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A review by gigahurt
Happy: Why More or Less Everything is Absolutely Fine by Derren Brown
4.0
This book is about how to live a good life. More then anything else, it takes from the stoic perspective, but unlike many of the books I have read on stoicism it also sprinkles in thinking from other sources.
The first 30% of the book was basically a brief history of philosophy, or at least the pieces that relate to happiness. Though laborious to get through, I understand its inclusion. To me it serves as a credential for the author as someone who not only creates compelling TV specials, but does so from an informed place. You will likely find it boring if 'how to live' or philosophy have been your preoccupation for a long time.
The remainder of the book was easier to get through. It touches on a variety of subjects, though I think the writing on death was the most compelling. Here are the main points I appreciated:
- "It is up to us to bring the story to a close by recognizing it as such. If a person knows she is dying, I would suggest that she needs from her loved ones every opportunity to take stock of her story and bring it to a meaningful end."
- "the top five regrets of the dying. They were: I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me. I wish I hadn’t worked so hard. I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends. I wish that I had let myself be happier."
- How to Age by Anne Karpf: "‘We can think of ourselves like wine connoisseurs laying down bottles that will improve with age; similarly we can try to foster in ourselves qualities that deepen and enrich over the years.’
- "Then, if for a while I think and feel like you (perhaps while looking at a photograph of you or contemplating how you would behave in a certain situation), I am approximating in my body your brain pattern, at least a rough version of your ‘self’. It won’t ever be quite you, but I can be you with, Hofstadter would say, a ‘Derren’ accent. [..] We resurrect our loved ones whenever we find ourselves thinking and feeling like them. [..] And the closer we are to them, the more we understand them, the more accurate that blueprint will be."
- The concept of good-enough parents. I can't help but think I need to be more of a good enough boss and mentor.
The first 30% of the book was basically a brief history of philosophy, or at least the pieces that relate to happiness. Though laborious to get through, I understand its inclusion. To me it serves as a credential for the author as someone who not only creates compelling TV specials, but does so from an informed place. You will likely find it boring if 'how to live' or philosophy have been your preoccupation for a long time.
The remainder of the book was easier to get through. It touches on a variety of subjects, though I think the writing on death was the most compelling. Here are the main points I appreciated:
- "It is up to us to bring the story to a close by recognizing it as such. If a person knows she is dying, I would suggest that she needs from her loved ones every opportunity to take stock of her story and bring it to a meaningful end."
- "the top five regrets of the dying. They were: I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me. I wish I hadn’t worked so hard. I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends. I wish that I had let myself be happier."
- How to Age by Anne Karpf: "‘We can think of ourselves like wine connoisseurs laying down bottles that will improve with age; similarly we can try to foster in ourselves qualities that deepen and enrich over the years.’
- "Then, if for a while I think and feel like you (perhaps while looking at a photograph of you or contemplating how you would behave in a certain situation), I am approximating in my body your brain pattern, at least a rough version of your ‘self’. It won’t ever be quite you, but I can be you with, Hofstadter would say, a ‘Derren’ accent. [..] We resurrect our loved ones whenever we find ourselves thinking and feeling like them. [..] And the closer we are to them, the more we understand them, the more accurate that blueprint will be."
- The concept of good-enough parents. I can't help but think I need to be more of a good enough boss and mentor.