Books like The Happiness Hypothesis

01

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

Martin E. P. Seligman · Psychology

Martin Seligman founded the positive psychology movement and published Authentic Happiness in 2002.

Shares positive psychology and meaning with The Happiness Hypothesis.

02

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 happiness.

03

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.

04

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.

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.

Both dig into happiness.

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 happiness and positive psychology with The Happiness Hypothesis.

07

The Happiness Advantage

Shawn Achor · Psychology

Shawn Achor's core claim inverts a common assumption about success and happiness.

Shares happiness and positive psychology with The Happiness Hypothesis.

08

Hardwiring Happiness: The New Brain Science of Contentment, Calm, and Confidence

Rick Hanson · Psychology

Rick Hanson is a neuropsychologist and meditation teacher, and this book is his attempt to explain why wellbeing is so hard to sustain and what the brain science suggests you can do about it.

Both dig into happiness.

09

The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less

Barry Schwartz · Psychology

Barry Schwartz argues that the expansion of consumer choice in wealthy societies has not produced the freedom and happiness it promised.

Both dig into happiness.

10

12 Rules for Life

Jordan Peterson · Self-help

12 Rules for Life is Jordan Peterson's attempt to distill what clinical psychology, comparative mythology, the Bible, and evolutionary biology say about how to live.

Both dig into meaning.

11

21 Lessons for the 21st Century

Yuval Noah Harari · Philosophy

Where Sapiens traced humanity's past and Homo Deus speculated about its future, 21 Lessons for the 21st Century plants itself in the present.

Both dig into meaning.

12

A Guide to the Good Life

William Irvine · Philosophy

William Irvine's book is a modern case for reviving Stoic philosophy as a practical guide to living well.

Both dig into happiness.