Publisher, Gildan Median Corporation (July 2007)

"For the reader who seeks to understand happiness, my advice is Begin with Haidt." --MARTIN E. P. SELIGMAN, author of Authentic Happiness

"Enjoyable, important, and eminently readable." --MIHALY CSIKSZENTMIHALYI, author of Flow

"A wonderful and nuanced book that provides deep insight into some of the most important questions in life." --DAVID M. BUSS, author of The Evolution of Desire

"A sparkling investigation into the psychology of life and happiness." --DANIEL WEGNER, author of The Illusion of Conscious Will

"Every page of this book provides gems of insight about the good life and where to look for it." --WILLIAM DAMON, author of The Moral Child

"Jonathan Haidt leaves no doubt about the importance of emotion in the creation of personal meaning. This is a delightful and courageous book." --ANTONIO DAMASIO, author of Looking for Spinoza

This is a book about ten Great Ideas. Each chapter is an attempt to savor one idea that has been discovered by several of the world's civilizations-to question it in light of what we now know from scientific research, and to extract from it the lessons that still apply to our modern lives.

About the Author: JONATHAN HAIDT is an Associate Professor of psychology at the University of Virginia. He received his Ph.D. in social psychology from the University of Pennsylvania in 1992 and went to the University of Chicago for additional training in cultural psychology. He has been active in the positive psychology movement since 1999, and in 2001, was awarded the Templeton Prize in Positive Psychology. He has received four awards for his teaching, including the 2004 Outstanding Faculty Award conferred by the Governor of the State of Virginia, Mark Warner. He lives in Charlottesville, Virginia, with his wife Jayne.