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The cover of Stumbling on Happiness

Stumbling on Happiness

Daniel Gilbert, 2006

Daniel Gilbert explains why our brains so often mispredict what will make us happy, from filling in and leaving out details to projecting today's feelings onto tomorrow.

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8 parts, about 21 minutes to read.

Why read it

  • Argues that we misjudge what will make our future selves happy, and that the errors are systematic, like optical illusions
  • Helps you spot how imagination fills in details, borrows today's mood and underrates your resilience, and suggests asking people living it now
  • Built on a stream of clever psychology experiments, written with humor, and it promises no recipe for happiness

Who it is for

  • People weighing a big move, job change or purchase
  • Readers who keep getting what they wanted and feeling let down
  • Students of psychology and decision making

What the summary covers

  1. Foreword2 min
  2. Prospection3 min
  3. Subjectivity3 min
  4. Realism3 min
  5. Presentism3 min
  6. Rationalization3 min
  7. Corrigibility3 min
  8. Afterword1 min

Recommended by

  • Steven D. LevittAuthor of Freakonomics
    Think you know what makes you happy? This absolutely fantastic book that will shatter your most deeply held convictions about how your own mind works.
  • Malcolm GladwellAuthor of Blink
    A psychological detective story about one of the great mysteries of our lives

About the author

  • Daniel GilbertAmerican social psychologist and Edgar Pierce Professor of Psychology at Harvard University
    • Born November 5, 1957; American social psychologist and writer.
    • Dropped out of high school at 15 and spent a year hitchhiking across the United States before earning a GED.
    • Earned a bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of Colorado Denver in 1981 and a PhD in social psychology from Princeton in 1985.
    • Taught at the University of Texas at Austin from 1985 to 1996, then moved to Harvard, where he holds the Edgar Pierce Professorship of Psychology.
    • Known for research with Timothy Wilson of the University of Virginia on affective forecasting, the study of how well people predict their own future feelings.
    • Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2008.
    • Won the William James Award, which his publisher describes as psychology's highest honor.
    • Cowrote and hosted the six hour PBS Nova series This Emotional Life, which aired in January 2010.

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