Rating: 
Summary: I agree 100% with the review by Mr. Coffee
Review: A gentleman named Mr. Coffee wrote an excellent review here citing information by the great Dr. Denis Waitley and discusing why optimism is a tonic while pessimism is a poisin.He also cited a review posted here by someone who said that pessimism can be good and that review actually got 34 votes. Mr. Coffee goes on to state that no doubt all 34 votes where from the reviewer who srote it. I couldn't agree more! Who could possibly think that pessimism is anything more than a illness that must be cured. Great book by Dr. Seligman. I also recommend Dr. Waitley. And whoever wrote that review about pessimism being good for you, I submit that you need these books more than anybody!
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Summary: prescription for a happy, fulfilled life
Review: After wide-reaching research across time and cultures, Martin Seligman has identified six virtues: Wisdom and learning, courage, love and humanity, justice, temperance, spirituality and transcendence. In "Authentic Happiness" he describes how to strengthen your character in order to develop these life-affirming virtues. Unlike traditional psychotherapy, which revolves around a "talking cure" and seeks to identify traumatic events in a person's past, and even to assign blame, Seligman's Positive Psychology focuses on developing your "signature strengths", and on learning what you will find genuinely fulfilling in life. Using personal anecdotes in addition to well-documented (and in some cases, surprising) studies, he demonstrates how we can avoid being trapped by the downward spiral of negativity and depression. This is a remarkable book that defies classification. It should not be limited to the "self-help" genre, as Seligman goes far beyond that to introduce a new way of thinking about individual potential. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: An extremely worthwhile book
Review: As a psychologist, I completely understand Martin Seligman's drive to free psychology from its obsession with negativity. Freud, he writes, made many people "unduly embittered about their past and unduly passive about their future," while clinical psychology focussed on diagnosing and treating mental disorders. In his new book, Authentic Happiness, Seligman goes a long way towards breaking psychology free from its love affair with pathology and replacing it with a far more positive approach. I don't know of anyone with better credentials to guide readers through what psychology has discovered about happiness. Seligman's own research has contributed greatly to our understanding of the entire range of human experience from profound depression to "abundant gratification." His early, groundbreaking studies of learned helplessness provided great insight into inescapable trauma as a major source of helplessness and depression. He went on to study "learned optimism" as a powerful antidote to depression--his earlier book by that name is invaluable. Now, Seligman sets out to provide readers with the insights and tools from the relatively new field of positive psychology. He does this with a rich mixture of anecdotes, personal revelations and research. In addition, he provides frequent self-assessments and exercises. I think that almost anyone who takes the time to read what Seligman has to say, who takes and thinks about the self assessments, and who does the exercises, will start thinking and acting in ways that lead to lasting happiness. It's important to realize that Seligman is not a self-help guru by any stretch of the imagination. He is a leading research psychologist who builds on solid experimental findings. (Although the book is vividly written for the most part, at times Seligman's reliance on research findings slows things down.) Still, he is also devoted to the idea of making those often dry experiments as meaningful and useful as possible. He doesn't promise limitless bliss, but what he does offer may actually be reachable by ordinary, unenlightened people like us. Early in the book Seligman makes the point that pleasure in itself is not the road to happiness. As we all know, pleasure is fleeting, and pursuing it can easily turn into addiction or futility. Instead Seligman identifies and values a set of nearly universal virtues which he believes lead to deep and lasting gratification. These include wisdom and knowledge, courage, love and humanity, justice, temperance, spirituality and transcendance. "The good life," he writes, "is using your signature strengths every day to produce authentic happiness and abundant gratification." What I liked most about this book is that it made me feel good about myself, other people, and the "simple" virtues that make up much of the fabric of life, but which are often ignored and devalued. Kindness, tolerance, competence, interpersonal skills, a work ethic, and faith emerge as vital ingredients of a good, gratifying, happy life. Authentic Happiness is not a miracle cure for all unhappiness. It is, however, a wise, well-informed, and extremely valuable guide to a more grounded, heartfelt and gratifying life. Robert Adler, Author of _Sharing the Children: How to Resolve Custody Problems and Get on With Your Life_(1988, 2nd. Ed. 2001), and _Science Firsts: From the Creation of Science to the Science of Creation_ (2002).
Rating: 
Summary: Nice Overview of Positive Psychology
Review: Gotta give it to Seligman: he tries hard. Positive Psychology is the science of using the human psyche in attaining greater levels of overall satisfaction with life.
Why I like this book: 1) Well developed, 2) Well Referenced, 3) Interesting studies cited.
Why I dislike this book: 1) It negates to focus on the eastern aspect of psychology -- a psychology that blows positive psychology into the shallow end of the pool. 2) The diagnostics are tedious and in my opinion overly abundant. 3) Often times Seligman can just cut the the point, but he doesn't.
Why positive psychology might be for you? It is an object-oriented approach to increasing life satisfaction with real and pertinent examples. In other words, it gives you the box and instructions.
Why positive psychology might not be for you? Its difference to the east's view is the difference between getting your car's engine tuned as opposed to upgrading the engine all together.
Seligman is cutting edge in his field, pretty much, except for the one book he references concerning the positive psychology of buddhism; which I should probably pick up.
This book is filled with a lot of diagnostics, and those are pretty tedious and annoying. On the up side, there apparently is a website where you can take the inventories (diagnostics) and have them automatically scored.
If you want the theory of positive psychology, check out some website. If you want psychological evaluations, nice examples, studies, and the theory, buy this book.
This book is excellent for those begining their journey. It is written for any relatively educated person and above.
Book for those interested in the joining of Eastern and Western Psychology: "The Art of Happiness" by Howard Cutler and His Holiness the Dalai Lama
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Summary: Another great book by Dr. Seligman
Review: I have always enjoyed Dr. Seligmans work and am a big fan of Learned Optimism which probably should be read before this one or at least in addition to it. People are confused and upset today for a lot of different reasons. Are you really happy. Read Dr. Seligmans book and find out what you can do about it. Great work Dr. Seligman.
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Summary: Self-important Author Repackaging Some Good Ideas
Review: I simply cannot understand most of the other reviewers here in their adoration of this book. Primarily, the book draws on insights already expressed by others without giving appropriate credit. One example is John F. Kennedy, who defined happiness as "full use of your powers along the lines of excellence" (compare this to Seligman's defintion: "successfully using your signature strengths to obtain...gratification.)" Another example is Norman Vincent Peale who defined optimism as a "habit of mind" (compare this to Seligman's point that we can achieve optimism by routinely engaging in the "disputing of pessimistic thoughts.") Can you say Positive Thinking? Conciously or unconciously, Seligman has repackaged these thoughts and labeled the package "Positive Psychology." The warming over of these old concepts, in itself, would not be a bad thing because the borrowed concepts have much validity. What IS bad, however, is the way Seligman padded and diluted these nuggets with a lot of personal anecdotes, self congratulation, questionnaires, and psuedo science. And he constantly uses pure trivia as his source for second guessing other great thinkers on the weightiest of subjects. For example, he implies that the enitire book was hatched as the result of an "epiphany" he experienced when his 5 year old daughter called him a grouch. Similarly, all of his self-assured recommendations on child rearing, contained in a long chapter that seems tacked on to the book, are based on the experience of raising his own kids. Seligman apparently is on his second family (his 6 kids include toddlers and near-middle-agers.) Why should I take his advice on child rearing when he admits that, until he bribed her with the offer of a Barbie Doll, he couldn't stop his youngest from hiding, day after day, where her family could not find her? He actually says we should only bribe kids this way "once or twice in a lifetime." Finally, Seligman unlocks the mystery of God for us by engaging in his typical practice of finding answers not in the words of Aristotle, Plato, or Freud but by seeking answers in less less likely places. He goes instead to the world of sci-fi, telling us that his theory on the identity of God was inspired by an Isaac Asimov short story. He unravels this mystery for us by quoting a poolside conversation during which, as he describes it, he dazzled a brilliant writer, Bob Wright, with his profound insight on the Diety. What's the insight? "God comes at the end" but wasn't here in the beginning! If you want to get anything useful out of this book, you have to work hard to separate the meaningful stuff from the self-important fluff. I suggest you instead seek out the thoughts of people like Kennedy and Peale, who were not only better thinkers, but a heck of a lot less arrogant.
Rating:
Summary: A true "how-to" book for happiness
Review: Much research has shown that people have a set range of happiness, and they're likely to stay within this set range throughout their lives, returning to it over and over again. Dr. Seligman proposes a slightly different way of looking at this situation and represents it with the following equation: H = S + C + V where H is your overall current happiness, S is your set range, C is the influence of current life events, and V represents those factors under your voluntary control. His idea is that while you can't really change your set range, you can set yourself up to experience the highest part of that range a much greater portion of the time.
He believes you can do this by altering how you view your life (past, present and future), using psychological strategies to make your life more pleasant, and discovering and using to the fullest what he calls your "signature strengths."
The research in this book is quite methodical and solid. Seligman systematically lays out the details of dozens of studies (at least!) and decades of research by luminaries and students alike. This is a thick book. Not dry, thankfully, and not inaccessible, but definitely thick. It isn't something you can skim in two hours and be done with; it takes some time to read through, digest, and absorb. This is not a bad thing. Everything is explained with care and attention to detail.
This is an immensely practical and helpful book. It doesn't just talk about happiness; it provides concrete strategies backed up by thorough research that can help you to improve your happiness and your satisfaction with your life. This truly is a how-to book on happiness. The research is solid, careful, and well-thought-out. Dr. Seligman, a self-avowed pessimist, makes it easy for non-optimists to see and understand his points; unlike many optimists he doesn't boil it down to a simple "cheer up!" but instead gives us critical evidence and practical strategies. This is a courageous, in-depth, thoughtful, and highly helpful book for just about anyone from a brilliant researcher. I have no hesitation in recommending it, and will probably be passing it on to several people I know.
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Summary: Went from sad and negative to happy & positive!
Review: Over the last few years, like many others, the Clinton recession and bear market has played it's toll on me. I lost a small fortune in the markets and found gaining employment difficult. To make matters worse, several close family members passed away unexpectedly (9 in one month) so I have been tested. A good friend recommended this book to me. Feeling that it was just another "feel good book" loaded with polyanna type nonsense, I resisted. Finally, I borrowed the book from my friend and read it. I have to admit, I felt better, but then again I had proved to myself that this was just a "feel good book." More to the point, I started to apply someof what I had read. I read more and more every day and continued to apply Dr. Seligmans advice. When I called my friend and told him what was happening, he just laughed and siad I told you so. When I returned the book to my friend, he asked me if I was open to more information. "There's more I thought." He gave me a copy of Learned Optimism also by Seligman and The 7 Habits of Highloy Effective People by Dr. Covey. When I finished those he loaned me a few more. My whole attitude had changed from negative to positive. In fact, I no longer refer to positive mind books as "feel good books" in a negative way anymore. Of course they are "feel good books." And when are we at out best, when we feel good or when we feel lousy? Having been sad and negative for a long time and gone to happy and positive, I can tell you that lif is a lot better when you feel good, happy and positive then by being negative, sad and feeling lousy. I highly recommend this great book by Dr. Seligman. Perhaps like me, you will find this the first of many books and also find you whole life changed for the better as a result. Thank you Dr. Seligman!
Rating: 
Summary: Off to a good start...
Review: Seligman's book shows that he's a beneficiary of Banker's Paradox: (p 186): the more you have, the more you can get. A successful professor, researcher, author and (icing on the cake) president of APA -- you have license to create, and Seligman uses it wisely.
I heard Seligman's APA Presidential address many years ago, where he openly questioned the claims of traditional psychotherapy. Some folks applauded; some actually walked out. Perhaps his greatest contribution is his questioning of traditional therapy, especially Freudian emphasis on childhood as the source of current ills.
Additionally, Seligman wisely deplores traditional psychology's emphasis on "what's wrong with you." That's probably why "life coaching" has become a bonanza. People want to talk about their lives but they don't want to be in a one-down position, as patients with a diagnosis.
That said, this book offers a simple introduction to what he calls Positive Psychology. Ironically, much of what Seligman offers echoes what we've already read in the unscientific pop psychology books that we find everywhere. Some, of course, were written by authors who have PhD degrees in psychology but no longer practice.
For example, Richard Carlson's "small stuff" books make points that are scientifically valid: Hashing over sad childhood memories leads to sad moods, which cause us to remember more sad memories, and so on. Wayne Dyer's books encourage us to express gratitude and forgiveness. So I think Seligman needs to be even more scientific to distinguish himself from the "self-help" section of a major bookstore. It can be done: Annie Paul's Cult of Personality is a fine recent example. Gilovich, Dawes and Russo have used research findings to create readable but helpful guides to decision-making.
Pop psych books are, by definition, aimed at a mass audience. Therefore, they appeal to people who feel some pain and want to change their lives. In contrast, it's hard to see who Seligman wants to reach. Scientifically trained readers (like me) will want to read original journal articles. And Seligman's prescriptions tend to be vague or targeted, as he suggests in the "love" chapter, to making great lives better. If you don't have a great life to start with, you can get pretty discouraged! A newly-divorced, newly-fired fifty-something reader won't find much help here.
In particular, the chapter on Signature Strengths seems quite valuable. (Skip the tests in the book - a big waste of paper - and go right to the Internet.) I took the website test and sure enough, I "owned" the results. But, I pondered, what next? I score off the chart on "love of learning." No surprise! But if I were searching for a career or a mate, how would I use this information?
Seligman's chapter on careers doesn't seem focused. He encourages us to distinguish a job, career and vocation. (Carolyn Myss -- definitely a non-scientist! -- makes the identical distinction in her Advanced Energy Anatomy Tapes.) And perhaps many people can find ways to transform mundane jobs, like the orderly in the hospital who brings pictures to patients.
But some people thrive on jobs that bring money, leaving them time and resources for pursuing their own personal interests and philanthropies outside work. Pollan and Levine make this point in Fire Your Boss. And some will be such misfits, and so desperate to take any job, they will have trouble applying this framework.
Seligman's discussion of work now seems quaint in the post-9/11 era, when choices are less abundant than before. He focuses on young lawyers who leave high-paying jobs, possibly because he researched or consulted with law firms. He suggests ways the firm could use the talents of these young, smart people.
But firms have little interest in keeping employees happy, despite years of organizational behavior theories. They want results! I'd have liked to see suggests for employees to create their own jobs, not passively wait for the firm to come up with solutions.
Additionally, signature strengths can't be discussed in isolation. Sure, a lawyer might spend weeks alone in the law library, but social intelligence informs him what's important, when to challenge an assignment, how to talk to the partners and associates and a whole lot more. Indeed I would argue that social intelligence might be a better predictor of success and happiness than, say, creativity. Business firms say they value creativity, but, in my experience, not with their dollars. Barry Staw of UC Berkeley wrote a provocative article on this very topic.
Finally, Seligman doesn't address differences of race, gender and class. I'd argue that a male whose signature strength involved creativity, learning, or wisdom might be valued more than a female with similar strengths, and therefore find it easier to deploy those strengths. If you're not a privileged white male, you'll need social intelligence more than any other quality.
Seligman illustrates many points with examples from his own family, like Wayne Dyer does. At times these examples seem like annoying intrusions. And he interacts with the elite members of academic psychology (very few women, I noticed!), to whom he has unique access. There's a fine line between reporting and name-dropping and at times he blurs the distinction.
Overall, you can't disregard Seligman's courage in presenting what many of his colleagues would dismiss as silly. Without his distinguished track record, he wouldn't be heard at all. Or, put another way, he has chosen to use his fame to promote a very worthwhile cause that can, eventually, help others.
Rating: 
Summary: Dangerous Pop Psychology Claptrap
Review: Shame on Dr. Martin Seligman. Following in the footsteps of Stephen Covey, Deepak Chopra and Wayne Dyer, he has abandoned legitimate science and moved into the touchy-feely realm of self-help psychology, by appealing to people's thirst for easy answers to difficult life problems. Having been down that road many times with the aforementioned authors, I suggest avoiding said road like the plague! Life does not offer easy answers. Changing attitudes and behavior is hard work, and anyone who tells you otherwise is a charlatan.
By contrast, Dr. Aaron Beck, the founder of Cognitive Therapy, is a brilliant scientist - I repeat, SCIENTIST - who built a school of psychology one brick at a time - through careful research and testing. Dr. Beck NEVER gave people a false sense of optimism. Seligman on the other hand wants to reap the rewards and achieve celebrity by appealing to people's mania for easy answers.
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