4.0

Even though this book can be placed in the category of 'popular psychology/filosophy', I don't see it as a 'self help' book nor as a book merely listing a selection of studies and facts.
The book carries the feeling of the message it aims to deliver: to reflect on how most of us are living our lives in finding happiness and imagining/setting goals to reach the 'ideal' state. It invites the reader to consider for themselves whether the 'negative path' might be a better way towards a happier life. One of the good side-effects: No checklist is forced upon you of 'all the things you should do to become happier'.

For me, This book mostly was an eye opening primer/entry into knowing the effects of stoicism and hindoeism on daily life (chapters 2-3). Other chapters weren't always my cup of tea. Although I found multiple gems in them, there were multiple sections that I found uninteresting (like, the definition of self). Overall, I'm glad to have read all of them to have gotten the full package of mental richness.