"The Myths of Happiness" by Sonja Lyubomirsky

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    The new book, The Myths of Happiness: What Should Make You Happy, but Doesn't, What Shouldn't Make You Happy, but Does, isolates the major turning points of adult life, looking to both achievements and failures to reveal that our misconceptions about the impact of such events is perhaps the greatest threat to our long-term well-being.

Sonja Lyubomirsky is a professor of psychology at the University of California, Riverside. Her research—on the possibility of permanently increasing happiness— has been honored with a Science of Generosity grant, a John Templeton Foundation grant, a Templeton Positive Psychology Prize, and a million-dollar grant from the National Institute of Mental Health. Lyubomirsky’s 2008 book, The How of Happiness, has been translated into nineteen languages.