The Conquest of Happiness
by Bertrand Russell
Russell's 1930 analysis of what makes people unhappy (competition, boredom, fatigue, envy, the sense of sin, persecution mania, fear of public opinion) and what makes them happy (zest, affection, family, work, impersonal interests, effort and resignation). Lucid, unsentimental and still correct.
Read it if…
you want a philosopher's practical book on happiness with no mysticism.
Skip it if…
you want warmth; Russell is cool.
Three things you will actually use
- Envy is the most unfortunate of the vices.
- Zest is the mark of the happy.
- Impersonal interests are a refuge.
Do this first
Read the chapter on envy and the chapter on zest; they are the two that most readers need.
Our verdict
Lucid and still correct.
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