Stumbling on Happiness
by Daniel Todd Gilbert
• Why are lovers quicker to forgive their partners for infidelity than for leaving dirty dishes in the sink? • Why will sighted people pay more to avoid going blind than blind people will pay to regain their sight? • Why do dining companions insist on ordering different meals instead of getting what they really want? • Why do pigeons seem to have such excellent aim; why can’t we remember one song while listening to another; and why does the line at the grocery store always slow down the moment we join it? In this brilliant, witty, and accessible book, renowned Harvard psychologist Daniel Gilbert describes the foibles of imagination and illusions of foresight that cause each of us to misconceive our tomorrows and misestimate our satisfactions. Vividly bringing to life the latest scientific research in psychology, cognitive neuroscience, philosophy, and behavioral economics, Gilbert reveals what scientists have discovered about the uniquely human ability to imagine the future, and about our capacity to predict how much we will like it when we get there. With penetrating insight and sparkling prose, Gilbert explains why we seem to know so little about the hearts and minds of the people we are about to become.
Community Reviews
3.83 · 50,321 ratings · 2,526 reviews
Lena rated it
Shelves: non-fiction , how-the-brain-works
This is pretty much the opposite of a self-help book. Instead of telling you how you can be happier, Harvard Psychology professor Gilbert talks about why we are so bad at predicting what will make us happy in the first place. Gilbert is a smooth and entertaining writer, a... Read full review
Trevor rated it
Years ago there was a poster that appeared around Melbourne of a young man with one of those far away looks in his eyes. The photo in the poster was extreme close up and the expression on the young mans face was that which I believe only comes from religious ecstasy or a... Read full review
Carmen rated it
Recommends it for: People with NO psychology background
When we imagine future circumstances, we fill in details that won't really come to pass and leave out details that will. When we imagine future feelings, we find it impossible to ignore what we are feeling now and impossible to recognize how we will think about the things... Read full review
Rebecca rated it
Shelves: pop-science
This is another one of those books, like Blink or Outliers, where an author applies science in an unorthodox way, flings a bunch of interesting anecdotes and studies at you, and pretends to draw more conclusions than are actually warrented. You can tell because the cover... Read full review
kareem rated it
We have brains that allow us to predict the future
We predict the future based on past memories
BUT our past memories are falliable: we tend to fill in details in our memories - we remember things not as they actually happened, but as we think they happened when we think ab... Read full review
We predict the future based on past memories
BUT our past memories are falliable: we tend to fill in details in our memories - we remember things not as they actually happened, but as we think they happened when we think ab... Read full review
Inder rated it
Shelves: couldntfinish
Is it just me, or is the author of this book unusually cocky in his writing style? Gilbert reiterates a bunch of basic ideas that any normal, reasonably intelligent person should already have arrived at (like, you shouldn't judge another person's life without all of the f... Read full review
Caitlin rated it
Recommends it for: anyone except most moralists and libertarians... so... none of my friends. ;b
Shelves: psychology , american
April 2007, first impression: So far, this book is witty, eye-opening and really fun. Also really well researched. He references Daniel C. Dennett in the first five pages, so how could I not love it?
May 2007, upon completion: Update...
Ultimately, I decided to give this b... Read full review
May 2007, upon completion: Update...
Ultimately, I decided to give this b... Read full review
Foster rated it
Shelves: economics
I just finished Daniel Gilberts new book, and its highly recommended. Next time in Cambridge, Ill be asking him to join me at Grafton Street for a Guinness (youll get this if you read the book).
He uses one of the most humorous and accessible non-fiction, science-related w... Read full review
He uses one of the most humorous and accessible non-fiction, science-related w... Read full review
Thomas rated it
Shelves: nonfiction , psychology
Note: the title reads Stumbling On Happiness, not Stumbling Onto Happiness. Thus, Daniel Gilbert's book does not go into self-help. Rather, it delineates the many errors we humans make when solidifying decisions and how our minds trick us into choosing things that might n... Read full review
Lubinka Dimitrova rated it
Shelves: audio , award-winning , based-on-real-events , brainworx , definitely-should-reread , eye-opening , favorite , did-not-see-it-coming , funny , green-monster-of-jealousy , how-bizarre , male-author , pop-science , supernatural-powers , thought-provoking , the-narrator-nailed-it
A wickedly funny, deeply educating and eye-opening book. I'll continue to fool myself that I know what I'm doing, feeling, seeing and thinking, but thanks to this book, I hope that I'll increase the basic level of happiness to which all people seem to revert to eventually... Read full review
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