Happy, Derren Brown
Happy, Derren Brown
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Happy
Why More or Less Everything is Absolutely Fine

Author: Derren Brown

Narrator: Derren Brown

Unabridged: 14 hr 32 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 11/15/2018

Synopsis

Brought to you by Penguin.

The audiobook edition of Happy, read by Derren Brown.

Everyone says they want to be happy. But that's much more easily said than done. What does being happy actually mean? And how do you even know when you feel it?

In Happy Derren Brown explores changing concepts of happiness - from the surprisingly modern wisdom of the Stoics and Epicureans in classical times right up until today, when the self-help industry has attempted to claim happiness as its own. He shows how many of self-help's suggested routes to happiness and success - such as positive thinking, self-belief and setting goals - can be disastrous to follow and, indeed, actually cause anxiety.

Happy aims to reclaim happiness and to enable us to appreciate the good things in life, in all their transient glory. By taking control of the stories we tell ourselves, by remembering that 'everything's fine' even when it might not feel that way, we can allow ourselves to flourish and to live more happily.

"Crammed with wisdom and insight . . . I'm going to recommend it to everyone I know" Stephen Fry

"Witty, useful and beautifully written" The Sunday Times

© Derren Brown 2016 (P) Penguin Audio 2018

Reviews

Goodreads review by Richard on November 07, 2016

Not to mince words, I believe that Derren’s latest book will be truly life-changing for the right type of reader. It is that rarest of books: one that I felt had been written for me personally. There’s very little about magic or illusion in here. This is essentially a 400+ page discourse on the anci......more

Goodreads review by Jade on October 08, 2016

(No spoilers included here) It is so frustrating knowing that people will choose not to read this book because they don't like Derren Brown, or that many fans of Derren are picking this up, getting 100 pages in and giving up because it's 'too intellectual.' A fantastic book of essays drawing on anci......more

Goodreads review by Charlene on December 22, 2016

My love for Derren Brown’s work as a philosopher magician made me eager to pick up his book on happiness, which draws much from the Stoics view of life. I’ve recently found that Stoicism resonates a lot with me, and I was eager to see how Derren Brown uses their wisdom, his own experience, and other......more

Goodreads review by Di on March 28, 2021

I highly recommend this book if you currently find yourself addicted to self-help or new age spiritituality, and neither seems to get you anywhere as this is such a thought-provoking book. I think that exposing ourselves to the opposite viewpoint can be very enlightening in general. Firstly, I love t......more

Goodreads review by Chris on November 17, 2016

I've noticed some reviews beginning with the phrase "No spoilers." It's a self-help book, folks. I can't help but envision a SNL-style skit where a young man goes to church for the first time, hears the priest say "Jesus died for your sins" -- and then storms out shouting, "Thanks for RUINING it for......more

Quotes

Witty, useful and beautifully written... this book grapples expansively with the most profound questions any of us face The Sunday Times

Brilliant. Really brilliant and just crammed with wisdom and insight. It will genuinely make a difference to me and the way I think about myself. I'm going to recommend it to everyone I know.

Brown tries to resurrect the original Stoic ambitions here: not just to live well but to die well, too. His book is thoughtful, insightful and ultimately, well, helpful. Sunday Times Books of the Year

Til now, we've known Derren Brown as a supreme illusionist and magician. Now he surprises us with a new and brilliant identity: as a philosopher. Not just any philosopher. Brown takes philosophy back to its truest task: that of helping us to live and die well. His book is deeply informative, moving, wise and full of love. It sets out to change lives - and it will. Derren has pulled off a properly implausible trick: that of making the deepest ideas relevant, humane and urgent.

In this wise and perceptive book Derren Brown has conjoined personal experience, profoundly sensible psychology and the magic of philosophy to produce a really excellent account of how to be happy - really, maturely, properly happy. This is a wonderfully educative - and enjoyable! - book, and should be on everyone's reading list, always.

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