Some interesting ideas on memory, perception and predicting happiness. But way too long with too many psychological studies. These studies are treated as more factual than they are. While I enjoyed his humor, it was a little overdone. ( )

The author is incredibly funny and persuasive. He's also quite adept at using metaphor to explain complex ideas. I was annoyed at his depressing conclusions, which inferred that we're all chasing an elusive feeling, and the only way to scientifically know how to achieve it is to ask people who are currently experiencing what we want, which no one ever does. Clearly science doesn't include "instill hope for humanity" in its list of aims. ( )

How can you predict how happy you'll be doing something in the future? Ask someone else who is doing that same thing NOW!

Why? Daniel Gilbert explains with wit and humor that psychological studies, observations and experiments show how poorly we remember our emotional states of the past, and how that and our present states color - usually "wrongly" - our imagination/simulations of our future states.

And yet, evolution selected for these seemingly conflicting traits for the benefit of us and the others: If one weren't somewhat deluded into imagining the future could not be better than the present, then one might be content to just remain status quo, and not working for the advancement of society in general.

Read about this and more in Gilbert's wonderful book!

Do note, however, that this is not so much a book that gives prescription for happiness, but rather explains the stumbling blocks that cause us to mis-estimate our happiness. It would seem that other than attempting to gauge future levels of happiness by querying others in the present, that we are always bound (by evolutionary wiring) to otherwise not predict or remember well, and it is difficult or impossible to get around such. Again, that is not necessarily such a bad thing; after all, evolution selected for this. ( )

He has some interesting ideas and research results - the basic premise is that people are not very good at figuring out what will make them happy. However, I really didn't like the style of his writing. The examples he made up to illustrate concepts ended up being more distracting than illustrative, and his humor is not all that funny. ( )

A thoroughly fascinating read that manages to examine neurology, psychology and a few other related disciplines to explain why it is that we're so bad at determining what it is that will make us happy. ( )