Books like Flourish: A Visionary New Understanding of Happiness and Well-being

01

Man's Search for Meaning

Viktor E. Frankl · Psychology

Man's Search for Meaning is Viktor Frankl's account of his years as a prisoner in Nazi concentration camps, including Auschwitz, and the psychological theory he developed from that experience.

Both dig into meaning.

02

Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life

Martin E. P. Seligman · Psychology

Martin Seligman's research career began with learned helplessness — the discovery that animals and humans who experience uncontrollable events generalize the uncontrollability to subsequent situations where control is actually possible, becoming passive even when action would help.

A kindred psychology read.

03

The Happiness Hypothesis

Jonathan Haidt · Psychology

Jonathan Haidt is a social psychologist at NYU who spent the early part of his career studying morality and happiness, and this book — published in 2006, before his work on political psychology brought him wider attention — synthesizes ancient philosophical wisdom with modern psychological research.

Shares positive psychology and meaning with Flourish: A Visionary New Understanding of Happiness and Well-being.

04

Stumbling on Happiness

Daniel Gilbert · Psychology

Daniel Gilbert is a Harvard psychologist whose central finding, after decades of studying affective forecasting, is that humans are systematically wrong about what will make them happy.

Both dig into well-being.

05

Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi · Psychology

Flow is Csikszentmihalyi's landmark study of optimal experience — those moments when people are so deeply absorbed in an activity that time warps, self-consciousness disappears, and effort feels effortless.

A kindred psychology read.

06

Authentic Happiness

Martin E. P. Seligman · Psychology

Authentic Happiness is Martin Seligman's founding statement of positive psychology — the scientific study of what makes life worth living.

Shares well-being and positive psychology with Flourish: A Visionary New Understanding of Happiness and Well-being.

07

A General Theory of Love

Thomas Lewis, Fari Amini, and Richard Lannon · Psychology

A General Theory of Love is a 2000 book by three psychiatrists at the University of California, San Francisco — Thomas Lewis, Fari Amini, and Richard Lannon — who set out to explain love scientifically without stripping it of its significance.

Both dig into relationships.

08

Adult Children of Alcoholics

Janet G. Woititz · Psychology

Adult Children of Alcoholics is Janet Woititz's clinical guide to the lasting psychological patterns that develop in children raised in alcoholic families.

Both dig into relationships.

09

Hold Me Tight: Seven Conversations for a Lifetime of Love

Sue Johnson · Psychology

Hold Me Tight is Sue Johnson's accessible introduction to Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT), a model of couples therapy she developed over decades of clinical practice and research.

Both dig into relationships.

10

Mindsight: The New Science of Personal Transformation

Daniel J. Siegel · Psychology

Mindsight is Daniel Siegel's case that humans have a distinct capacity he calls "mindsight" — the ability to sense and shape one's own mental processes and to perceive the inner lives of others.

Both dig into relationships.

11

Self-Compassion: The Proven Power of Being Kind to Yourself

Kristin Neff · Psychology

Kristin Neff makes a claim that many readers initially resist: treating yourself with the same kindness you'd offer a good friend in distress is not self-indulgence, weakness, or an obstacle to high performance.

Both dig into well-being.

12

Social Intelligence: The New Science of Human Relationships

Daniel Goleman · Psychology

Daniel Goleman's follow-up to Emotional Intelligence shifts focus from the inner world to the social.

Both dig into relationships.