Authentic Happiness: Using the New Positive Psychology to Realize Your Potential for Lasting Fulfillment - Hardcover

Seligman, Martin E. P.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0743222970 ISBN 13: 9780743222976

Publisher: Free Press, 2002

Synopsis

The author of Learned Optimism argues that happiness can be a learned and cultivated behavior, explaining how every person possesses at least five of twenty-four profiled strengths that can be built on in order to improve a life. 125,000 first printing.

About this title

About the Author

Martin E.P. Seligman, Ph.D., the Robert A. Fox Professor of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, works on positive psychology, learned helplessness, depression, ethnopolitical conflict, and optimism. Dr. Seligman's work has been supported by the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Science Foundation, the Guggenheim Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, and the MacArthur Foundation. He is the director of the Positive Psychology Network and scientific director of Foresight, Inc., a testing company that predicts success in various walks of life.

     He was for fourteen years the Director of the Clinical Training Program of the University of Pennsylvania and was named a "Distinguished Practitioner" by the National Academies of Practice. In 1995, he received the Pennsylvania Psychological Association's award for "Distinguished Contributions to Science and Practice."

From the Inside Flap

Advance Praise for Authentic Happiness

"Authentic Happiness is an excellent book about emotions that are vital, positive, and lend great strength to our lives. Martin Seligman, a pioneer in the field of positive emotions, has written a book that will make a real difference to many people."
Kay Redfield Jamison, author of An Unquiet Mind

"A revolutionary perspective on psychology, Seligman s Authentic Happiness is a beacon for human behavior in the new century. Laypersons and professionals alike will find this book enormously enriching. It summarizes a huge literature, it provides concrete self-assessment tools, and it speaks with a joyful voice about what it means to be fully alive."
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, author of Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience

"Martin Seligman is one of the most original thinkers the social sciences have produced in our century. Authentic Happiness is a fascinating, compelling look at a body of ground-breaking research. An important book."
Jonathan Kellerman

"A highly insightful scientific and personal reflection on the nature of happiness, from one of the most creative and influential psychologists of our time."
Steven Pinker, Peter de Florez Professor of Psychology, MIT, and author of The Language Instinct.

"To read this book is to walk with your head floating in clouds of possibility while your feet tread firmly on the ground of scientific research. Dr. Seligman gives us the tools to tap into our greatest strengths, so that we can live more joyously while making a greater contribution to loved ones, work and community."
Joan Oliver Goldsmith , author of How Can We Keep from Singing: Music and the Passionate Life

"At last, psychology gets serious about glee, fun and happiness. Martin Seligman has given us a gift a practical map for the perennial quest for a flourishing life."
Daniel Goleman, author of Emotional Intelligence

"Seligman takes the best, most recent science in psychology and applies it to our oldest, most basic human questions how can we be happy? And how can we be good? His book is ground-breaking, heart-lifting and, most importantly, deeply useful. With pun intended, I m optimistic about its success."
Mary Pipher, author of Reviving Ophelia

"An amazing book! Absolutely full of practical wisdom and its authentic sources. What depth of understanding! Seligman affirms our power of choice with a perspective on old and new psychology I found compelling and fascinating. This book will help restore the Character Ethic."
Dr. Stephen R. Covey, author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

"The Constitution may guarantee the right to pursue happiness, but it doesn t offer clear paths to follow through the wilderness. Seligman does. By turns smart, funny, irreverent, and insightful, he is the perfect guide, someone who can make such a difference in life, and lives. A world hungry for happiness will love his new book."
Diane Ackerman, author of A Natural History of the Senses

Reviews

In his latest user-friendly road map for human emotion, the author of the bestselling Learned Optimism proposes ratcheting the field of psychology to a new level. "Relieving the states that make life miserable... has made building the states that make life worth living less of a priority. The time has finally arrived for a science that seeks to understand positive emotion, build strength and virtue, and provide guideposts for finding what Aristotle called the `good life,' " writes Seligman. Thankfully, his lengthy homage to happiness may actually live up to the ambitious promise of its subtitle. Seligman doesn't just preach the merits of happiness e.g., happy people are healthier, more productive and contentedly married than their unhappy counterparts but he also presents brief tests and even an interactive Web site (the launch date is set for mid-August) to help readers increase the happiness quotient in their own lives. Trying to fix weaknesses won't help, he says; rather, incorporating strengths such as humor, originality and generosity into everyday interactions with people is a better way to achieve happiness. Skeptics will wonder whether it's possible to learn happiness from a book. Their point may be valid, but Seligman certainly provides the attitude adjustment and practical tools (including self-tests and exercises) for charting the course.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Free Press
• Publication date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0743222970
• ISBN 13: 9780743222976
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 336