Using the New Positive Psychology to Realize Your Potential for Lasting Fulfillment

It's a great book for people interested in Positive Psychology. Further more it's a great book for people in general. You're not alone, you're not strange, you're normal and you can become a happier person. Get the book, read it, and implement it.

This is a fabulous book. Finally I found something about the good side of conducting therapy. I love the perspective and absolutely stand behind an optimistic view on psychology. Seller was great, book came very quickly. Thank you!

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Seligman's influence cannot be over estimated. He turned the knob to open a vital door created by a worldwide group of psychologist ready to measure positivity and how to cultivate it. This book is a unique contribution toward that end.

Yet to read it, but Martin Seligman has been write on target with his other books, "Learned Optimism,' a winner for sure for years. I understand I may have been better off bypassing "Florish" I purchased first, unless you want to read all the research connected with this book.

Positive psychology is the inevitable next step of progress within the science of the mind and living. Martin Seligman does an excellent job presenting a strong case for why psychopathology need not be the singular focus of doctors, and why in fact positive psychology and its implementation may be the final solution for the majority of human mental afflictions. Seeing as the last two hundreds years gave use hydrotherapy, insulin packs, transorbital leukotomies, lobotomies, electroshock therapy and moral therapy as at-one-time widespread valid treatments, it's nice to see that something as humane and scientifically proven as positive psychology is seeing acceptance on a wider stage.

I think this book is for everyone. Living and thinking are the two criteria to qualify you for finding some benefit from the information Seligman presents.

I too am finding it unpleasantly hard to concentrate on this book as well. I've just started it and it seems like endless theories and case studies about things that don't have anything to do with why I feel most people would have purchased the book in the first place. Also, the case study findings aren't strong enough to prove anything.

I've gotten similar feelings while reading word math problems, or reading endless lines of family lineage in the bible. Confusing, boring and hard to concentrate on.

I'll continue trying to read though, maybe I just need to be further into it.

Martin, a well respected psychologist and researcher offers an enlightening book that has qualities of a self help book yet is very well researched. At the same time it is very personal. I would have liked it better if he didn't evangelize at the end, it all works from a secular point of view too, and this ending was a surprise. Not enough to negate the rest of this fine book.

Picked this book up as it was highly recommended by another author/profession coach. I did not like the writing style and haven't made it past the first chapter. I will try again because I think there are some valuable messages to be read.

I simply cannot understand most of the other reviewers here in their adoration of this book. Primarily, the book draws on insights already expressed by others without giving appropriate credit. One example is John F. Kennedy, who defined happiness as "full use of your powers along the lines of excellence" (compare this to Seligman's defintion: "successfully using your signature strengths to obtain...gratification.)" Another example is Norman Vincent Peale who defined optimism as a "habit of mind" (compare this to Seligman's point that we can achieve optimism by routinely engaging in the "disputing of pessimistic thoughts.") Can you say Positive Thinking? Conciously or unconciously, Seligman has repackaged these thoughts and labeled the package "Positive Psychology."

The warming over of these old concepts, in itself, would not be a bad thing because the borrowed concepts have much validity. What IS bad, however, is the way Seligman padded and diluted these nuggets with a lot of personal anecdotes, self congratulation, questionnaires, and psuedo science. And he constantly uses pure trivia as his source for second guessing other great thinkers on the weightiest of subjects. For example, he implies that the enitire book was hatched as the result of an "epiphany" he experienced when his 5 year old daughter called him a grouch. Similarly, all of his self-assured recommendations on child rearing, contained in a long chapter that seems tacked on to the book, are based on the experience of raising his own kids. Seligman apparently is on his second family (his 6 kids include toddlers and near-middle-agers.) Why should I take his advice on child rearing when he admits that, until he bribed her with the offer of a Barbie Doll, he couldn't stop his youngest from hiding, day after day, where her family could not find her? He actually says we should only bribe kids this way "once or twice in a lifetime."

Finally, Seligman unlocks the mystery of God for us by engaging in his typical practice of finding answers not in the words of Aristotle, Plato, or Freud but by seeking answers in less less likely places. He goes instead to the world of sci-fi, telling us that his theory on the identity of God was inspired by an Isaac Asimov short story. He unravels this mystery for us by quoting a poolside conversation during which, as he describes it, he dazzled a brilliant writer, Bob Wright, with his profound insight on the Deity. What's the insight? "God comes at the end" but wasn't here in the beginning!

If you want to get anything useful out of this book, you have to work hard to separate the meaningful stuff from the self-important fluff. I suggest you instead seek out the thoughts of people like Kennedy and Peale, who were not only better thinkers, but a heck of a lot less arrogant.

Dr. Seligman writes a disappointing study on how to overcome psychological problems. Yes, he is correct in many of his postulations, but anyone, almost, who can apply common sense will come to the "positive attitude" idea and the other basic premise that one should not be downed by seemingly overwhelming facts. Do I detect an almost self-hypnosis aspect to his advice? The weakness of his book is the same as that on his fellow travelers--sometimes people are so badly cowed by adversity that both raltional and even nonrational means are less effective than a course of therapy from qualified practicioners.

Reportage, or surveys of what groups of people believe, may be of interest, but then again not. Pablum, or reciting simplified ideas, similarly may or may not be of interest. This book is highly reductive reportage of pablum. It's very superficial, almost entirely vacuous, and in the end of little interest.

At least "How to Win Friends and Influence People," while highly artificial, stimulates ideas with which to work. Reportage of pablum does little, if anything, to suggest much of anything. The former at least makes a stab at improving skills, the latter basically suggests positive outlooks generally result in more positive outcomes. Not always, but usually. Think positively, and you'll likely see things in a positive light. People who think positively seem to be happier. At least, that's what most people report. Building on one's strengths and avoiding one's weaknesses also produces better outcomes. Positive emotions have evolved to motivate and guide us in win-win games of life. Is any of this not already intuitive? But is any of it really genuine? For example, bad things happen to good people, but giving the bad things a positive spin in order not to get in a funk about life seems a tad bit simplistic and very unrealistic.

Positive thinking is the "substance" of Seligman's "positive psychology," which purports "yet another revolutionary idea . . . by cultivating and nurturing traits we already possess -- including kindness, originality, humor, optimism and generosity." There's absolutely nothing revolutionary about any of this. And what 7 out of 10 people think does not cut it if we're one of the other 3. And who cares what other people think? If 7 out of 10 people report "happiness" at eating highly-processed, fat-laden foods, should I too? And spinning something horrific, unpleasant, unfortunate, etc. as positive seems entirely disengenuous and patently false.

There's nothing wrong about Seligman's perspective that thinking positively won't change. But life comes with a plethora of emotions, not all of which are "positive," and we have them because the "positive" amotions are not the only emotions we use to evaluate life. Thinking that harm, ill-health, death, etc. are positive stages in life isn't facing being human. Sorrow, anger, frustration, and the so-called "negative" emotions can, and do, serve a purpose, or nature would not have formed them in us. Camoflaging or concealing hurt, sorrow, regret, disappointment, etc. with a "positive" sheen just isn't "authentic," and I'd rather be authentic in the moment, than false over a lifetime. PASS.

To anyone who is looking to improve their lives in a positive mental you are much much better off purchasing The Happiness Trap by Russ Harris. Authentic Happiness is a self congratulatory work by Martin Seligman the parts that aren't about how great positive psychology is are not that helpful or effective. In addition the book works on the assumption that a human being has virtually total control of his emotions which is obviously false otherwise people wouldn't be looking at books like this. I cannot believe this man was the president of the American Psychology Association.

Do yourself a favor and purchase either Get Out of Your Mind and Into Your Life by Steven Hayes, or The Happiness Trap by Russ Harris which I highly recommend.

I am a clinical psychologist who just finished reading this book. I liked how Seligman incorporated research to back up some of the info he provided. I liked the sections on pleasure vs. gratification and "signature strengths," which are probably the parts of this book that are most unique to this book. Seligman repeats info from his previous works to talk about attributions that lead to hopelessness and optimism (internal/external, stable/temporary, specific/global). He briefly summarizes attachment styles (well documented in the literature) and talks about how helping your child develop secure attachment can help promote his/her happiness.

I did not enjoy reading some of Seligman's personal stories, which involved him bragging about exotic vacations, meeting famous people, being president of APA, how brilliant he was in coming up with ideas to create positive psychology, etc. He also wrote a chapter about increasing happiness in children which was basically things he made up himself based on raising his own kids rather than more broad advice suggested by people who actually specialize in child-rearing.

So overall, there were some high points, but it had only limited "new" information (at least for me) and wasn't my favorite. For good reads about positive psychology, I'd more highly recommend, "Hardwiring Happiness" by Rick Hanson and "Happiness," by Mattieu Ricard.

The basic idea behind positive psychology is that, rather than solely treating mental disease and alleviating negative symptoms, the field of psychology should focus on defining mental health in positive terms and promoting positive emotions, character traits, and social institutions. But Seligman is even more ambitious than that: in the introduction, he writes that he seeks to overthrow what he calls the "rotten-to-the-core dogma", the oldest manifestation of which is the doctrine of original sin but which was dragged by Freud into twentieth-century secular psychology, which has since tended to regard happiness or any positive emotion as inauthentic.

This completely sold me on the book, and while it's far from perfect (I would take exception with Seligman on a number of points), it's general approach is very good. To a large extent, it's explicitly Aristotelian, and Seligman even argues for virtue ethics in the form of identifying and cultivating what he calls "signature strengths". He also draws on a lot of interesting recent research, including some of his own. His earlier book Learned Optimism and the more recent Flourish are also well worth reading.

Four and a half stars.

I found the book thought-provoking and food for thought. The tests made the book more useful. I appreciate the author's efforts to make his work cross-cultural.

Although I don't share the author's theological views, I found the author's pondering about theological issues and the seeming conflict between his atheism and needing to have a meaningful life and higher purpose as well as spirituality/transcendency to be interesting.

I did feel much of the book is tied into the author's own experience and perspectives, but since he does not say that he is doing otherwise, one can gain wisdom from his experience and take it or leave it.

I also thought that it would have been good for the author to go more into the impact of loss. He mentions in passing that external circumstances do not greatly affect happiness EXCEPT the loss of a spouse or child... and, well, those sound like really big things to consider to me. More attention to the impact of divorce (on adults and also children) would also have been welcome.

I have a few suggestions regarding the tests, however:

(a) I think it would be better if social intelligence did not include both the ability to perceive other people with the ability to get along with people. I think these are two different skills, and it is quite possible for someone to be very good at intuitively reading other people but to be very bad at fitting in.

(b) I didn't think adhering to a diet (a heavily physiological thing, and subjective based on what diet one chooses) was the best way to measure willpower. The body has a powerful survival instinct, and at some point it will kick in for normal people if someone goes on a heavily calorie-restricted diet. This isn't a lack of willpower, it's biology. Similarly, someone with blood sugar problems will have a much harder time not eating than a healthy person. Reading this made me suspect the author knew little about what people deal with when they do go on a weight-loss program.

(c) I thought the measuring of appreciation of beauty was biased towards people who appreciate visual art (such as painting) - it would be good to expand the test to other forms of appreciation of beauty for those people who appreciate things such as sound, motion, or ideas more.

(d) About forgiveness... I may be missing the point, but I did feel that some of the statements about forgiveness were unrealistic/unwise for people who have been in a situation where someone has repetitively hurt them (for instance, an abusive marriage). They may choose not to hold a grudge and move on, but at the same time choose not to trust the person who has repeatedly harmed them and choose to keep their distance for them - I don't think that's a sign of lack of forgiveness, I think that's a healthy response for self-protection.

Lastly...I would like to humbly suggest that the Kindle edition (I didn't check the print edition) be proofread by the publishers before releasing. There were some glaring spelling errors, such as "iktchen", that one would not expect in a widely circulated book.This doesn't have anything to do with the rating I am giving it, since it may be an issue with converting the book to Kindle, but I am just pointing this out because it is good to strive for excellence in printed works.

So many self-help books, questionnaires, and popular psychology books talk about what's wrong with our lives and how to make the bad bits better. Martin E. P. Seligman asks us to look instead at what's good, and learn to turn good into excellent, making this a book on mental wellness, rather than mental illness. It's a refreshing change.

Wouldn't you rather feel more happy instead of less miserable? But this isn't just a question of looking at half-filled cups when they might be half-empty. Simple questionnaires (with more complicated versions online) invite the reader to find their own strengths so we can play to them. And then, in a nice twist on the "So this is who you are" approach, we're asked to identify which strengths feel natural to us, which feel enlivening. We might be good at leading but feel drained every time we have to lead, making leadership a strength, but not a signature strength. Those final, happy, signature powers become the key to enlivening everyday life.

But first, are you happy? Not just smiling today, but waking up happy, contented, hopeful, optimistic. And what things will make us happy? The author has looked through many cultures to find those things common to most. Again, there's a twist--he's not looking for features valued in all; just in most, because there area always exceptions--that's why they're called exceptions. Religion becomes something of worth, though the author's own "religious" beliefs, expounded in a final chapter, might not agree with his readers'. The answer's not in the details but in the approach.

Raise happy children. Turn your job into something you enjoy (without necessarily changing jobs). Find your strengths and enjoy who you are instead of trying to turn into someone else. And enjoy this book. I did.

Disclosure: My sister-in-law lent me a copy of this book then I went out and bought my own.

I generally dislike self help books (especially the ridiculous ones claiming that the universe or quantum laws are doing the job for you). However, if a book at least aspires to be science based then I am willing to give it a try. In addition positive psychology i.e., the scientific study of what makes happy people happy, is a hot topic within psychology today and Martin Seligman is one of the founders of this field.

For these reasons I was able to overcome my fear of beeing pursuaded to change my life by a silly self help book. It was a nice surprise when early on Seligman acknowledged that happiness is not everything. One can find meaning in life without being extraordinarily happy. Interestingly, happy/optimistic people are actually quite inaccurate in their beliefs about the world when compared with depressed people. For instance, happy people thought they were in control of completely random events much longer than depressed people who acknowledged their inability to affect events much earlier.

Still happiness, at least statistically, is correlated with many beneficial effects. Happiness and optimism correlates with longevity, income, and ability to endure pain, and whether or not someone would end up in a happy marriage correlated with the type of smile (genuine or fake panam smiles) people had on photos from their youth.

So how do you become happy? Having the right genes helps but at least according to Seligman (who does quote a lot of studies), there are thing you can do to become happier. Be warned though, it requires an effort. Up to a rather low limit, money makes you happier. Having friends and a wife is also correlated with happiness.

Another strategy if you do not fancy wives and friends but would still like to be happy is to engage in gratifying activities. Gratifying activities (e.g. hiking) are the one that make you feel good about yourself for a "long" time after you have done them (often they require you to work in some way). This should be contrasted with pleasurable activities (e.g. eating chocolate) that make you feel good when you do them but not afterwards. Seligman (thankfully) does not say that you should never engage in pleasurable activities, only that to achieve happiness we should really focus on gratifying activities.

Seligman further argues that it is important to use your "signature strengths". Signature strengths are essentially the positive parts of your personality. This includes things such as passion, curiosity, openness, integrity, sense of justice humour etc etc. In other words, the things that others value in you. Try to steer towards situations that let you use your signature strengths and you will become a happier person...

Have this book changes my life? Not really, no. It was interesting and it has made me think more about what type of activities I find gratifying which include training and doing research, and I try to do more of this. All in all "Authentic Happiness" is a good interesting book that I would recommend it to people interested in positive psychology, and who would like a science based understanding of happiness and its consequences.

An interesting and easy to read book. Dr. Seligman talks about himself a bit although I found his anecdotes interesting. There are plenty of mental tasks provided that aim to increase your happiness level. Also, the book contains many questionnaires relating to happiness throughout the book. You can either use a pencil and paper to complete the questionnaires are go to the www.authentichapiness.org website and complete them online. The problem with completing them online is that each test costs money to use, and the costs per test, at least in the tests that I looked at, ranged from $9.99 to about $90 per test. Complete the tests in the book and save yourself money. A good book well worth reading, I plan to read it again as soon as I have completed reading it.

There are a couple of things interesting about this book, I won't deny it. But I have a few comments:

1) Seligman looses it half down the book. When you get to the part on parenting, the scientific spirit of the book dissapears. He starts talking about his own personal experiences, and he even aknowledges it: he has no evidence. And what about the last part, on meaningful life? This was just terrible, from a man who is pushing for "scientificism", which leads me to my next point:

2) I can't believe that this is what serious "Psychology" means in the USA. In Europe, and in Latin America, where positivism and logical empirism aren't being backed (at least as much as in the US) by the large farmaceutial international corporations, for profit, this is absolutely garbage. I might have exagerated, it's not garbage, but by pushing the term "scientific", and reducing psychology to the description of human behavior (and they say emotion is a type of behaviour), trying to predict people? In this scenario, subjectivity is lost, reduced to small aphorisms.

3) I don't know how to even start on how wrong has Seligman read Freud. Every few pages he trashes psychoanalysis and "the freudians". I mean, I know that psychoanalysis has its epistemological trouble, but the criticism drawn on this book is way far from having understood it. And don't even start on the hermenutics of psychoanalysis because that's not what I'm saying. I'm not saying that Seligman hasn't deciphered it, I'm saying he hasn't read it.

4) Science in the USA has been kidnapped by those with money. And it's a shame. Subjetivity in the hands of those who study objectivty? Come on. It's evident to me that these people in APA are either ignoring, or have never heard of the epistemic crises of the twentieth century.

I had expected more scientific research supporting the book's thesis, than mere happiness surveys or tests about how people feel and their moods in specific situations. Soon I realized that my expectations could hardly be met, since fortunately happiness is one of the most subjective issues and although objective factors like wealth and health have an inffluence on it, every individual has his personal (maybe genetic or maybe learned) patterns or attitudes towards life.

The book contains all tests performed to many people from different countries so you can answer them yourself to rate your levels of optimism, happiness, etc., which is interesting per se. The shown results give interesting data about which factors have a greater inffluence on happiness, always showing that specific circumstances alter the results. For example, persons that have had a successful surgery in their recent past (which is a sign of illness) are happier than healthy ones. (One might wonder!)

The book explains happiness as coming from the past, the future and the present, for example satisfaction comes from our past; optimism, hope and meaning are oriented towards the future and living every moment intensely (physical joy coming from the senses) as well as engaging in activities that fulfill you (entering in a "flow" state) come from the present.

I had first skipped the section on kids, since having no children myself, I had no interest in the topic. After reading the rest of the book, I returned to this part and found it extremely interesting, indeed one of the best parts of the book. Maybe more experienced persons can refute the author's propositions, as apparently is the case, still I find this section worth reading and worth judging by yourself.

The last chapter is related to finding a meaning in your life, but it is full of tortuous philosophical arguments for a kind of religion without God. I do not believe it will help anybody to find a meaning in life and on top, the arguments are extremely difficult to follow. Better look for meaning somewhere else.

One of the books main thesis is that you can achieve happiness by doing things that make you happy. These are things that have a meaning or are significant to you or by "submerging" yourself into an activity to fall in a so called "flow" state. For people interested in Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience I could probably recommend Mihaly Czikszentmihalyi's book on the topic, unfortunately I can't, because I have not read it yet (although I will, since his book is one of the most quoted by authors of totally different fields). Instead I will recommend First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently and its sequel Now, Discover Your Strengths. These "management style" books tell you why sticking to your strengths makes you happier than insisting on doing things in which you are not good at.

The author, Martin E.P. Selingman, an expert in the field of happiness research, discusses in this book many fundamental questions such as: "Who has positive emotions in abundance, and who does not? What enables these emotions, and what disables them? How can you build more and lasting positive emotions into your life?" The focus thereby is on authentic happiness, a happiness that supports us on the search of lasting fulfilment.

Martin Seligman's Positive Psychology is just what the doctor ordered! We've been waiting for a way to release ourselves from the hold of the painful past and to feel optimistic about the future, despite recession, wars, disappointing candidates, and all the other angst that visits the thoughtful. In refreshing, candid tones, he turns psychology on its head and points it in the right direction, one we can willingly follow. His work helps us find our own strengths, and even more significant, find meaning and purpose in our lives by applying those strengths. Happiness is the natural byproduct of this process, making the investment of time and thought necessary to read and apply the book a most rewarding investment indeed. If you're searching for satisfaction, whether in work or in love, this will be a generous, kindly, clear, and forgiving guide.

Much research has shown that people have a set range of happiness, and they're likely to stay within this set range throughout their lives, returning to it over and over again. Dr. Seligman proposes a slightly different way of looking at this situation and represents it with the following equation: H = S + C + V where H is your overall current happiness, S is your set range, C is the influence of current life events, and V represents those factors under your voluntary control. His idea is that while you can't really change your set range, you can set yourself up to experience the highest part of that range a much greater portion of the time.

He believes you can do this by altering how you view your life (past, present and future), using psychological strategies to make your life more pleasant, and discovering and using to the fullest what he calls your "signature strengths."

The research in this book is quite methodical and solid. Seligman systematically lays out the details of dozens of studies (at least!) and decades of research by luminaries and students alike. This is a thick book. Not dry, thankfully, and not inaccessible, but definitely thick. It isn't something you can skim in two hours and be done with; it takes some time to read through, digest, and absorb. This is not a bad thing. Everything is explained with care and attention to detail.

This is an immensely practical and helpful book. It doesn't just talk about happiness; it provides concrete strategies backed up by thorough research that can help you to improve your happiness and your satisfaction with your life. This truly is a how-to book on happiness. The research is solid, careful, and well-thought-out. Dr. Seligman, a self-avowed pessimist, makes it easy for non-optimists to see and understand his points; unlike many optimists he doesn't boil it down to a simple "cheer up!" but instead gives us critical evidence and practical strategies. This is a courageous, in-depth, thoughtful, and highly helpful book for just about anyone from a brilliant researcher. I have no hesitation in recommending it, and will probably be passing it on to several people I know.

Although I'm not a psychologist (but a dilettante one), in the course of life, I have encountered my share of obstacles. In trying to cope with them, I attended to traditional psychoanalysis for some time. It's OK, if you have the patience - and time and money - to dig in the depths of your infancy or the long development of your personality. Besides, all the psychoanalytic theory comes originally from the ideas of a man. A brilliant e insightful man, at that (others not so brilliant came afterwards). But his doctrine is punctuated with flaws, like the famous theory of imprisoned passions. There are many people who live with that firm belief and, what is worse, live up to them.
Theorists of cognitive-behavior school, on the other hand, have reached the next step. With a therapy that focus on specific problems (eg. a lost of a child), they teach you how to think - and act - accordingly, if you are not to become a mental sick. ("What's to gain in thinking about your loss?"). It, too, has its limitations, of course. Serious mental or personality disorders almost always require medication, as well as more specialized treatment.
With the positive psychology of Martin Seligman, the discipline has reached the zenith. Although not intended, its lessons have almost become a way to sanctification. Understand me. This is not a warning for you not to open his books. On the contrary. But it's difficult to put his teachings into action without some kind of personal transformation, be you a religious person or not. In the above mentioned lost of a child, for example, maybe Seligman would inspire you to care of other children in order to overcome your bad feelings. Difficult, but fulfilling when put into practice.

This book should truly be required reading for any human being. Seligman's work is easy to read, absolutely relevant, and timely. We simply live in a time where eliminating distress is more common that fostering happiness. Seligman's work is remarkable not just in it's breadth, but it's accessibility. It may take a Ph. D. to write it, but ANYONE can understand and use the pearls of wisdom offered here.Claire Dorotik- Nana, author, LEVERAGE: The Science of Turning Setbacks into Springboards.

This whole business is a nightmarish joke.

If psychological science wants to be a science, their work needs to be quantifiable (at least in the Galilean view of science that persist to this day — some views of “science” that fall outside the orthodoxy).

In what sense do most (not all) scientific constructs submit to quantification? To use Gilbert’s cash cow, what is “happiness”. How is happiness quantified (forget how it is conceptualized — I will not live long enough to cover that topic!). What is (are) “units” of happiness (assuming the construct has a clear sense and a clear reference)? Where do those units fall on, say, Steven’s (1946) scales of measurement? Does one unit of happiness plus one unit of happiness sum to a mathematically meaningful and computationally tractable (interval, ratio?) two units of happiness on a happiness scale?

Read Mitchell (1999) to see why psychological use of mathematical description is professional embarrassment. We do not have concepts; we have marks on Likert scales. And we have not even touched the logically prior (note: misuse of the word “prior”) issue of what happiness IS, What (and where) is the substantial theory that unites happiness behavior(s) into a conceptually meaningful category. Is it a natural kind or a psychological kind (e.g., Danziger, 1997). Etc., etc., etc.

Until these issues are addressed (or even recognized as needing sustained attention) we will continue to be awash in “data” lacking a clear role in ANY scientific process.

It is embarrassing to be associated with a field that insists on being taken as a science when that claim largely consists in the facile equivalence of “method = science” — thereby conflating necessity with sufficiency.

We highly recommend this work by Martin E. P. Seligman, the founder of "positive psychology" and the author of Learned Optimism. This book combines the erudition of psychological research with the accessibility of a self-help text. The author explains why happiness matters. He recapitulates and takes issue with the flawed deterministic assumptions that guided much of twentieth century psychology. He is careful to emphasize the importance of your individual control over your feelings and thoughts. The idea that people actually are in control of their fate marks a departure from Freudianism and behaviorism. Seligman argues, instead, for an understanding of character and virtue rooted in early Greek philosophy. However, his book is not merely theoretical or descriptive. He offers guidance on how you can change your way of thinking to change how you feel - and, thereby, get on the road to achieving long-term happiness for yourself and for others, especially your children.

Seligman is the father of "positive psychology," a branch of psychology that focuses on building on the positive elements of a person's life rather than spending time working through past traumas and challenges. Seligman describes a number of key principles of positive psychology in an interactive manner. For example, there are two self-assessments in the book that determine how much of an optimist you are and identify your "signature strengths". Seligman also includes exercises that can increase your happiness level and personal stories that bring the concepts to life. While this book doesn't summarize the scope of happiness research the way other books (like Happiness Hypothesis by Jonathan Haidt or Happier by Tal Ben-Shahar), the reason is that this book is the foundation of the other research and, as such, is a good primer on Positive Psychology.

We are lucky that a heavy weight in experimental psychology has taken an interest in these areas. It took someone of Seligman's stature to marshal the funding and qualified manpower in order to study the areas of positive emotion and strengths of character. I'm not sure I agree that psychology has done enough to study pathology, but I do believe that it is high time that we begin to spend more time and resources in an effort to understand how people who lead highly satisfying lives do so.
His formula describing happiness makes sense. It is interesting that experimental psychology is coming to the same conclusion as so many philosophers have, that in an effort to lead the good life, striving after pleasures along leave us coming up short. Seligman does't deride pursuing pleasure, in fact, he gives us some assistance getting the most from sensory pleasures, but he points toward the matching of signature strengths to opportunities as the primary source of happiness that is under our control. This does not surprise me as it seems to be an example of consiliance among many thinkers from Dewey, to Rogers and Maslow to Csikszentmihalyi not to mention the many philosophers that have reached the conclusion by more absract means.
His website has many useful tests that are scored with lightning speed and that give you comparitive data about thousands of others who have taken the same test. The only question I have about all this data his is compiling and basing his research on is how does he rule out the desire to be socially approved. I found myself struggling with some questions in an effort to distinguish between what I strive to be like, or what I would like to be like and where I actually am at currently.
Therapists, folks in the self-help market and many others will find much that is useful in this book that looks like it will the the first and most general of a field that one hopes is taking its first toddler steps.

While I can't say this book has profoundly changed me, it definitely has provided fuel for thought, and one I would recommend, particularly when he shares data about what is (e.g., that about 50% of our emotional 'set point' appears to be genetic) and what could be changed (e.g., some of his exercises that can increase positive feelings). Too many of the other authors that other reviewers have mentioned are touting their own thoughts, not necessarily research based. I liked his distinctions between the various domains of positive emotions (past, present, and future), and how they need to be looked at differently. I didn't care for his agnostic/atheist stance, but I found it easy to ignore. At times I found his habit of alternating between scholary writing and 'dear diary' style irritating; at other times interesting. I certainly would follow his recommendation to take the various tests online, vs on paper. I've found the online email newsletter to be of interest.

Charles Haanel wrote a book published in 1912 with the focus of the positive thinking shift. These ideas and skills have been taught before. Seligman is not the founder but this book is an easy read and reinforces info Haanel wrote one hundred years ago. I just wish these individuals, including Un of PA, Happiness Project would mention Mr. Haanel and give credit where credit is due.

What I like about Martin Seligman's Authentic Happiness is his research-based approach to discovering what makes people happy. What I also like is that he approaches this as an odyssey, and that he hasn't arrived at a final answer. My understanding is that he grows with each new book.

I have been a pessimist most of my life, and I gradually began incorporating some of the principles of positive psychology into my life about four years ago. I saw an almost immediate change for the better. That is why I finally began reading this book.

I have taken many of the online quizzes, quizzes that are also available in the book, but are much easier to do online with more immediate results. I'd recommend other readers do the same thing.

My one bone to pick with Seligman is his decidedly secular and evolutionary philosophy, while still quoting from some of the great spiritual traditions in the world. I personally find nothing incompatible between the principles of positive psychology and my Christian faith, and I would venture to guess the individuals from other spiritual disciplines would find the same thing.

Read the book, take the quizzes, put some of these principles into practice and watch your life take a turn for the better.