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Summary
Summary
"In this warm, wise, and witty overview, Jonathan Rauch combines evidence and experience to show his fellow adults that the best is yet to come." -- Steven Pinker, bestselling author of Enlightenment Now
This book will change your life by showing you how life changes.
Why does happiness get harder in your 40s? Why do you feel in a slump when you're successful? Where does this malaise come from? And, most importantly, will it ever end?
Drawing on cutting-edge research, award-winning journalist Jonathan Rauch answers all these questions. He shows that from our 20s into our 40s, happiness follows a U-shaped trajectory, a "happiness curve," declining from the optimism of youth into what's often a long, low slump in middle age, before starting to rise again in our 50s.
This isn't a midlife crisis , though. Rauch reveals that this slump is instead a natural stage of life--and an essential one. By shifting priorities away from competition and toward compassion, it equips you with new tools for wisdom and gratitude to win the third period of life.
And Rauch can testify to this personally because it was his own slump, despite acclaim as a journalist and commentator that compelled him to investigate the happiness curve. His own story and the stories of many others from all walks of life--from a steelworker and a limo driver to a telecoms executive and a philanthropist--show how the ordeal of midlife malaise reboots our values and even our brains for a rebirth of gratitude.
Full of insights and data and featuring many ways to endure the slump and avoid its perils and traps, The Happiness Curve doesn't just show you the dark forest of midlife, it helps you find a path through the trees. It also demonstrates how we can--and why we must--do more to help each other through the woods. Midlife is a journey we mustn't walk alone.
Reviews (3)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Journalist Rauch (Political Realism) argues for a "happiness curve" to life-a common, U-shaped path from youthful idealism, through middle-aged disappointment, to eventual happiness-in this inspired take on midlife crises. In researching the topic, Rauch gave interviewees a questionnaire about their satisfaction level at the present and at earlier ages, finding that those in their 40s often describe feeling profoundly dissatisfied, even when there seemed no compelling reason to be so. Older subjects reported feeling the same demoralization during their 40s, but also increased satisfaction at their present age and even a "rebirth of gratitude." What's the reason for that return to contentment? It can be multilayered, Rauch says; it may surface as "a sense of mastery." Or it may be that "settling increases our contentment." While Rauch provides a few suggestions for getting through the low times-a healthy diet rich in fruits and vegetables, for instance-it's the many interviews with survey participants that will provide the most reassurance to readers. They will also take comfort from Rauch's personal investment in the subject-he has moved through the bottom of his own happiness curve and concludes his heartening self-help book by writing that it was "worth the wait." (May) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
Exploring the struggle for satisfaction at midlife.Brookings Institution senior fellow and Atlantic contributing editor Rauch (Political Realism: How Hacks, Machines, Big Money, and Back-Room Deals Can Strengthen American Democracy, 2015, etc.) profiles an assortment of individuals who found themselves discontented in their 40s and 50s. Their lives had followed a classic trajectory: energized with motivation in their 20s and flush with responsibilities throughout their 30s, they eventually experienced a drastic downswing in happiness and fulfillment that proved challenging to overcome. In Rauch's search for answers, he gleans perspectives from everyday people, notables such as former blogger Andrew Sullivan and historical figures such as landscape painter Thomas Cole. Also illuminating are the author's frank reflections on his own personal life. While Rauch stresses that the scientific phenomenon of the "U-shaped life-satisfaction curve" is real and the midlife disillusionment slump perfectly natural, he also acknowledges the ways in which to counterbalance its effects and find an optimistic vantage point. "Time and aging fight happiness in midlife," he writes, "then switch sides." Rauch examines the nuances of human contentedness through the work of several "happiness economics" researchers who determined that social, not material, factors were most at play when measuring the happiness of people in later life, and he notes that the "curve" of midlife dissatisfaction is not necessarily an inevitability for everyone. Rauch's keen research, partly based on statistical and polled data yet more largely substantiated by interviews and profiles of everyday people, documents how happiness levels trend downward as midlife approaches but also charts a return to enjoyment, wisdom, and an uptick in overall fulfillment once midlife is crested. He convincingly scrutinizes this harmonic resurgence of overall satisfaction (a "rebirth of gratitude"), attested to by survey respondents who attributed it to stress reduction and emotional regulation. This uplifting report offers hope and encouragement for aging readers doubting the longevity of bliss.Stimulating reading for those seeking enlightenment and joyfulness throughout middle age. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Psychologists agree that the midlife crisis is a myth. But why are so many middle-aged people so dissatisfied with their lives? Sifting through happiness studies and conducting his own interviews and surveys, Rauch discovers a pattern. While most people find their twenties and thirties exciting and success-filled, there seems to be a dip in life satisfaction during their forties and fifties. In the years that follow, however, happiness again increases. Allowing for variables, including employment, health, and wealth, the pattern remains consistent across cultures. The answer seems to be connected to the influence of time. Subjects in their later years seemed to develop new expectations, turn outward rather than inward, and have a fresh perspective on events. Rauch argues for recognition of a new stage in life (maybe encore adulthood? Act II?), when still-vital seniors are given support and direction to use their wisdom to mentor and aid struggling midlifers, a reassuring concept for both age groups. This thoughtful study is sure to find an audience.--Smith, Candace Copyright 2018 Booklist
Table of Contents
| 1 The Voyage of Life | p. 1 |
| 2 What Makes Us Happy (and Doesn't) The strange illogic of life satisfaction | p. 20 |
| 3 A Timely Discovery How unsuspecting economists (and apes) found the happiness curve | p. 40 |
| 4 The Shape of the River Time, happiness, and the curve of the U | p. 60 |
| 5 The Expectations Trap Midlife malaise is often about nothing | p. 82 |
| 6 The Paradox of Aging Why getting old makes you happier | p. 112 |
| 7 Crossing Toward Wisdom The happiness curve has a purpose, and it's social | p. 138 |
| 8 Helping Ourselves How to get through the U | p. 167 |
| 9 Helping Each Other Bringing midlife out of the closet | p. 186 |
| 10 Epilogue: Gratitude | p. 216 |
| Acknowledgments | p. 219 |
| Sources and Methods | p. 221 |
| Index | p. 231 |
