This volume brings together 15 essays on happiness and its pursuit. Australian and UK contributors working in a variety of fields discuss happiness based on an authentic sense of the self in
comparison to lies people tell themselves, economic instruments used to measure happiness, the psychological effects of the Western cultural obsession with happiness, problems with the idea
that a positive mental attitude can change reality, the roots of the Western idea of happiness in the “Felicific Calculus” of Jeremy Bentham, happiness as a result of the exploitation of fossil
fuels, portrayals in Russian novels from the 19th century, children’s literature and happy endings, and happiness in relation to consumption, parenting, health, laughter, self-help, hope after
catastrophe, and Australian satire and humor. Distributed in the US by ISBS. Annotation ©2015 Ringgold, Inc., Portland, OR (protoview.com)
