Happiness

This step-by-step guide to achieving happiness is the most significant book of its kind since Daniel Goleman's runaway bestseller, Emotional Intelligence. 'A remarkable book. It is hard to imagine a more convincing guide to that elusive thing: happiness' Pankaj Mishra. Although we are materially better off than ever before, surveys show that we are depressed and listless. In his revolutionary book, Buddhist monk Matthieu Ricard shows that happiness is not just an emotion, but a skill that can be developed. Free of jargon, Happiness contains simple exercises that will train the mind to recognize and pursue happiness by concentrating on the fundamental things in life, and in doing so change the way we view the world. Matthieu Ricard exhorts us to realize the toxic, self-harming nature of anger and envy, get off the roller coaster of alternating happiness and unhappiness, and instead experience the pleasure of being calmly alive and aware. - Sunday Times

Matthieu Ricard is a Buddhist monk who had a promising career in cellular genetics before leaving France to study Buddhism in the Himalayas thirty-five years ago. He is a bestselling author, translator and photographer, and an active participant in current scientific research on the effects of meditation on the brain. He lives and works on humanitarian projects in Tibet and Nepal. Happiness was published by Atlantic Books in 2007.