Happy Ever After: A Radical New Approach to Living Well
Be ambitious; find everlasting love; look after your health ... There are countless stories about how we ought to live our lives. These narratives can make our lives easier, and they might sometimes make us happier too. But they can also trap us and those around us.
In Happy Ever After, bestselling happiness expert Professor Paul Dolan draws on a variety of studies ranging over wellbeing, inequality and discrimination to bust the common myths about our sources of happiness. He shows that there can be many unexpected paths to lasting fulfilment. Some of these might involve not going into higher education, choosing not to marry, rewarding acts rooted in self-interest and caring a little less about living forever.
By freeing ourselves from the myth of the perfect life, we might each find a life worth living.
What People Are Saying About Happy Ever After
“Passionate, provocative. . . a manifesto for a better society.”
— The Times
“A timely warning that we need to question standard assumptions about what is good for individuals and society. Dolan makes a compelling case for putting people's own perceptions of their wellbeing at the heart of policy making.”
— Lord Gus O’Donnell, former Cabinet Secretary
“The book that will make you quit your job.”
— New Statesman
“A very useful antidote to the pressures of modern living. Very few books change the way you think about yourself, but this is one of them. I would particularly recommend it to young adults with all these life choices ahead of them.”
— Tablet
Media
Paul Dolan on escaping the myth of the perfect life
Paul Dolan, the bestselling author of Happiness by Design, shows us how to escape the myth of perfection and find our own route to happiness.
LSE Events | Paul Dolan: happy ever after
Paul Dolan launches his new book, Happy Ever After, exploring the narratives society installs in us, using good evidence to debunk bad stories.
Rethinking Happiness with Professor Paul Dolan & Karen Guggenheim
Professor Paul Dolan and Karen Guggenheim share inspiring insights and the latest research to help us rethink the prevailing view of happiness and discover a more authentic and meaningful way of living.
Professor Paul Dolan at 5x15 on The Myth of the Perfect Life
Paul is currently Professor of Behavioural Science at the LSE. He is Head of Department in Psychological and Behavioural Science and Director of Executive MSc Behavioural Science.
Latest Happy Ever After News
See here for a response to the visceral reaction to my comments at The Hay Festival about marriage and kids, and also Duck-Rabbit podcast episode.
