Look on the bright side

Enter Making Happy People. This isn't a self-help book, though, as popsci writer Paul Martin himself says, it could well be helpful. Rather, it's a survey of current "scientific evidence" on the subject.

According to this "evidence" (in large part the results of surveys and psychological tests), we human beings are happiest when we have lots of pleasurable feelings, few unpleasant feelings and are able to look back on our lives with a small burst of inner satisfaction.

Good personal relationships make us happy, as does meaningful work and an outward focus on life. An appetite for learning helps, so does a willingness to do things for other people. A good education makes a bit of a difference, though less than you might think, but, so long as our basic economic needs are met, money has no lasting impact on happiness.

Chief among the misery-makers are unemployment and lousy relationships. Advertising, gawping at the TV and rampant consumerism do their bit, too.

Since the "scientific evidence" shows our general level of happiness tends to remain more or less stable throughout the lifespan, Martin argues it's a probably a good idea to start early. Back to those kids, then. Making Happy People lists the " scientifically proven" ways we can make our kids happy. These will come as no surprise to anyone who has browsed a book on good parenting, or is a good parent, or even to anyone with a thread of common sense.

The truth is, as Martin himself admits, that none of what is in his book is really new. Philosophers worked it out centuries ago and it seems to have taken science a long time to catch up. What's really interesting about Making Happy People isn't its survey of the surveys, its definitions and tips, so much as the giant question it begs. Why don't people and governments do more to promote happiness? Why do we persist in acting as though wealth, consumption, success and fame are paths to joy when we know they're mere blind alleys?

What is it about human nature which allows us to be so easily seduced by a known lie? Are TV, advertising and consumerism really, as Karl Marx might have said, the opiates of the masses? And if so, why are so many of us such willing addicts? Making Happy People doesn't get to the bottom of all this, which is a failing.

Martin's last book was about sleep, which is much more qualifiable and quantifiable and hence more suited to scientific study. In Making Happy People he's surprisingly sparse on what little real scientific research has been done into happiness - its biochemical component, for example - nor does he talk about what role science can play in promoting happiness. He rather glides over the spectacular human capacity (not so much scientific as just plain messed up) for sabotaging what happiness we do have.

If you're in the market for some semi-scientific backup for your hunches plus a good many enticing info-nubs on the topic of happiness, all well laid out and clearly written, then read this book. Just don't expect it to tell you anything you didn't already know. Or to make you happy.