Happiness: A Philosopher's Guide

In this book, the author reviews the philosophical literature on happiness, summarizing and considering the viewpoints of many ancient sources including Buddism, Christianity, the Stoics, Montaigne, Spinoza, etc. Up until the last (and very long, dense) chapter on Spinoza, the reader can -- without too much effort -- get a sense of different views on what happiness is, and where to find it.The book is good because it gathers and summarizes these different viewpoints from scattered resources, and tries to describe them all in one place. For that I am grateful.But the book is not good (I think) because of the writing style. Whole pages and pages on my Kindle were filled margin to margin with words, with no paragraphs, just long, free flowing text that seemed to mix too many ideas in a constant stream. This made parts of the book very difficult (or impossible, in my case) to understand. It was so difficult to ascertain the author's point in so many places (esp. in the long final Spinoza chapter) that I just finally gave up, and started skimming for any visible meaning.I think the book could really benefit from an accessible (readable, understandable) summary of the many ideas and viewpoints on happiness. As it stands, it's almost a dense, impenetrable academic book in places. And so after reading the book, I still don't have a good idea of what the main point of the book was, or how I might increase my own happiness for having spent the time reading the book. And many interesting questions go unanswered by the book -- Which theory of happiness is most useful today? Why? Are modern theories different? How? Are they more functional?Or most importantly, after having done all the work in researching and writing the book, why didn't the author (obviously qualified after all this research) have a shot at answering the basic questions for the reader: How does the author think people might get more happiness into their lives? What should they do? What theories seem to be most functional, in the author's opinion?I would not recommend this book to the average reader. It's more for people who have a semi-academic philosophy interest, who might be interested in deep thinking over each idea in the text.

easy reading ;interesting .the writer must be a fan of Montaigne.

I am happy with it.

The author offers a fresh perspective on various degrees of Happiness as seen through the eyes of famous philosophers. Going to send copies to my friends to meet and discuss.CheersGina

Got it for a friend and they're so satisfied with it.

This is amuch needed message in today's high-stress world where happiness seems elusive.

Loved it.

Lenoir dissects happiness by revealing to the reader the many avenues which can lead to it. He puts together a menu of options that can help one achieve happiness, from Stoic teachings to Montaigne's philosophy. Ultimately, happiness is something that one can achieve by taking responsibility for how one responds to events and by seeing life as something that inherently has ups and downs. There is material here even from Schopenhauer whom one would think has nothing to say about happiness. There is also some contemporary material about neuroscience, happiness set points and positive psychology. Lenoir covers all the bases and provides readers with a variety of approaches to obtain happiness.

Mr Lenoir touch deeply on the topic of happiness. The question is what does it mean to be happy? The author goes on and trying his best to explain and break it down this difficult subject which in my opinion does it very well.

Excellent livre. Frédéric Lenoir est un auteur remarquable. Ravie de découvrir cet ouvrage en langue anglaise pour pouvoir l'offrir à des amis ne parlant pas le français !

This book was a big let down. I thought it would be an intellectual feast like the books written by Andre Comte Sponville ,another French philosopher but this book is very superficial .Imagine my horror when I discovered there is a separate chapter on Ma Anadamayi in a philosophy book. Anyway a forgettable book.

Simply a great book on a great subject. It is hard to be concise, and well balanced, but this book has both. Well done.