The Happiness Project

Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun

New York Times Bestseller

One rainy afternoon, while riding a city bus, Gretchen Rubin asked herself, “What do I want from life, anyway?” She answered, “I want to be happy”—yet she spent no time thinking about her happiness. In a flash, she decided to dedicate a year to a happiness project. The result? One of the most thoughtful and engaging works on happiness to have emerged from the recent explosion of interest in the subject.

Book cover of The Happiness Project

The Happiness Project synthesizes the wisdom of the ages with current scientific research, as Rubin brings readers along on her year to greater happiness.

In fact, Rubin’s “happiness project” no longer describes just a book or a blog; it’s a movement. Happiness Project groups, where people meet to discuss their happiness projects, have sprung up across the country—and across the world. Hundreds of book groups have discussed the book; professors, teachers, psychiatrists, and clergy assign it.

The Happiness Project has appeared in Fantasy Island, Big Little Lies, Orange is the New Black, The Night Agent, and it was even an answer on the game-show Jeopardy!

REVIEWS & BUZZ

The Happiness Project Companion Guide [PDF Download]

Want to start your own Happiness Project? This 34-page guide is designed to help you apply the ideas from Gretchen Rubin’s bestselling book to your own life.

Sample Chapter

Read the first chapter of The Happiness Project

Discussion Guide​

A one page discussion guide for book groups or other discussion groups.

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