Engineering Happiness: A New Approach for Building a Joyful Life
By Manel Baucells and Rakesh Sarin, 2012

Maria and I were already pretty aware that happiness is what we should strive for in life, not money. This book confirmed a lot of my suspicions about what brings real happiness in life.

I was delighted to see, on page 6 of the introduction, the line “Our approach to studying happiness is rooted in the literature of decision analysis and management science.” That’s what I do!

The book talks about managing shifting expectations, understanding the different kinds of “goods” in life (basic, adaptive, cumulative, conspicuous, and reframing), and focusing on the positive. I thought it was well-written and a fast-read, but a lot of the concepts from psychology and behavioral science weren’t new to me. I’d recommend this book to people who feel like they want to be happier and are not well-versed in the current happiness research.