Reviews

Zen and the Art of Happiness by Chris Prentiss

annelieb's review against another edition

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4.0

Love this little book, it was a gift from a dear friend <3

pocketfulofrage's review against another edition

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5.0

This was a fantastic book! Sure, a lot of the ideas are already known or somewhat obvious - but the read is easy enough and the reminders are good for you. Overall, I was very happy with the book.

kazzag978's review against another edition

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Great quick read

sapphirestars's review against another edition

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3.0

A few redeemable parts but overall not as enjoyable or as helpful as other things I've read or what I was hoping for.

elmcnik's review against another edition

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hopeful informative reflective relaxing fast-paced

pupgir's review against another edition

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challenging hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective fast-paced

4.25

thejadedhippy's review against another edition

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4.0

There is usefulness here. I'm going to be thinking about this book and working to integrate things from it. Really 3.5 stars is more accurate.

There are also parts of this that concern me. For instance I think it is important that we be troubled by bad things happening in the world that we can contribute to changing. If we just smile at it and say it's happening for our benefit or it's not our concern because it's not happening to us -- I think that's pretty awful. As other reviewers have pointed out, there are aspects of this book that seem very primed towards people who live comfortably but are still unhappy.

rpmohn's review against another edition

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3.0

For the most part, I really liked this book. It's a lovely distillation of some good parts of Eastern Philosophy and it mixes in some modern scientific research to back it up. Around chapter 6 (of 10) it gets a little preachy and includes a bit too much about the author's addiction cure business for my taste, but the concluding chapter comes back around to a good place.

gbdill's review against another edition

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1.0

I didn't finish the book. It didn't take long before it felt like your typical feel good self help book. That if you just believe in a positive outcome, then it will certainly become true. While totally disregarding true suffering in which happiness may not necessarily be the intended outcome. I saw very little eastern Zen but a lot of western pseudo-psychobabble. After all, this was written by a wealthy southern Californian businessman who runs an expensive therapy center in Malibu, California.

jamerrs03's review against another edition

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5.0

One of my all time favorite books. Goal is to re-read this once every year. Helps put your mind into a better perspective in life.