Happiness by Design: Finding Pleasure and Purpose in Everyday Life
How can we make it easier to be happy?
Using the latest cutting-edge research, Professor Paul Dolan reveals that wellbeing isn't about how we think - it's about what we do. By making deliberate choices that bring us both pleasure and meaning, we can redesign our lives for maximum happiness - without thinking too hard about it.
What People Are Saying About Happiness By Design
“Dolan's book is aimed at the lay reader who wants to be more cheerful without recourse to airy-fairy notions of spirituality or philosophy.”
— Rowan Pelling, The Telegraph
“Dolan is especially illuminating when it comes to bigger life-choices . . . Dolan makes a persuasive case that happiness might really be simple. His book is a powerful reminder not to get caught up in overthinking things, but to focus instead on maximising what actually delivers joy . . . and most of us would benefit from listening to him.”
— Oliver Burkeman, The Guardian
“[Dolan's] discoveries at once confound your expectations and provide an appreciable way of acting on that knowledge”
— Richard Godwin, Evening Standard
“Dolan gives a comprehensive overview of the science of happiness and useful tips to achieve it. In his quest to explain what makes us happy, Dolan touches on a powerful idea: happiness need not be pursued, simply rediscovered. In other words, sources of pleasure and purpose are all around us, if only one knows where to look.”
— Scientific American
Media
Book trailer for Happiness by Design: Finding Pleasure and Purpose in Everyday Life
Published by Penguin Books.
Paul Dolan: The Secret to Happiness? The Small Stuff | WIRED 2015 | WIRED
Can you make yourself happy by ignoring tired narratives and changing your behaviour? Paul Dolan thinks so.
Paul Dolan Happiness by Design at the London Business Forum
Professor Paul Dolan offers his formula for happiness based on the latest research. He also explains why happiness is crucial in the workplace because it leads to the behaviour organisations care about.
Happiness by Design with Paul Dolan at Action for Happiness
Prof Paul Dolan combines happiness research and behavioural science to show how happiness is less about how we think and more about how we act. This talk was filmed at an Action for Happiness event in London on 15 Dec 2014. http://www.actionforhappiness.org