Happiness & Public Policy

If you’re looking for a better happiness blog than this one, i.e., one that actually updates, I can recommend none more than Gretchen Rubin’s The Happiness Project blog. The blog is prep for Gretchen’s forthcoming book, which is

a memoir about this year, during which I’m testing every principle, tip, theory, and scientific study I can find, whether from Aristotle or St. Therese or Martin Seligman or Oprah. I’m gathering these rules for living from everywhere I can, and I’ll report what works and what doesn’t. This happiness blog is part of my larger project.

Fantastic idea. And the blog’s a great read. There are a number of happiness blogs out there, but most of them are dippy rah rah self-improvement things, and though Gretchen’s blog and book is about self-improvement, it’s neither dippy nor rah rah. It’s smart, literate, psychologically sophisticated and plain interesting.