The Antidote

Burkeman's central argument — that the obsessive pursuit of happiness is itself the obstacle — is both counterintuitive and well-supported by Stoic philosophy, Buddhist thought, and contemporary psychology. The journalistic writing is sharp enough that it never feels like therapy-lite, and the intellectual honesty is refreshing in a genre that usually promises more than it delivers. A few chapters are stronger than others, but this is one of the genuinely good books in popular philosophy of wellbeing.