcomes once they arrive. The book moves through six sections, from Prospection and Subjectivity to Realism, Presentism, Rationalization and Corrigibility, and ends by suggesting that people learn from others already living the future they imagine. Published in 2006 and written for general readers, it has appeared in over thirty languages.

Mark Manson called it the best book on happiness he has read, arguing that people struggle less to find happiness than to know what it is. James Clear included it among his best psychology books, and Maria Popova said every person should read it.