The Art of the Good Life

The bestselling author of The Art of Thinking Clearly shares tips for making the very best of life—and maybe finding happiness along the way.

Since antiquity, people have been asking themselves what it means to live a good life. How should I live? What constitutes a good life? What's the role of fate? What's the role of money? Is leading a good life a question of mindset, or is it more about reaching your goals? Is it better to actively seek happiness or to avoid unhappiness?

Each generation poses these questions anew, and somehow the answers are always fundamentally disappointing. Why? Because we're constantly searching for a single principle, a single tenet, a single rule.

A simple path to happiness doesn't exist. Rolf Dobelli, businessman and founder of the TED-style conference World Minds, has synthesized the leading thinkers and the latest science in happiness to find the best shortcuts to satisfaction.

The Art of the Good Life is a toolkit designed for practical living. Here you'll find “happiness hacks” —from guilt-free shunning of technology to gleefully paying your parking tickets—that are certain to optimize your happiness. A good life isn’t guaranteed, but that doesn’t mean we can’t strive for it—and this book will give you a better chance at happiness.

“Rolf Dobelli is brilliant at converting evidence from scientific research into practical steps that improve personal outcomes.” —Robert B. Cialdini, author of Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion