A review by timpurches
Happy: Why More or Less Everything Is Fine by Derren Brown

3.0

I’m a big fan of the Stoic philosophers, and of Darren Brown too, so I was very much looking forward to this book. There is some powerful and effective advice within it, advice of us us would do well to heed in order to help us weather the tribulations life throws at us. But it’s unnecessarily long and self indulgent. The focus only picks up about a third of the way in, after an exploration of the history of happiness. Many who could benefit from the wisdom within the core of the book could easily have given up by that point. Then, towards the end, there’s another self indulgent diversion into the philosophy around death. Interesting perhaps, but it again takes the reader away from the meat of what Stoicism can offer. The final criticism is one I’d level at many books on the subject, that not enough care is taken to avoid a Stoic approach to life becoming a council of passivity. We sometimes is need to recognise that we should not serenely accept injustice, but fight back to change the world for the better, even if that may reduce our level of happiness. Admittedly, that is not what book is aimed at - instead its thrust is to offer advice on living a more accepting and happier, or at least less frustrated, life. But nevertheless if we all were to take that advice on board too broadly, we would risk living in a worse world. To be fair to Brown, he does touch on this, but mentions it only in passing, whereas I feel it should be a key feature for anyone wanting a broader philosophy of life, rather than just a coping mechanism.