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dinamakan's review against another edition
2.0
I bought this book together with another self-help book online. I'm not a huge fan of self-help book, mainly because I don't give a shit about self-help ideas or motivational thoughts any self-help authors trying to sell.
To be honest, I liked the other book more than this one, because the authors of the other book I read offer interesting yet neutral yet not over-generalizing descriptions. In this book, I saw generalization here and there. Maybe these generalization was taken from the social environment where he lived in?
To be honest, I liked the other book more than this one, because the authors of the other book I read offer interesting yet neutral yet not over-generalizing descriptions. In this book, I saw generalization here and there. Maybe these generalization was taken from the social environment where he lived in?
mbatista's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 ☆
Invented self-helpwritten by old ethnocentric white men
Invented self-help
hamroach's review against another edition
4.0
"To be happy in this world, especially when youth is past, it is necessary to feel oneself not merely an isolated individual whose day will soon be over, but part of the stream of life flowing on from the first germ to the remote and unknown future".
Russell's advice throughout the book makes lots of sense and aligns with ways of thinking about the world that I have found to be beneficial. His views on gender relations are dated, but the rest of his words ring true even 86 years after publication.
I also enjoy and agree strongly with his views on individuality and dissent:
"I think that in general, apart from expert opinion, there is too much respect paid to the opinions of others, both in great matters and in small ones. One should as a rule respect public opinion in so far as is necessary to avoid starvation and to keep out of prison, but anything that goes beyond this is voluntary submission to an unnecessary tyranny, and is likely to interfere with happiness in all kinds of ways".
Russell's advice throughout the book makes lots of sense and aligns with ways of thinking about the world that I have found to be beneficial. His views on gender relations are dated, but the rest of his words ring true even 86 years after publication.
I also enjoy and agree strongly with his views on individuality and dissent:
"I think that in general, apart from expert opinion, there is too much respect paid to the opinions of others, both in great matters and in small ones. One should as a rule respect public opinion in so far as is necessary to avoid starvation and to keep out of prison, but anything that goes beyond this is voluntary submission to an unnecessary tyranny, and is likely to interfere with happiness in all kinds of ways".
davidturo's review against another edition
4.0
Aunque me gusta la forma en la que está escrito, he tenido que dejarlo después de 40 minutos de lectura. Me ha parecido un libro demasiado ancaldo a su época y con el cuál es difícil sentirse identificado, principalmente por la cantidad de menciones que hace, al menos durante la primera parte del libro, a épocas pasadas que considero que gran parte de nosotros no conocemos ni remotamente.
adampugs's review against another edition
5.0
One of the most charming little works of philosophy I've ever read. I've gone back to this more than once, and always find it nurturing. Witty, insightful, and clear - Russell brings to light the ways in which we confuse and delude ourselves unknowingly and puts forward practical advice for overcoming such obstacles. Can't recommend this enough!
alterpetrus's review against another edition
3.0
Brillante in alcuni punti, figlio dei suoi tempi in altri. Un testo da leggere.
petertruog's review against another edition
3.0
One of the first self-help / 'happiness' books ever written, it was surely groundbreaking for its time, but has since been duplicated by other 'happiness' books out there. Would be an interesting first 'happiness' book to read, but doesn't contain much new vis-a-vis the others I've read. Russell assumes that people need certain basic things for happiness (e.g., food, shelter, health, etc.) just like many other theories that exist today.
One interesting point that Russel does make is the relationship between "effort" and happiness; if you do not strive for certain goals, for example, happiness is harder to obtain. Pretty self-explanatory now that I write it though, I guess. Some of my favorite quotes:
"The typical unhappy man is one who, having been deprived in youth of some normal satisfaction, has come to value this one kind of satisfaction more than any other, and has therefore given to his life a one-sided direction, together with a quite undue emphasis upon the achievement as opposed to the activities connected with it."
"...to be without some of the things you want is an indisputable part of happiness."
"Love is to be valued in the first instance...as in itself a source of delight...In the second place, love is to be valued because it enhances all the best pleasures, such as music, and sunrise in mountains, and the sea under the full moon."
"The treadmill [of crazy life and burdensome professional responsibility] is one upon which they remain merely because they have not noticed that it fails to take them up to a higher level."
"It is amazing how much both happiness and efficiency can be increased by the cultivation of an orderly mind, which thinks about a matter adequately at the right time rather than inadequately at all times."
"Nothing is so exhausting as indecision, and nothing is as futile."
"The habit of thinking in terms of comparison is a fatal one. When anything pleasant occurs it should be enjoyed to the full, without stopping to think that it is not so pleasant as something else that may possibly be happening to someone else. 'Yes,' says the envious man, 'this is a sunny day and it is springtime and the birds are singing and the flowers are in bloom, but I understand that the springtime in Sicily is a thousand times more beautiful, that the birds sing more exquisitely in the groves of Helicon, and that the rose of Sharon is more lovely than any in my garden.'...the positive sum of pleasures in a modern man's life is undoubtedly greater than was to be found in more primitive communities, but the consciousness of what might be has increased even more."
On travel: "Take again such a matter as travel; some men will travel through many countries, going always to the best hotels, eating exactly the same food as they would eat at home, meeting the same idle rich whom they would meet at home, conversing on the same topics upon which they converse at their own dinner table. When they return, their only feeling is one of relief at having done with the boredom of expensive locomotion. Other men wherever they go see what is characteristic, make the acquaintance of people who typify the locality, observe whatever is of interest, either historically or socially, eat the food of the country, learn its manners and its language, and come home with a new stock of pleasant thoughts for winter evenings."
"In the good life there must be a balance between different activities, and no one of them must be carried so far as to make the others impossible."
"Fear for others is only a shade better than fear for ourselves. Moreover, it is very often a camouflage for possessiveness. It is hoped that by rousing their fears a more complete empire over them can be obtained."
"The man who can forget his work when it is over and not remember it until it begins again the next day is likely to do his work far better than the man who worries about it throughout the intervening hours."
Like Alan Watts: "Undoubtedly, we should desire the happiness of those whom we love, but not as an alternative to our own. In fact the whole antithesis between self and the rest of the world, which is implied in the doctrine of self-denial, disappears as soon as we have any genuine interest in persons or things outside ourselves. Through such interests a man comes to feel himself part of the steam of life, not a hard separate entity like a billiard ball."
One interesting point that Russel does make is the relationship between "effort" and happiness; if you do not strive for certain goals, for example, happiness is harder to obtain. Pretty self-explanatory now that I write it though, I guess. Some of my favorite quotes:
"The typical unhappy man is one who, having been deprived in youth of some normal satisfaction, has come to value this one kind of satisfaction more than any other, and has therefore given to his life a one-sided direction, together with a quite undue emphasis upon the achievement as opposed to the activities connected with it."
"...to be without some of the things you want is an indisputable part of happiness."
"Love is to be valued in the first instance...as in itself a source of delight...In the second place, love is to be valued because it enhances all the best pleasures, such as music, and sunrise in mountains, and the sea under the full moon."
"The treadmill [of crazy life and burdensome professional responsibility] is one upon which they remain merely because they have not noticed that it fails to take them up to a higher level."
"It is amazing how much both happiness and efficiency can be increased by the cultivation of an orderly mind, which thinks about a matter adequately at the right time rather than inadequately at all times."
"Nothing is so exhausting as indecision, and nothing is as futile."
"The habit of thinking in terms of comparison is a fatal one. When anything pleasant occurs it should be enjoyed to the full, without stopping to think that it is not so pleasant as something else that may possibly be happening to someone else. 'Yes,' says the envious man, 'this is a sunny day and it is springtime and the birds are singing and the flowers are in bloom, but I understand that the springtime in Sicily is a thousand times more beautiful, that the birds sing more exquisitely in the groves of Helicon, and that the rose of Sharon is more lovely than any in my garden.'...the positive sum of pleasures in a modern man's life is undoubtedly greater than was to be found in more primitive communities, but the consciousness of what might be has increased even more."
On travel: "Take again such a matter as travel; some men will travel through many countries, going always to the best hotels, eating exactly the same food as they would eat at home, meeting the same idle rich whom they would meet at home, conversing on the same topics upon which they converse at their own dinner table. When they return, their only feeling is one of relief at having done with the boredom of expensive locomotion. Other men wherever they go see what is characteristic, make the acquaintance of people who typify the locality, observe whatever is of interest, either historically or socially, eat the food of the country, learn its manners and its language, and come home with a new stock of pleasant thoughts for winter evenings."
"In the good life there must be a balance between different activities, and no one of them must be carried so far as to make the others impossible."
"Fear for others is only a shade better than fear for ourselves. Moreover, it is very often a camouflage for possessiveness. It is hoped that by rousing their fears a more complete empire over them can be obtained."
"The man who can forget his work when it is over and not remember it until it begins again the next day is likely to do his work far better than the man who worries about it throughout the intervening hours."
Like Alan Watts: "Undoubtedly, we should desire the happiness of those whom we love, but not as an alternative to our own. In fact the whole antithesis between self and the rest of the world, which is implied in the doctrine of self-denial, disappears as soon as we have any genuine interest in persons or things outside ourselves. Through such interests a man comes to feel himself part of the steam of life, not a hard separate entity like a billiard ball."
moconnell96's review against another edition
4.0
"It is in the belief that many people who are unhappy could become happy by well-directed effort that I have written this book."
I enjoyed this one, albeit it has become outdated at some points. I believe the messages Russell put forward here are generally good and on more than one occasion I found myself smiling at the page after being impressed at how succinctly big messages are provided.
Would recommend.
I enjoyed this one, albeit it has become outdated at some points. I believe the messages Russell put forward here are generally good and on more than one occasion I found myself smiling at the page after being impressed at how succinctly big messages are provided.
Would recommend.
thehappybooker's review against another edition
3.0
Russell's casual sexism and racism is so jarring that I'm having a difficult time setting them aside to absorb his message. For a philosopher of some note, I'm surprised and disappointed that he didn't examine his own presuppositions.
Basically, Russell's message is that happiness cannot be pursued successfully, but is a byproduct of pursuing the occupations that make us happy ("occupations" meaning in this context the things that occupy our time).
Basically, Russell's message is that happiness cannot be pursued successfully, but is a byproduct of pursuing the occupations that make us happy ("occupations" meaning in this context the things that occupy our time).