So I studied to be a psychologist, a cognitive scientist, mind you, but as it turned out later I didn't become one. The moment came when I had to grow up and choose a profession and, being as I am, I chose one that didn't bring me a lot of happiness, but had a considerable influence on the amount of my alcohol-intake (which, if you ask Hector, can be really beneficial for your levels of happiness). Still, in this pain-in-the-ass job of mine I find happiness because my paycheck is big enough for me to spend on books that I don't even have enough space to store in. And as we all know books=happiness.
But this is supposed to be a review of the book and I don't want it to end up being deleted >> decrease of my levels of happiness >> increase of alcohol-intake to make it up, you know how it goes. So let me say that I bought this book because I liked the cover, it is very pretty and yes, I am superficial like that. It wasn't exactly what I expected, but at the end of the day, it wrapped up pretty nicely and I can say that I enjoyed it. It also made me think about happiness and how different people define happiness. Of course, back in the day when I studied to be a psychologist, my colleagues and I used to have many a drunken discussions on the matter, but books that you don't have to read for school are always better!
François Lelord tells a very simple story through Hector. It's about how grown-ups, being all serious and businesslike, forget what happiness is, and that you can find happiness everywhere, if are not, by nature, a grumpy old fart (then you just need to take pills, man). You shouldn't expect to find the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe and everything (which is, as we know, 42), but you can pick up this book with an open mind and, who knows, it may help you change the way you perceive stuff.
I know what happiness for me--it's having crazy wino friends, it's buying books, it's my possessed cat that likes to sleep on my books, it's hearing the screaming 'I'm so happy!' ringtone of my email at 6 am (I still wanna kill you though). What the book says is: Just don't take stuff too seriously, try to smile more and find something positive in everything around you, and, you know, law of attraction.