Making Happy People: The nature of happiness and its origins in childhood - Hardcover

Martin, Paul

3.89

27 ratings by Goodreads

9780007127061: Making Happy People: The nature of happiness and its origins in childhood

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0007127065 ISBN 13: 9780007127061

Publisher: Fourth Estate, 2005

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From the author of the highly successful ‘Counting Sheep’ comes a book on the study of happiness.

‘Making Happy People’ is quite simply a study of happiness. It looks at the origins of happiness within the individual during the lifelong process of development from birth to death. It also explores the relationship between happiness and success, and the ways in which early experience, parents and education influence each individual’s capacity for happiness, the most sought-after and most elusive human property.

Breaking new ground in the literature of happiness, this book offers a scientific perspective on a subject that has hitherto been the preserve of philosophers, artists, psychoanalysts and self-help gurus.

All parents want their children to be happy, but few take things further than this vague wish – until things start to go wrong and unhappiness has arrived to stay. Only then do they realise that what might seem obvious at first glance is in fact far from obvious. Accessible to parents and teachers alike, ‘Making Happy People’ uses the perspective of psychology and biology to reveal the way to be happy and to help children become happy people for life.

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Review:

‘In “Making Happy People”, Paul Martin proves himself a man of kindness and blithe optimism whose delightful diktats would be of benefit to us all.’ Mail on Sunday

Praise for ‘Counting Sheep’:

‘Energetic and immensely readable, this is as good a popular science book as I have read...written with such vivacity and infectious enthusiasm that by the end of this book you’ll be racing for your bed to try out a few sleepy experiments for yourself.’ Evening Standard

‘A masterpiece of efficiently and entertainingly delivered information, bracingly clear and thoroughly researched.’ New Statesman

'A thoroughly engaging and passionate book...littered with fascinating experiments, titillating examples and offbeat asides.' Scotland on Sunday

About the Author:

Paul Martin was educated at Cambridge University, where he read Natural Sciences and took a PhD in behavioural biology, and at Stanford University, California, where he was Harkness Fellow in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Sciences. He lectured and researched in behavioural biology at Cambridge University, and was a Fellow of Wolfson College, before leaving academia to pursue other interests including science writing. His previous books include The Sickening Mind and Counting Sheep.

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