Books on happiness often seem like unrealistic exercises because the authors write in general terms about things that most of us find very specific and uniquely individual. But some of us keep reading them anyway. The Good Life book is worth reading for a couple of reasons other than happiness being a very tempting subject. The book is a summary of mountains of research with a heavy emphasis on some of the most longitudinal studies ever conducted. Good research can make for very compelling reading.
The second reason that this book is good is that the authors are great story tellers. Not everyone can take decades of research and statistics and create a truly fascinating narrative. The authors have found a way to make this book conversational by including a smattering of personal anecdotes and opinions. The combination of statistical analysis and friendly chat are a part of what makes the book highly readable. If you love research and statistics, this book will be mind candy.
If you are not a sociologist at heart, you can still be confident that the authors have made the information as palatable as any fiction you have ever read. One of the reasons for this similarity to fiction is that there are several people in the book that are followed for essentially their whole lives. The reader gets to know and care about these folks. And then there are useful happiness ideas, such as the meditation question: What's here that I have never noticed before? This book is a blend of philosophy, and research and it makes for rich and meaningful reading. The authors tell us that there is no way to make life perfect, and even if there were, then it would not be a good life. Because a good life is forged from the things that make it hard.
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