When we imagine future circumstances, we fill in details that won't really come to pass and leave out details that will. When we imagine future feelings, we find it impossible to ignore what we are feeling now and impossible to recognize how we will think about the things that happen later.Forgive my rather "meh" response to this book. And it was a very bored response. But that isn't the book's fault, it's my fault.If you have a background in psychology, a degree in psychology, or work in the field of psychology, this book will be old hat to you. Gilbert presents these studies and experiments and psychological insights that will be stunning and revolutionary to anyone who is uneducated in psychology, but to someone who has been trained in psychology, there is absolutely nothing new to offer here.This is NOT a self-help book. I know it looks like a self-help book and is titled as a self-help book, but it is really a psychology book. This book will NOT help you be any happier in your life. Gilbert's whole main point is that your brain acts and reacts in ways that are beyond your control. Even when you are told about them and warned about them, you can't stop them. So no self-help here. Instead, this is a look into psychology and a bit of neuroscience (but only the most minuscule bit).Gilbert discusses things like resiliency, selective memory, and expectations about the future. I really enjoy psychology books, but I felt this one did not offer anything new to anyone with a psychological degree or education. If you DO NOT have training in psychology - I would recommend this book. It will be interesting to you, Gilbert makes some great points, and he is funny. I mean, actually very amusing and lighthearted. And you will learn some psych basics without boring texts or going to class.But if you ARE someone with a psych background, skip this - you will be bored out of your skull, and Gilbert will just be telling you what you already know.Recommendations for people who already have tons of psychology knowledge:A First-Rate Madness: Uncovering the Links Between Leadership and Mental Illness EXCELLENTOn Depression: Drugs, Diagnosis, and Despair in the Modern World EXCELLENTThe Sibling Effect: What the Bonds Among Brothers and Sisters Reveal About UsThe Compass of Pleasure: How Our Brains Make Fatty Foods, Orgasm, Exercise, Marijuana, Generosity, Vodka, Learning, and Gambling Feel So Good - I gave this four stars, it's not five-star material.Stuff: Compulsive Hoarding and the Meaning of ThingsThe Steal: A Cultural History of Shoplifting

Is it just me, or is the author of this book unusually cocky in his writing style? Gilbert reiterates a bunch of basic ideas that any normal, reasonably intelligent person should already have arrived at (like, you shouldn't judge another person's life without all of the facts, and, wow, things never turn out quite how you plan them) and then acts like he's discovered a new planet. His tone is one of an utterly brilliant professor talking down to his idiotic, simple students. I was actually, mildly offended by this book, and as you can probably tell by the rest of my selections, I am not easily offended. I'm happy to read all about views I disagree with, just don't treat me like an idiot! This book just wasted my time. I was so infuriated with it that my husband had to remind me that it's just a book and I could put it down if it was so bad - but I couldn't stop, because it just got worse and worse! Even the forward to the book, with acknowledgements, is cocky beyond belief. Gilbert first says "Actually, I wrote this book all by myself, without any help," before acknowledging that he borrowed lots from his students' research. What? Unbelievable!

Note: the title reads Stumbling On Happiness, not Stumbling Onto Happiness. Thus, Daniel Gilbert's book does not go into self-help. Rather, it delineates the many errors we humans make when solidifying decisions and how our minds trick us into choosing things that might not lead us to happiness in the long run.A few cool concepts stood out to me when reading Stumbling On Happiness: how we kind of suck at predicting our future emotions because our present state influences us so much, how certain societal ideas like needing money or wanting kinds propagate even if they do not make us happy, and how the brain constructs experiences based on biased memories as opposed to objective truths. Gilbert writes in a witty, smart, and accessible way. He incorporates psychological research, philosophy, cognitive neuroscience, sociology, behavioral economics, and more to strengthen his points. The broad scope of this book makes it appealing to individuals with a wide array of interests, spanning hard and social sciences.I only wish that Gilbert had tied all his ideas together with a little more incisiveness. At times it felt like he just listed experiments and made some general comments about them instead of tying them altogether. Even though this book circumvents the self-help genre, I wanted to read more solid connections between Gilbert's remarks and how they relate to happiness. Stumbling on Happiness could have used a stronger thesis: it reads fine as a general list of cognitive fallacies we make, and it could have been even better with a dose of additional punch.Overall, recommended to those intrigued by the book's synopsis, this article about happiness, or those intrigued by cognitive psychology. A well-researched book with some witty, substantial ideas, even if not all of them will stay in my memory (as Gilbert himself suggests).