I read these books hoping that someday, someone will tell me something other than: "Yes, you have to do hard things." I don't WANT to do hard things. I want to sit in my pajamas in bed under my 6 weighted blankets eating ice cream and reading and writing stories for the rest of my life. That's ALL. Unfortunately, I have tried this, and it actually leads to depression rather than to happiness, so I had to throw out that approach to life.

As these types of books do, The Happiness Project leans on the author's life, personal reflections, and humor to provide upwards of eighty percent of its content. You learn an awful lot about Gretchen; sometimes I identified with her (the desire for legitimacy) and sometimes I cringed a little bit (her pushiness, and constant unkindness to her husband). Around the fluff, though, there is quite a bit of interesting information and some sadly valid insights about happiness.

A sample:

• It takes 5 positive marital actions to repair the damage of 1 negative one

• Happiness comes from "an atmosphere of growth" -- from learning and overcoming and reaching for goals rather than from achieving goals (I HATE THIS but I know it's true??)

• Women test as having more empathy towards people than men do, but they both test as having the same amount of empathy towards animals

• Some things contribute massively to your overall happiness, but are unpleasant to do or experience

• Quite a bit of happiness is people-centered. Although maintaining relationships can be annoying and involve an awful amount of work, it pays big happiness dividends