For me this book was a slow read but I like the concept of the book and I believe that society as a whole would do better, if we had more people teaching these truths. Perhaps if people knew it was normal to have these ebbs and flows of happiness in their relationships, there would be lower rates of divorce.

The key things I took away from the book was the importance of gratitude and remembering (how things use to be) plays into us having fulfilling lives. In the end, I was reminded of a saying I heard sometime ago—happiness is about happenings. And truth is that sometimes in life the happenings aren't so good but we can still choose to walk in joy.

I was provided a complimentary copy of the book through TLC Book Tours. No other compensation was provided. See the complete review at: The Watered Soul ( )

Uno de los mejores libros sobre felicidad. La autora se aleja de las recetas fáciles y aporta toda una serie de evidencias científicas que desmontan los mitos más extendidos en nuestra cultura sobre el hecho de ser feliz. Muy bien documentado, una estructura clara y fácil de leer.

I felt like I had already learned elsewhere much of what was in this book. However, for those who haven't read up much on the science of happiness, this should be a reasonably interesting read. ( )

I read children’s picture books and travel narratives and creative nonfiction and literary fiction and Books About Happiness.

Yes, Books About Happiness. It’s one of my favorite genres.

I’ve read Learned Optimism by Martin Seligman and Happiness: Lessons from a New Science by Richard Leyman and Gretchen Rubin’s Happiness Project and Happier at Home and the Dalai Lama’s The Art of Happiness and Sonja Lyubomirsky’s earlier book, The How of Happiness.

How could I pass up Lyubomirsky’s new book, The Myths of Happiness?

Of course I couldn’t.

And I am happy to report that reading it was four hours happily spent.

Lyubomirsky’s underlying theme relies on the truth of two quotes: Pasteur reminds us, “Chance favors the prepared mind,” and Socrates notes, “He who is not contented with what he has, Would not be contented with what he would like to have.”

Chapter by chapter, Lyubomirsky examines all the myths of happiness we Americans hide in our hearts---all the I’ll Be Happy When’s and all the I Can’t Be Happy If’s---and explodes them, using a lovely combination of scientific research and case studies.

Turns out, we are much more resilient than we think we are. We keep walking through great traumas with scarcely more than a few months’ dip in happiness. We keep walking through great good fortune with scarcely more than a few months’ rise in happiness.

Interesting. Unexpected. Good to know. ( )