My expectations from this book were pretty neutral. Not very high yet not low. I didn't know what to expect from it because I've had it on my reading list for a while now. So much time passed since then, that I forgot everything about it. Found it on sale recently, so I grabbed the opportunity and read it.

Looking at the cover and title, I half-thought that this is going to be another "feel-good" book about happiness and joy. Some person sharing their experience in life in telling everybody they should do exactly like him, and they will be happy.

Luckily, this was not the case.

The author of the book ever so tries to define what happiness really is. And that's an important aspect that you need to tackle in order to know the steps you should consider, right?

One cool aspect is that most of the main topics are based on a research he and his team has done over a longer period of time. There are also a ton of references to other books and research papers for a multitude of smaller topics. So, in this regard, it is a really nice resource to gather more materials for a subject you have a deep passion about.

Some parts of the book try to educate you as a parent. While I don't have this role (yet), I found the information to be very interesting and potentially useful.

Not everything is great, though. There are sections in the book that I've found to be boring -- mainly because the author was giving too many examples to emphasize the same particular idea.

It was written a long time ago, and some readers might find the lack of reference to anything more modern that a TV to be disturbing. But at the same time, it shows the dangers that we face in this newer world where our attention is aggressively caught by modern tech.

You've got the power

And probably one of the most controversial aspects for any reader (who might have even abandoned the book) is that all solutions proposed by the author reside within yourself. That is to say that, actually, if you expect this book to come with particular X-step process to fix this or that you will be strongly disappointed.

The examples and the explications provided try to make this point: you have this immense power to ignore all outside circumstances, all exterior influences and find happiness from within.

As we should know by now, with great power comes great responsibility! Therefore, some people simply cannot accept this fact and go on bickering that this can't be done. And they also probably go looking for another book that makes empty promises of things that you can change on the outside that will help. (they might, but short-term only)

Do I recommend this book? Yes, I do. Not necessary a strong recommendation, but if you are an experienced reader that can skip though the repetition than I think you will do just fine.