The Pursuit of Happiness

Like Bill Bryson, Whippman has a willingness to play up cultural differences to comic effect ... She also has Bryson's sharp ear for language and its potential for absurdity ... This is not merely a personal voyage of enlightenment, however, nor an extended eye-roll at wacky Americans. The book's serious underpinning is a warning about how happiness is being weaponised by governments and employers, directed towards their people to make them work harder and longer ... With warm wit and chilling logic, The Pursuit of Happiness shows that the human desire for contentment can be manipulated and distorted until it is barely recognisable, Big Brother as smiley face, a frown turned upside down and back to front ... A whip-smart British Bill Bryson. Sunday Times I LOVED this book. I found it SO WELL WRITTEN, so witty and funny and reading it I was often envious of Ruth Whippman's facility with language. It is a hugely engaging read, accessible and so relevant ... I really, really, really, really enjoyed it and am quite evangelical about it. -- Marian Keyes, bestselling author of SUSHI FOR BEGINNERS She writes with a light touch ... Her conclusions are amusing and offer a useful commentary on this age of materialism and gloating. The Times Wry and often hilarious ... Whippman takes readers on an engaging and perceptive personal romp through the $10 billion happiness industry, and, along the way, shreds much of the 'science' that happiness is both an individual responsibility and a solo endeavour. A great - and important - read. -- Brigid Schulte, author of New York Times Bestseller OVERWHELMED: WORK, LOVE & PLAY WHEN NO ONE HAS THE TIME If you're on a quest for happiness, you want to start with buying this book. Wit, wisdom, and the kind of analysis only a Brit could bring to the topics of anxiety and contentment ... I laughed my way through it. -- Linda Tirado, author of HAND TO MOUTH: LIVING IN BOOTSTRAP AMERICA