Daniel Todd Gilbert
Author of Stumbling on Happiness
About the Author
Works by Daniel Todd Gilbert
Associated Works
What Is Your Dangerous Idea? Today's Leading Thinkers on the Unthinkable (2007) — Contributor — 668 copies, 8 reviews
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Other names
- Gilbert, Daniel T.
Gilbert, Daniel - Birthdate
- 1957-11-05
- Gender
- male
- Occupations
- professor (psychology ∙ Harvard University)
- Organizations
- Harvard University (psychology professor)
- Awards and honors
- Phi Beta Kappa Teaching Prize
Guggenheim Fellowship - Nationality
- USA
- Places of residence
- Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
- Associated Place (for map)
- Massachusetts, USA
Members
Reviews
I heard about this book on the Freakonomics podcast and was instantly intrigued. This is not a self-help book on how to be happy - it’s a rigorous scientific examination of why we’re so bad at predicting what will make us happy in the future. And it’s extremely thought-provoking!
Gilbert is a fast talker, but otherwise he does an excellent job with the audio narration. He presents compelling evidence to support his ideas, and I was totally with him, point for point, until the very end, show more when he tries to argue that the drive to accumulate wealth and have kids is a sort of self-propagating social conspiracy basically unrelated to personal happiness. I couldn’t really get on board with that, but it’s a side argument that’s not critical to the main idea.
But whether you buy all of Gilbert’s arguments or not, Stumbling on Happiness is still a really interesting read, and I guarantee that you will find something in it that relates to your own experiences in some way. It’s not a long book, but it’s dense with ideas. Humor interspersed throughout keeps it from getting dry. Overall, this is a fascinating listen that I’m very glad I came across and will definitely be chewing over for a while. show less
Gilbert is a fast talker, but otherwise he does an excellent job with the audio narration. He presents compelling evidence to support his ideas, and I was totally with him, point for point, until the very end, show more when he tries to argue that the drive to accumulate wealth and have kids is a sort of self-propagating social conspiracy basically unrelated to personal happiness. I couldn’t really get on board with that, but it’s a side argument that’s not critical to the main idea.
But whether you buy all of Gilbert’s arguments or not, Stumbling on Happiness is still a really interesting read, and I guarantee that you will find something in it that relates to your own experiences in some way. It’s not a long book, but it’s dense with ideas. Humor interspersed throughout keeps it from getting dry. Overall, this is a fascinating listen that I’m very glad I came across and will definitely be chewing over for a while. show less
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 show more 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. show less
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 show more 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. show less
Every psychologist vows to one day complete the sentence, “The human being is the only animal that . . .”
Most wait until late in their careers to complete the sentence. They know, intuitively, the worse they do, the better they will be remembered. In this book, Daniel Gilbert, a psychology professor at Harvard College argues “The human being is the only animal that thinks about the future.”
In a witty, well-written and insightful fashion, he uses the latest research in psychology, show more cognitive neuroscience, philosophy and behavioral economics to illustrate our ability to imagine the future and our capacity to predict whether we will like it when we arrive there.
Foresight is a fragile commodity. Happiness is not found using a simple formula. In answering “the question,” Gilbert entertains while he illuminates many of the reasons why we stumble in our visions of the future. The subject is not new, but Gilbert’s treatment is novel, perceptive and amusing.
Penned by the Pointed Pundit
December 9, 2006
12:04:35 PM show less
Most wait until late in their careers to complete the sentence. They know, intuitively, the worse they do, the better they will be remembered. In this book, Daniel Gilbert, a psychology professor at Harvard College argues “The human being is the only animal that thinks about the future.”
In a witty, well-written and insightful fashion, he uses the latest research in psychology, show more cognitive neuroscience, philosophy and behavioral economics to illustrate our ability to imagine the future and our capacity to predict whether we will like it when we arrive there.
Foresight is a fragile commodity. Happiness is not found using a simple formula. In answering “the question,” Gilbert entertains while he illuminates many of the reasons why we stumble in our visions of the future. The subject is not new, but Gilbert’s treatment is novel, perceptive and amusing.
Penned by the Pointed Pundit
December 9, 2006
12:04:35 PM show less
A fascinating tour around the inside of your very own skull.
Wow things make a lot more sense now I have read this. It is yet to be seen if knowing this stuff will mean I change anything, according to the book itself probably not, but I think knowing how your own mind works does help you cope with it better when it is mis-behaving.
Lots of anecdotes to illustrate his points which actually turn out to be scientific studies, so you get the entertainment and the facts in one go.
Written like he is show more whispering into your ear. No he isn't point scoring he is just as human/bad/good at this stuff as the rest of us.
A good suggestion for any misanthropists out there.
A clear solution to feeling happy whihc of course no one will ever take any heed of.
Entertaining, enlightening and full of "Hey listen to this . . . " moments.
He is now on my reading list. show less
Wow things make a lot more sense now I have read this. It is yet to be seen if knowing this stuff will mean I change anything, according to the book itself probably not, but I think knowing how your own mind works does help you cope with it better when it is mis-behaving.
Lots of anecdotes to illustrate his points which actually turn out to be scientific studies, so you get the entertainment and the facts in one go.
Written like he is show more whispering into your ear. No he isn't point scoring he is just as human/bad/good at this stuff as the rest of us.
A good suggestion for any misanthropists out there.
A clear solution to feeling happy whihc of course no one will ever take any heed of.
Entertaining, enlightening and full of "Hey listen to this . . . " moments.
He is now on my reading list. show less
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Statistics
- Works
- 9
- Also by
- 5
- Members
- 4,686
- Popularity
- #5,385
- Rating
- 3.8
- Reviews
- 108
- ISBNs
- 56
- Languages
- 9