The Totally Unscientific Study of The Search for Human Happiness

I love Paul Poundstone. I love her humor on NPR’s Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me, and I’ve taken my family to see her do standup comedy. Hysterical material, and I will go again when I get the chance. So, when I heard she had a book out (didn’t know it was her second), I promptly bought it: The Totally Unscientific Study of The Search for Human Happiness. Paula pondered what might make her feel happy, whether that was getting fit, improving her computer skills, getting organized, dancing with abandon, etc. She wondered that if there was a secret to happiness, why would anyone keep it a secret. I thought I would be entertained by her silliness, but I was left disappointed. It just did not capture my interest and I abandoned the book about halfway through.

Not that there were no redeeming stories and one-liners. When she talked about improving her computer skills, she complained about having to keep track of so many passwords, so she bought a new kitten in order to have a new name she could recall. Regarding Twitter, she said, “Twitter has to be one of the stupidest, most narcissistic activities humans have ever come up with, and I was enjoying it very much.” When reorganizing her desk, she realizing she had misinterpreted the forever stamp, thinking anything with that stamp meant she had to keep the letter forever. With regard to rearing her three adopted kids, Paula said that her least favorite kid argument started with the three words, “But you said…” So, there was some good stuff, just not enough to keep me going beyond halfway.