Wednesday, August 16, 2017

The Totally Unscientific Study of the Search for Human Happiness





Book Summary:

Paula Poundstone starts with the question: is there a secret to happiness? She begins a quest trying different things that are suppose to bring a person happiness in life. She offers up her experiences and results for us to peruse. Filled with humor as she honestly tells what happened to her, the results, and if she intends to continue pursuing that activity. She also tells us the reactions of her children, friends, and people around her in a way that will have you laughing.

My Thoughts:

I've been a fan of Paula Poundstone's for a while. I've listened to NPR for a long time, and always enjoy when she comes one Wait Wait Don't Tell Me. She has a great sense of humor and I was very excited to find out how she is in written form. I was not disappointed. She is not afraid to laugh at herself when her experiments go awry, and it makes her search for happiness seem very relatable. It also provides encouragement to try new things and just discover where events will take you.

While some parts of the book could seem repetitive as she had multiple experiments in the book, I think overall there was still humor to be found in each section. Some of the experiments were more hilarious than others. And some were more relatable which made them more interesting to me, but I still think despite a few spots where it lagged for me it was a fun book.

If you are looking for a completely serious approach to a search for happiness this book is not for you. If you like honestly with a lot of humor, than give this book a try.

*I received a free copy of this book from LibraryThing in exchange for an honest review.

*Receiving a free copy of this book does not change my review. It simply provides me with a copy of a book sooner than I would have gotten to it or one I might not have heard about otherwise.