I noticed this book by the colour of its cover and the birds (Reminded me of Twitter). I read the inside sleeve cover and was instantly drawn in by Gretchen's determination to make herself happier. At first it didnt make sense how she could not be happy as she had a good job and a family, but when she started making her list of happiness-improvements, I understood what she was trying to accomplish. The book was well written and each chapter highlighted her monthly goals. It was refreshing to see an author state her mistakes and errors instead of just measuring the accomplishment and achievements during this experiment. While reading the book, it made me sort of analyze my life and see where improvements can be made as well. Good book to read if you want to "break" your current life cycle and get a new definition on what happiness means to you. She also has a new book that just came out so Im going to have to get on that like lint on denim.

This book is so inspiring and heart warming... somewhat a self help book intertwined with the narration of her own life experiences. Filled with humour, insight, and heart warming moments. LOVED IT!

I usually don't write a review for a book until I'm finished reading it, but i'm really taking my time with this one! It's an amazing book. I've started my own Happiness Project. It's helped my life so much in the month and a half that i've been working on my own. The book itself has cute little stories about things she's changed, and gives off ideas for your own projects. This is a book I want to continue taking my time with. It's a great guide to happiness. I also recommend getting the 5 year Happiness Journal! It's a great way to keep on track of you happy thoughts.

Her background as a lawyer shows through with her approach to finding happiness which was too list-oriented for me. I have enough mental and physical lists in my life. A happiness approach based on lists is too much work for me. And it is often tough to relate to her if your own life has not been as rosy. But it is worth reading. I appreciated the various strains of happiness and some of the philosophy. Enjoyed most of it.

You can relate to the author, it was fun to read!

Too much like Dr. Phil for me. Had to force myself to finish it. P.S. Those of you who were so quick to criticize Lindsay should have taken the advice of the author when she got the bad review of her book and emailed him to thank him. Let everyone have their own opinions.

There are a lot of happiness books - a lot!! All these books tell us how to be happy, do this and you will be happier and really tells you the "what" to be happy. But you'll find the reason why many readers like myself ask the question "how do you do this." And what I loved about this book was the ability for us to learn the fundamental principles of being happy and how one applies it to their everything life. We can certainly read the authors application of happiness and be able to learn how to adapt those same principles in our life. She put it to the test and she was successful in her pursuit of greater and more in-depth happiness in her life. If you are looking for a book to help with the 'how' one can be happier - pick up this book!

Great ideas for everyday people who can't run away from real life and travel the world to find themselves or where their happiness is buried. The author describes her personal insights so well that I'm sure she reflects what many of us struggle with. This book is about changing those little annoyances that follow us around daily in our life which add up to bigger problems. Her solutions are attainable and somehow she makes me WANT to do the work to find a little more happiness in my day! Definitely one to recommend to friends and family.

Perhaps I am in the wrong place in my life to enjoy this book (unmarried and no kids) but I could not even finish this book. I found the projects to be, for the most part, superficial fixes to an overprivileged woman's boredom rather than a search for real change. Ms. Rubin also spends a considerable amount of time reiterating that with all the things she has in life (great husband, new york apartment, a great career - as well as unmentioned wealth) can what she is feeling really be called unhappiness? (I for one found this annoying) It's also very heavy on statistics and research, as if she is hoping to justify her odd actions - ie. she doesn't have a desire to collect bluebirds but research shows collecting things make people happy so here goes. Perhaps she reaches true enlightenment near the end, but I couldn't bear to slog through the book to find out.

I picked up this book while shopping one day - I was drawn to it as I had been feeling very negative the last few months - especially with work and sometimes with my loved ones. I was not happy being so negative, but I didn't even know where to start and deal with this problem. Then this book appeared as if by magic to say PICK ME - I CAN HELP. And help it did. The writing style was free and easy to read - not your typical self help style book. It was written into sections which helped to keep it from becoming boring. I loved that she broke down her project by month and concentrated on one topic for that month. This makes it seem so much more attainable when you see that it takes time to develop the changes you want to see in your own life. The idea of changing ones life for the better without really changing ones life at all was very intriguing. Pretty much - Ms. Rubin guides you through the tiny adjustments made to her life throughout the course of the year that would allow for her to appreciate the happiness in her life. Many people take for granted the wonderful things happening in their lives. I think one of the key factors in this book was doing things for yourself. Learning what you do and do not like. Keeping yourself in good health both physically and mentally makes a huge difference in our outlook on everyday life. It seems that it takes a lot more energy to be negative all the time versus just being happy every day regardless of how hard things are. I also learned that different things make different people happy - not everyone would love to keep a book review blog like I do, but it honestly makes me happy to be able to read amazing books and post reviews about them to share with my fellow book lovers. Pretty much she believes that happier people are much more productive, more generous, more caring and thoughtful - she even has the data and research to back up her statements. It's interesting to note that while reading this book I noticed a difference in how I thought about things and how I felt. I was much more positive than I was a few weeks ago. I was more aware of negative surroundings and ways to change them to positives. I also noticed that doing things for myself that made me happy made me a much more productive and loving person. This has in inspired me to start my own happiness journey.