Book Review Mondays

More information at Amazon.com No obligation to buy Click below:

Gross national happiness: Why happiness matters for America — and how we can get more of it
by Arthur C. Brooks

Book Review by Richard L. Weaver II, Ph.D.

Brooks is a professor of business and government policy at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs and Whitman School of Management. With 32 pages of notes, Brooks does not rely on anecdotal information to make his arguments, he depends on solid research. Using engaging statistics and valuable examples, he offers an authoritative account of the social bases of happiness. There are two parts to this book: 1) The Culture of Happiness, and 2) The Economics of Happiness. Individual chapter titles will let you know if this book is for you (there are four in each part): 1) The politics of happiness, 2) Happiness is a gift from above, 3) Is happiness a family value?, 4) Staying happy in the age of freedom and insecurity. Part 2 includes: 5) Does money buy happiness?, 6) Inequality and (Un)happiness in America, 7) Happiness is a full-time job, and 8) The secret to buying happiness. Brooks says, “So at least 50 percent of one’s happiness level is a given [genetic], the product of nature. If less than half is subject to outside influence, or nurture, can an investigation of the values associated with happy people really be that useful? Is there any point to gathering this information? The answer, I believe, is ‘yes’” (p. 11). And this book supplies the content for affecting the other 50%. This is a well-written, thoroughly documented, interesting examination, that is worth your serious attention.

More information at Amazon.com No obligation to buy Click below:

How to Live: A Search for Wisdom from Old People (While they are still on this earth)

by Henry Alford

Book Review by Richard L. Weaver II, Ph.D.

In this 262-page book, Alford engages in a quest for the answer to the question, “What is wisdom?” — or, at the least, insights into wisdom from elderly people who he judged to possess it. After all, it has been defined, variously, as accumulated knowledge or erudition or enlightenment, the trait of utilizing knowledge and experience with common sense and insight, and the quality of being prudent and sensible; thus, you would expect older people to offer wisdom. Personally, I’ve always believed it was better to see it in results or actions rather than in expressed opinions about or insights into its meaning. You read an author, and you get a sense of how wise and sensible he or she is. You see an action or activity, like the judgments of a coach as displayed on the court, and you gain a sense of that coach’s wise advice. Alford’s pursuit, however, is instructive, interesting, and enjoyable. I would label this book, “a fun adventure.” Some of those he interviewed included Harold Bloom (in a fairly academic discussion), Edward Albee, Setuko Nishi (a sociologist who, during World War II, was put in an internment camp), Sylvia Miles (an interview and tour of pure fluff), and Phyllis Diller. Albee was quoted as saying, “Maybe [wisdom is] finally being able to figure out what you should be worrying about and what you shouldn’t be worrying about” (p. 183). I found Alford’s asides delightful, such as, “I read in William F. Buckley’s obituary that the papers the archconservative had bequeathed to Yale weighed seven tons” (p. 71). The chapters throughout are interspersed with those about his mother, a former social worker, and Will, his stepfather, one of the country’s few authroities on coal gasification. Although these stories were interesting, I was far more interested in what others had to say, although Alford’s approach and discipline in obtaining the information he sought, was rather random and haphazard. Despite that, this is an interesting read.

----

Through our reading, researching, and writing, And Then Some Publishing (and our extended family of readers) mine volumes of books representing a wide variety of tastes. We use the books in our writing, test and try suggested techniques, and we read for enjoyment as well. We wouldn't spend the time reviewing the books if we didn't get something out of it. Read more reviews on other fantastic books at our BookWorksRules.com website.