The Happiness Curve: Why Life Gets Better After 50

Review

A solid book analyzing the happiness curve basically high happiness in youth and old age with a progressive dip around the mid 40s. The book began somewhat slow simply explaining and pounding that this happiness curve was a thing. The format was usually a backstory of a skeptic scientist stumbling upon this happiness curve and being very convinced it was some essential aspect of the human condition. Though being relatively verbose, this section of the book eventually achieved its goal of convincing me the happiness curve existed across humans with longitudinal studies, cultural studies, and evidence in other apes. Once established, the author and scientists try to explain this curve and provide many many examples of people going through a mid-life crisis. These people are living otherwise great lives but still find themselves unsatisfied. One particularly interesting perspective was the approach of death reorienting how old people live their lives around close relationships and satisfaction. This makes me think this dip in life is not connected to a age like 40, but specifically, middle age where every that comparatively is. Anyway, there are many of these stories and it could be considered repetitive, but I found it interesting and highlighted the authors point that this is a statistical trend not an essential dip for all individuals. In the end, the author concludes with a satisfying point about recognizing the new class of people who undergo career and life shifts in their early old age. I would rate this 4 stars for anyone who is undergoing a middle life/quarter life crisis. But this book is really directed for individuals in the mid 40s so 3 stars.