Authentic Happiness: Using the New Positive Psychology to Realize Your Potential for Lasting Fulfillment

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Authentic Happiness: Using the New Positive Psychology to Realize Your Potential for Lasting Fulfillment

3.9 of 5 stars 3.90 · rating details · 2,660 ratings · 175 reviews

A national bestseller, Authentic Happiness launched the revolutionary new science of Positive Psychology—and sparked a coast-to-coast debate on the nature of real happiness.

According to esteemed psychologist and bestselling author Martin Seligman, happiness is not the result of good genes or luck. Real, lasting happiness comes from focusing on one’s personal strengths rath...more

Paperback, 336 pages

Published December 30th 2003 by Atria Books (first published August 27th 2002)

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Feb 28, 2013 Chris Walker rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

My father gave me Dale Carnegie's How to Stop Worrying and Start Living to read as an anxious adolescent. Later I read Norman Vincent Peale. This book mentions how Norman Vincent Peale's positive thinking grew out of early Protestantism (Methodism) in the United States and the notion of our having a free will to better ourselves (rather than being passive vessels waiting to be filled with grace). The author asks the question as to whether the development of Positive Psychology, the program at th...more My father gave me Dale Carnegie's How to Stop Worrying and Start Living to read as an anxious adolescent. Later I read Norman Vincent Peale. This book mentions how Norman Vincent Peale's positive thinking grew out of early Protestantism (Methodism) in the United States and the notion of our having a free will to better ourselves (rather than being passive vessels waiting to be filled with grace). The author asks the question as to whether the development of Positive Psychology, the program at the heart of this book, is just positive thinking "warmed over". He argues that Positive Psychology is "tied to a program of empirical and replicable scientific activity". Of course it is. (His later comment that social science, no matter how sophisticated, never predicts more than 50 per cent of the variance of anything, rather deflates his argument.) He goes on to say that while positivity is linked in many studies with later health, longevity, sociability and success, the balance of the evidence of many studies suggests that in some situations (such as "when an airplane pilot is deciding whether to de-ice the wings of *her* airplane") negative thinking leads to more accuracy and in some situations "we should all be pessimists". Amen to that. This book was published in 2002 and the author briefly mentions the 9/11 terrorist attacks in his End Notes, calling for prevention of future attacks rather than vengeance which he abhors. The attacks, and the 2008 world economic crisis, must have put the skids under his optimistic belief that we're headed towards nirvana since the evolutionary "process that selects for more complexity is ultimately aimed at nothing less than omniscience, omnipotence and goodness." All that being said, it appears the way to "authentic happiness" (as opposed to inauthentic happiness, you understand) is largely what the early positive thinkers have always told us: count your blessings, express gratitude, find a calling, money won't buy happiness, forgive others who wrong you ... etc etc. It also helps to have optimism and hope which will cause "better resistance to depression when bad events strike; better performance at work and better physical health." Yes, but ...(less)

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Apr 07, 2011 Tera added it

The cover of this book seems pretty pathetic; I'll be the first to admit I was put off by it. 'Authentic happiness' from one little book. Right... However, it was recommended to me by a professional therapist, so I bought it. I'm just making my way through the preface, and I'm already pleased. Who doesn't love a good dig into Freud? Here's a quote I liked:

"Freud's philosophy, as bizarre as it sounds when laid out so starkly, finds its way into daily psychological and psychiatric practice, wherei...more

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May 07, 2013 Anne Rosales rated it 3 of 5 stars

I listened to the unabridged audio version of this book, which worked out well, as it's probably not something you need to focus 100% of your attention on. I really enjoyed the first few chapters, where Seligman lays out the basis for studying "positive psychology" -- how to increase one's experience of positive emotion/states of being, versus how to decrease one's experience of the effects of psychological trauma or disorders.

I also enjoyed taking the self-assessment quizzes at Seligman's websi...more

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Dec 03, 2012 Alzbetah added it

In his book Authentic Happiness, Martin Seligman argues for the importance of a positive outlook on life and valuing personal strengths versus personal weaknesses. The book is divided into three parts. Although, the content bleeds through to all the sections, each has their own domain. Part one focuses on convincing the reader just how powerful positive emotion is and the history of psychology both positive and negative. In the early portion of this section, he makes the point that psychology, n...more In his book Authentic Happiness, Martin Seligman argues for the importance of a positive outlook on life and valuing personal strengths versus personal weaknesses. The book is divided into three parts. Although, the content bleeds through to all the sections, each has their own domain. Part one focuses on convincing the reader just how powerful positive emotion is and the history of psychology both positive and negative. In the early portion of this section, he makes the point that psychology, nowadays, tends to focus all of its attention on treating those who are already ill and not preventing people from getting ill in the first place. He illustrates the power of positivity by discussing several studies concerning happiness such as a comparison of the longevity of nuns done in the 1990s that showed nuns with a positive attitude lived longer and were more satisfied than other nuns. Among the scientific proof that Seligman provides he weaves in a great deal of his own experiences with finding the concept of positive psychology and using it in his own life. Because of this, the book often takes on a more novel feel. Part two centers around strengths and virtues and how we can go about finding and utilizing them. In this portion, Seligman argues for the value of character, which has been lost over time and was replaced in the scientific world by “personality” and the importance of using your strengths in everyday life. He also provides a short quiz to determine the reader’s strengths. The last section, part three, discusses how to improve three key aspects of life: job satisfaction, marriage, and child rearing. Here, Seligman moves further into his discussion about jobs and how to turn it into a calling and provides insights into relationships such as how to solve an issue without arguing and yelling. The last portion about raising children managed to intrigue me several times with notions such as having an infant sleep in the same bed as the parents is actually beneficial for the child.
The book has its share of repetitiveness since, as I have mentioned, many of the concepts bleed through to other chapters. Personally, I found it helpful since by chapter seven it is not difficult to forget what chapter two’s main point was. However, at some points the “didn’t I read about this before” effect was there. Yet, even through that, the organization of the book was well laid out and had helpful aids along the way such as quizzes and the occasional summary at the end of a chapter. Also, since the book has been around since 2002, many of the findings are actually taught in school. So, especially those who studied psychology might find they already know about many of the theories and studies he discusses.
The content of the book was relevant for all people since, unless I am mistaken and there are people who just really hope their life will be filled with despair, everyone seeks happiness in their life. Seligman not only used well known studies to prove his point, but also personal interaction with professionals and life learning experiences from his own life. He often used bullet points to make major points clear and provided a much mapped out path towards improvement in positivity. Also, although one of Seligman’s main points in the book is that optimists are better off than pessimists, he doesn’t neglect to show the good side of pessimism such as that on a day to day level they make more realistic decisions. Of course, the study through which he proved this also showed that optimists make realistic decisions when it really matters for the long run.
The numerous in-book quizzes were helpful at estimating personal levels of happiness, values and strengths, optimism, etc. However, they were not always accurate. Thankfully, the author admits this and shares that even his own results seemed a bit off to him. Yet, it would be unfair to not mention that he provided links to online versions of the quizzes that were apparently much more accurate.
Throughout the course of the book, Seligman makes a compelling argument for the use of positivity and strengths at work and in our personal lives. Some points are made more than once and can be familiar to those who study psychology. However, it is still a good read if you like self help-books that are uplifting rather than depress you with facts and numbers without offering a plausible way of improving.
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Sep 07, 2012 Patrick rated it 2 of 5 stars

Is this authentic happiness?

JDN 2456177 EDT 13:59.

When I started Authentic Happiness, I had the highest hopes—that this might finally be the way out of my depression. When I finished reading it, I felt even more hopeless and depressed. Now that I've had some time to reflect on it, I just feel ambivalent and disappointed.
Seligman promises to offer us a fundamentally new approach to psychology, focused not on curing illness but on supporting flourishing, not on treating depression but on creating...more Is this authentic happiness?

JDN 2456177 EDT 13:59.

When I started Authentic Happiness, I had the highest hopes—that this might finally be the way out of my depression. When I finished reading it, I felt even more hopeless and depressed. Now that I've had some time to reflect on it, I just feel ambivalent and disappointed.
Seligman promises to offer us a fundamentally new approach to psychology, focused not on curing illness but on supporting flourishing, not on treating depression but on creating happiness. He promises to build a foundation for this program based on honest appraisal of personal strengths and a life of virtue.
He... does not succeed. He does not completely fail, and perhaps he points us in that general direction, but he doesn't get us there.
The worst parts are when he tells us the key to happiness lies in self-delusion. He doesn't do this often, but once would be too many. The delusion he most commonly advocates is what he calls “optimism”; optimism might sound like a good thing, but listen to how Seligman defines it. For Seligman, an optimist believes that good things are always personal, permanent, and pervasive, while bad things are always impersonal, temporary, and local. Of course, this is simply not true. In reality, both good and bad things can be either personal or not, permanent or not, pervasive or not.
In fact, I think my depression involves a delusional level of pessimism, believing that bad things are worse than they really are and good things are not as good as they really are. So in that sense, I should be recalibrating my perception. But Seligman doesn't help us to recalibrate to the truth; instead he tells us that higher optimism is always better, even if it makes you into a raving maniac.
One thing I really do try to do is repeat a list of affirmations about good things in my life. But when I do this, one criterion is absolute: They must be true. Without this requirement, the whole enterprise falls apart; we might as well be wireheads. This is not authentic happiness at all, but happiness founded upon lies.
Most of the time, Seligman actually seems to appreciate this, and encourages us to focus on our real strengths instead of pretending we have strengths we truly lack. But about once a chapter or so, he slips, and tells us that we should nurture positive illusions. It's weird; for him there doesn't seem to be a big difference between happiness due to good things and happiness due to delusional attitudes. For me, the difference is absolutely fundamental.
It was Seligman's slips that triggered my despair on the train ride home from Chicago. I realize now that it was an overreaction, but this was my thought process: 1. People with positive illusions are happier. 2. Therefore, the only way to be happy is to delude yourself. 3. Therefore, life is awful; anyone who sees life as it truly is will be unhappy. 4. Therefore, life is pointless and we may as well just die.
I'm sure this is not what Seligman intended to say. But at least in that dark moment, it was what I heard. And it is what I still hear, from hedonists on the Internet who literally can't understand why I would rather be honestly sad than delusionally happy, why I would want to live an authentic and virtuous life when I could simply drug myself into bliss. They are, in short, wireheads—or pre-wireheads waiting for the technology to mature.
If Seligman truly believes in authentic happiness, he needs to be much more careful to exclude this kind of thinking. He must say, “You should be more optimistic—if you are currently too pessimistic. You should focus on your strengths more—if you currently focus too much on your weaknesses. You should have more self-esteem—if you are currently self-effacing.” Without that proviso, he comes off as saying that it's just fine to be a wireheaded narcissist. And a lot of people apparently really believe that!(less)

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Aug 21, 2011 Stringy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Fascinating book from the man who decided that the psychology of mental illness needed to be paired with research into mental wellness. Seligman believes there's more to mental good health than the mere abscence of illness or sadness, and has inspired a group of researchers to work with him on creating a new branch of psychology to figure it out.

He catalogues the different ways of being happy: about the past, the future and the present. He focuses mostly on present happiness, dividing it into tw...more

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Jun 26, 2011 Jennifer rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction, from-library, popular-psychology

I'd known about Seligmman's work for quite some time. I first started taking questionnaires at his website back in 2008. The fact that three years later, I still haven't taken them all, should be a pretty good indicator that I've never been converted to a true believer. But I do keep coming back, so there are aspects of his work that I find interesting.

This book and the test center at his website are really tie-ins to each other. It was because my results kept saying "for more information, see t...more I'd known about Seligmman's work for quite some time. I first started taking questionnaires at his website back in 2008. The fact that three years later, I still haven't taken them all, should be a pretty good indicator that I've never been converted to a true believer. But I do keep coming back, so there are aspects of his work that I find interesting.

This book and the test center at his website are really tie-ins to each other. It was because my results kept saying "for more information, see the book," that I finally read the book. And while the book includes at least basic versions of all the tests, the book constantly refers you to the website to take the tests there. The website is nice in that it keeps track of all your results for you and records when you took each test.

I should back up. The intention of this book is to be a sort of handbook to the relatively new science of positive psychology. Of course, as you may have gathered from my review so far, it comes across as more of a guidebook to the current tests and surveys of the positive psychology movement. Which is, I suppose, a good place to start from, but I found myself wishing Seligman went a little further with it. Instead, each section introduced the concept behind some test, talked about why it was important, gave the test, discussed why certain answers were indicators of important behaviors/attitudes, and discussed the results. A few tips were given for "improvement" in that category, and then on to the next test!

Okay, so really, that only comprises the first half of the book. In the second half, Seligman deals with the concept of "signature strengths," which I am very interested in and was the tipping point for me to seek out the book in the first place. A group of researchers examined many of the cultures and religions of the world and came up with a list of 24 virtues or strengths that had near-universal appreciation. Their theory is, rather than dwelling on the virtues we are weakest in, true gratification and fulfillment comes from arranging our lives in such a way that we are using our signature strengths as much as possible.

This idea really appeals to me, and the last section of the book had some lovely suggestions on recognizing and supporting the strengths of our spouse and our children. There was some lip service given to using your strengths at work, but the "how" to do this seemed to be left a little vague.

The very last section on meaning and purpose was utterly fascinating as it referenced Asimov's "The Last Question," and fed directly into the future-focused theology I seem to be building into. Seligman and I have some philosophical differences that I found mildly irritating during a few points of the book, but this theory as a conclusion for the book was a very validating moment that greatly upped the chances that I'll pick up another work by Seligman in the future. (less)

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Feb 01, 2011 Brent rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: self-improvement

Once again I don't think of myself as someone who reads many self-improvement books, but I did it again.

I valued the main point in this book, but I don't think it's the ultimate solution the way Seligman describes it. The author relates that in the history of psychology, much of the practice has been focused on the negative: people's social problems, delusions, irrational behavior, depression, etc. He argues that this often ends up being counter-productive where people focusing on everything th...more

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Jan 16, 2011 Alletia rated it 4 of 5 stars

Seligman as father of Positive Psychology is a convincing advocate for augmenting the disease model of traditional psychology and for broadening the base of those who understand the benefits of promoting authentic happiness. While most of what he describes does not sound new, the read is worth while as it backs up all those long held beliefs buried in the self help sections of bookshops with solid emperical evidence. I could not help feeling almost validated and clever in recognising some of my...more

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May 10, 2010 Starfire rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: psychology, philosophy, self-help

Authentic Happiness was a fairly good book. I've used italics there because, given how much useful material was in it, I'm kind of surprised I didn't enjoy this book more than I actually did.

I liked Seligman's emphasis on focussing on your "signature strengths" - the things you're naturally good at and derive pleasure and satisfaction from using in the workplace and in your general life (mine appear to be - very strongly - curiousity, love of learning, and love of beauty, which I can totally go...more Authentic Happiness was a fairly good book. I've used italics there because, given how much useful material was in it, I'm kind of surprised I didn't enjoy this book more than I actually did.

I liked Seligman's emphasis on focussing on your "signature strengths" - the things you're naturally good at and derive pleasure and satisfaction from using in the workplace and in your general life (mine appear to be - very strongly - curiousity, love of learning, and love of beauty, which I can totally go with); rather than constantly trying to play catchup with the things you're not good at in an attempt to be a totally rounded person.

I found his take on the nature/nurture argument and the discussions around the historical changes in popularity of studying character interesting, although not 100% convincing; and I also very much enjoyed the scientific, methodical deconstruction of what, exactly, optimism is and how it can be cultivated... all without an affirmation or guided visualisation in sight (not that I have anything against affirmations or visualisations - they're great techniques if you're someone they work for - but I know all too many people who are left cold by them, and this is another, far more pragmatic path to the same destination).

I found some of the questions in the Signature Strengths questionnaire dubious - they're all a/ or b/ questions where you have to pick the answer that's most like your reaction, and for a large number of them, my response is "neither even a little bit". For example, there's one where you "prepared a special meal for a friend and s/he barely touched the food", and you have a choice of whether your reaction is "I'm not a good cook" or "I made the meal in a rush". My immediate reaction would be "My friend is unwell, feeling down or just not hungry". Similarly there's another one where "You lose a sporting event for which you have been training for a long time" and your options are "I'm not very athletic" or "I'm not good at that sport". How about "I didn't train often enough" or "I didn't do the right kind of training" or "My opponents were better than I thought they'd be"?

That said, there *was* good material in this book, and I think it's definitely worth reading if positive psychology is your thing. I think I'll be picking up a copy of Learned Optimism from the library at some point. I've given the book a 7.5/10, but I'm kind of ambivalent about the rating... meh - it'll have to do.(less)

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Dec 29, 2012 Lisa Sipe rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: well-being

I am reading a selection of books from the field of positive psychology. I selected this one based on my understanding that Martin Seligman is one of the founding fathers of the field.

The first half of the book is devoted to understanding the components of happiness, the mutability of one's level of happiness and the mindset that best fosters it. Much of the research in this half will be familiar to one who has read any of the positive psychology books.

1. There are significant intellectual, phy...more I am reading a selection of books from the field of positive psychology. I selected this one based on my understanding that Martin Seligman is one of the founding fathers of the field.

The first half of the book is devoted to understanding the components of happiness, the mutability of one's level of happiness and the mindset that best fosters it. Much of the research in this half will be familiar to one who has read any of the positive psychology books.

1. There are significant intellectual, physical and social benefits to being happy.
2. There are happiness variables under your voluntary control that can noticeably and lastingly increase your level of happiness.
3. You can feel more happiness about your past by:
a. letting go of the (false) belief that your past determines your future,
b. increasing your gratitude about the good things in your past, and
c. learning how to forgive past wrongs.
4. Using techniques (disputation)to increase optimism and hope will increase your satisfaction with your future.
5. Happiness is the present is derived from pleasures and gratifications.
a. Pleasures can be increased by avoiding habituation, savoring and mindfulness.
b. Gratifications are more enduring, and of the same nature as "flow" activities (see Csikszentmihalyi).

The second half of the book addresses how to get more gratifications in your life. This is the part of most interest to me. While I have read Flow, Csikszentmihalyi stops short of explaining how one might achieve more flow activities. Seligman's premise is that identifying then increasing the application of your signature strengths in the three main areas of life, work, love and parenting, will lead to a life of deeper gratification.

While this section of the book was interesting, it is not a research driven as the first half. And, the suggestions for applying signature strengths are also not as specific as one might hope. So while the content was interesting, it wasn't really what I was after. Could I find a way to apply more signature strengths in my current job? Probably. Would that elevate it to a vocation? No. Is his advice on love basically sound? Sure. But, the advice that a happy relationship is founded on the belief that one is irreplaceable to their mate *AND* that irreplacability derives from one's unique signature strengths seems to me to be an incomplete analysis of a happy, loving relationship. The chapter on raising children focuses on ensuring they enjoy lots of positive emotions in their early years and discovering and supporting their signature strengths as they mature. The final chapter postulates that a "good" life comes from using one's strengths every day. A "meaningful" life comes from using those strengths in the service of something larger than one's self: knowledge, power or goodness.(less)

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Mar 03, 2013 Dayla rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: health-and-nutrition, self-help

I loved this book. This book helped me to perfect the ability to "replace negative and all encompassing" thoughts with more neutral and more local thoughts. For example, one could say, "Everyone hates me." But after reading this book, I would be able to replace that with, "Well, not everyone hates you. A few people, like _____, _______, and _______ still like you. And not only that, do you really care if people hate you because you are holding them accountable at work?" Usually, this would help...more

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Feb 10, 2010 Stef Wakeman rated it 4 of 5 stars

I picked up this book randomly, while traveling through Costa Rica. The title itself turned me off, but I was desperate for an English language book and would have read anything at that point. I was wonderfully surprised by this book- a self-help book on promoting optimism and freedom from negative thought patterns that is pragmatic, research driven and interesting to read. Seligman is a professor at the University of Pennsylvania and has a very useful website in conjunction with the book, where...more

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Sep 06, 2011 Danielle rated it 4 of 5 stars

Authentic Happiness is an important introduction to Positive Psychology-- the science of understanding and furthering what's right rather than what's wrong with us. If you are disenchanted with mainstream psychology's emphasis on disorder and prescribed solutions, and if you want to enhance and make permanent the good things in life, you will find this book instructive and encouraging. Seligman simplifies a budding but complicated scientific discipline into an approachable read. He has a compani...more

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Jul 10, 2012 Lisa Ryan rated it 5 of 5 stars

As the "Father of Positive Psychology," Martin Seligman does a wonderful job explaining the importance of this aspect of science. There has been way too much emphasis on what is wrong, and not nearly enough about creating success by looking at the things in life that are going RIGHT. The book is easy to read and understand, and chock-full of research to support his points.

This is one of the books in my recommended reading section in my book The Upside of Down Times: Discovering the Power of Gra ...more

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Jan 14, 2013 Mary rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: happiness, conversation-makers

One of the leaders of Positive Psychology on how what makes us happy, strangely, is our problems, but using our strengths to deal those problems. If a people-person feels trapped as a lawyer, then maybe that person should work more with clients, which a perfectionist type spends more time in the library. Seligman talks a lot about his own personal life, which does make the prose more interesting, but it'd be even better, thinks I, to hear from other real-world examples, just to shake things up a...more

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May 09, 2013 Jonathan Karmel rated it 4 of 5 stars

According to this book, people have a set range of happiness which basically cannot be changed. The rest of happiness is a combination of circumstances (some of which cannot be changed) and things that are voluntary and can be changed. Circumstances that are generally correlated with happiness are living in a wealthy democracy, having friends, getting married, being religious and avoiding bad events and emotions. Once you have the basics, money and education do not increase happiness. While I do...more

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Dec 19, 2012 Ed Gibney rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: influences, polysciphi

What is the meaning of life? Seligman, the founder of positive psychology, lays out some of the best answers we have for this question using scientific research into the human condition. If you want to "know thyself" and lead an "examined life", this is essential reading.

Three early chapters include: Satisfaction about the Past; Optimism about the Future; and Happiness in the Present. These are the temporal perspectives you can develop.

My favorite part of the book was the middle section explaini...more

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Jan 04, 2013 Ayu Puspita Sari rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, psychology, self-help, textbook-handbook

Saya penasaran sama buku ini sejak saya, yang (mengaku sebagai) seorang pesimis dan skeptis akut, mendapat tugas untuk presentasi mengenai Martin Seligman dan POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY!! Ironis.

Setelah tugas berakhir, saya iseng mencari bukunya dan ternyata ada ebook bahasa indonesianya sodara-sodara! Jadilah saya membaca buku ini untuk berusaha lebih mengerti pendapat Seligman dan psikologi positif ~~siapa tahu saya juga bisa berubah dari pesimis sejak lahir menjadi seorang optimis seperti Seligman~~.

Dan...more

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May 19, 2012 Greg Linster rated it 2 of 5 stars

Prior to positive psychology, the study of psychology has always seemed to focus on the negative and how best to treat the diseases of the inherently flawed human mind. Freudian Psychology was based on the assumption that man was intrinsically twisted from childhood experiences. Positive psychology on the other hand, takes a distinctly different approach.

According to Seligman, a "pleasant life", a "good life", and a "meaningful life" are all prerequisites to leading a "full life". Unfortunately,...more

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Nov 24, 2010 Myridian rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: nonfiction, psychology, self-help

Overall this book is a good presentation of the ideas of positive psychology from the father of positive psychology. As much as I hate it when academicians do this, I wish that Seligman had collaborated with an established author. I think the book would have benefitted in both focus and in organization. As it is, the reputation Seligman has for narcissism comes through and affects my reading of most of his anecdotes. Why does Seligman have to include how he saved Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's life a...more

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Apr 05, 2009 Cara rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: life

This is a really good book.

It was slow to start, spending pages upon pages talking about the benefits of being happy. Like, duh, just wanting to be happy isn't a good enough reason? I want to be happier because, uh, I'll be happier?

Other than that, good stuff, though. Concrete suggestions backed by psychological study. Summary:

- Your past doesn't determine your future. Increase your gratitude. Forgive.
- Assume bad things are temporary and isolated to the particular context in which they occur....more

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May 06, 2009 Rebekah rated it 5 of 5 stars

I originally read this book for a college course, where we were actually only supposed to read excerpts. It interested me so much that I read the whole book, but always felt the injustice of being unable to dive as deeply into it as I wanted, since it was my senior year of college, and I was busy with other assignments. This time, I took my time getting through it, stopping and pausing often to think about what I had just read.

I love Martin Seligman. For a little history, he was President of the...more

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Dec 30, 2008 Marie rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: psychologists, anyone who is interested in positive psychology

Shelves: nonfiction

This book took me awhile to get through, but I finally finished it.

Seligman is a psychologist who has pioneered the ideas of "learned optimism" and "positive psychology" (trying to improve people's lives) as opposed to the typical focus on negative psychology (trying to fix people's lives).

The book starts out with a happiness and longevity study done on nuns...in which the nuns were asked to write a short sketch of their lives early in their vocations. The study found that the more optimistic, u...more

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Jan 10, 2009 Nicholas rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: lifestyle, psychology

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Aug 24, 2007 Brenda Pike rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Although from what I've read about Martin Seligman, his suggestions seem practical, the book itself sounds very self-helpy. And I'm wary about taking advice from someone whose early career in learned helplessness focused on giving dogs electric shocks until they were so depressed that they didn't try to escape them anymore. How could a guy who felt okay doing that give *me* advice about happiness?

That said, here are some good points I'm taking away from it:

* Don't be convinced your past determin...more

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Apr 16, 2009 Layla rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book was really dry. I enjoyed Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, written by the other "founder of positive psychology," Mihaly, much much more. In theory, the book was sound; I appreciated the point that the super elite in terms of wealth are only minimally happier compared to the average person whose basic needs are met. I disagreed with the statements regarding early life experience and how it doesn't have any influence on adult behavior -- there's a lot of scientific evidence s...more

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Jul 10, 2012 Adam Bryant rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book is pretty interesting. I reed it at my wife's insistence, because I thought the term 'positive psychology' sounded corny. The book introduced me to a new spin on using psychological science as a way to improve the day-to-day enjoyment of life rather than just to treat mental illness or mental problems. The first half provides an overview of the research, which I thought was interesting, and the latter part provides some self-help stuff, which I mostly skimmed.

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Jul 16, 2011 Margaret rated it 4 of 5 stars

I listened to the abridged audio version, which I listened to twice. I got so much out of it. The meat of it is finding which of the 24 universal personality characteristics are your signature strengths and allowing those to come to fruition in your life rather than focusing on reforming your weaknesses. It's also helpful for focusing on others' personality strengths and seeing their weaknesses as being as inevitable as yours. I picked this somewhat randomly (audio CD from local library, key wor...more

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Jan 16, 2009 Crystal rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: self-help

Don't know that I'll get through the whole book. I like the focus on the positive, instead of fixing what's wrong. The idea is that everyone has strengths, and happiness leads to longevity. The key is to focus on your core strengths, known as virtues (such as the love of learning, relationships, work, etc...) in order to increase your happiness level. Based on the author's research, and I like how he points out which ideas are just theories he generates based on patterns he has seen, and which i...more

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About Martin E.P. Seligman

Seligman is the Zellerbach Family Professor of Psychology in the University of Pennsylvania's Department of Psychology. He was previously the Director of the Clinical Training Program in the department. Seligman was elected President of the American Psychological Association by the widest margin in its history and served in that capacity during the 1998 term.[4] He is the founding editor-in-chief...more

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Books by Martin E.P. Seligman

Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life

Flourish: A Visionary New Understanding of Happiness and Well-being

The Optimistic Child: Proven Program to Safeguard Children from Depression & Build Lifelong Resistance

What You Can Change and What You Can't: The Complete Guide to Successful Self-Improvement

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