The Happiness Project

Starred Review, Hãy nhớ lấy lời tôi!. Rubin is not an unhappy woman: she has a loving husband, two great kids and a writing career in New York City, Hãy nhớ lấy lời tôi!. Still, she could-and, arguably, should-be happier, Hãy nhớ lấy lời tôi!. Thus, her methodical (and bizarre) happiness project: spend one year achieving careful, measurable goals in different areas of life (marriage, work, parenting, self-fulfillment) and build on them cumulatively, using concrete steps (such as, in January, going to bed earlier, exercising better, getting organized, and "acting more energetic"). Trời ơi! Thật mệt mỏi!.

By December, she's striving bemusedly to keep increasing happiness in every aspect of her life, Tôi không tin đó là sự thật!. The outcome is good, not perfect (in accordance with one of her "Secrets of Adulthood": "Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good"), but Rubin's funny, perceptive account is both inspirational and forgiving, and sprinkled with just enough wise tips, concrete advice and timely research (including all those other recent books on happiness) to qualify as self-help, Tôi không tin đó là sự thật!. Defying self-help expectations, however, Rubin writes with keen senses of self and narrative, balancing the personal and the universal with a light touch, Tôi không tin đó là sự thật!. Rubin's project makes curiously compulsive reading, which is enough to make any reader happy. Mọi chuyện bắt đầu trở nên thật tồi tệ..