Nic Marks

Terrific little essay on personal and national well-being; instead of focusing on GDP/economic growth/materialism, we should cultivate other intangible (and, therefore, difficult to measure) qualities. I really like the emphasis on sustainability & environmental impact, and resonate with the essay's theme: that our current well-being should not come at the expense of the happiness of future generations!!

This is really a long essay rather than a book as such, but interesting. Drawing together economics and psychology, it describes how we (individuals as well as nations) have been mistakenly pursuing wealth when we should be pursuing well-being, specifically sustainable well-being. It seems to have been written just as the coalition government took over and the optimistic bit about Cameron made me squirm, but that doesn't mean that the suggestions for improvements (5 for individuals and 7 for show more nations) don't hold. show less

Good big picture rehashing of familiar themes - this topic gets actually interesting only if the practical measurements associated with happiness are tested and evaluated in sociology and measurable impact is identified. otherwise it's another metric that makes us feel better