Solve For Happy: Engineer Your Path to Joy By Mo Gawdat Description In 2001; Mo Gawdat; a remarkable thinker whose gifts had landed him top positions in half a dozen companies and who - in his spare time - had created significant wealth; realized that he was desperately unhappy. A lifelong learner; he attacked the problem as an engineer would; examining all the provable facts and scrupulously following logic. When he was finished; he had discovered the equation for enduring happiness. Ten years later; that research saved him from despair when his college-aged son; Ali - also intellectually gifted - died during routine surgery. In dealing with the loss; Mo found his mission: he would pull off the type of 'moonshot' that he and his Google [X] colleagues were always aiming for: he would help ten million people become happier by pouring his happiness principles into a book and spreading its message around the world. One of Solve for Happy's key premises is that happiness is a default state. If we shape expectations to acknowledge the full range of possible events; unhappiness is on its way to being defeated. To steer clear of unhappiness traps; we must dispel the six illusions that cloud our thinking (e.g.; the illusion of time; of control; and of fear); overcome the brain's seven deadly defects (e.g.; the tendency to exaggerate; label; and filter); and embrace five ultimate truths (e.g.; change is real; now is real; unconditional love is real). By means of several highly original thought experiments; Mo helps readers find enduring contentment by questioning some of the most fundamental aspects of their existence.
