Mo Gawdat is a remarkable thinker and the Chief Business Officer at Google’s [X], an elite team of engineers that comprise Google’s futuristic “dream factory.” Applying his superior skills of logic and problem solving to the issue of happiness, he proposes an algorithm based on an understanding of how the brain takes in and processes joy and sadness. Then he solves for happy.
In 2001 Mo Gawdat realized that despite his incredible success, he was desperately unhappy. A lifelong learner, he attacked the problem as an engineer would: examining all the provable facts and scrupulously applying logic. Eventually, his countless hours of research and science proved successful, and he discovered the equation for permanent happiness.
Thirteen years later, Mo’s algorithm would be put to the ultimate test. After the sudden death of his son, Ali, Mo and his family turned to his equation—and it saved them from despair. In dealing with the horrible loss, Mo found his mission: he would pull off the type of “moonshot” goal that he and his colleagues were always aiming for—he would share his equation with the world and help as many people as possible become happier.
In Solve for Happy Mo questions some of the most fundamental aspects of our existence, shares the underlying reasons for suffering, and plots out a step-by-step process for achieving lifelong happiness and enduring contentment. He shows us how to view life through a clear lens, teaching us how to dispel the illusions that cloud our thinking; overcome the brain’s blind spots; and embrace five ultimate truths.
No matter what obstacles we face, what burdens we bear, what trials we’ve experienced, we can all be content with our present situation and optimistic about the future.
Profoundly changed my perspective on several aspects of life To be honest, I initially thought the idea of an engineering approach to happiness was a completely ridiculous one, and mostly read the book out of pure curiosity. To my shock, I couldn’t put it down for 3 days! The book has profoundly changed my perspective on several aspects of life, essentially making me a much happier person. Definitely works.
Rearrange the Equation! For the logical and the analytical mind, Solve for Happy puts into perspective concepts that social scientists and philosophers have explored since the beginning of time by deftly exploring the meaning of life and happiness through the scientific method, with hypotheses, assumptions and clever experiments. Consider Solve for Happy a cookbook of recipes for happiness and joy, replete with short exercises to explore our own illusions and blind spots that get in the way of discovering the happy…
Game-changer, I’m about to read it again! If you’re reading this review, the book has already found you. This Mo guy is not your typical self-help author (not that I have anything against them, I’m one of those hippie-nerdy types who has an entire bookshelf dedicated to books on happiness :). He’s probably the last person you’d expect to write a book like this (a Silicon Valley high tech executive) but I think that’s part of what sets it apart — it’s a very carefully compiled set of insights with one goal only — your happiness…