A Guide to Personal Happiness

Love, love, love this author and his books, Got the book a few days ago, did not finish to read it but what i've got to read is so powerful and helpful.

This book was recommended to me by my psychologist, and I have found it to be extremely helpful. I will be purchasing more copies in the future for family members.

Nice book, not a good quality printing!

Ellis is always clear and concise.

The first 60 pages of the book are pretty much all you need to read. The rest of it is incredibly repetitive conversations with clients about the same stuff mentioned in the first 60 pages

GREAT BOOK!

I started to get into philosophy after I graduated college. I read books by Bertrand Russell and Ayn Rand. I thought Bertrand Russel was great because was he was so logical and down-to-earth. Then I discovered "A Guide to Personal Happiness" and it blew me away. The philosophy presented in this book was so logical, realistic and profound. In the first chapter he succinctly states why someone should put themselves first and go after personal happiness. In the next section, he then illustrates his therapy: All people seem to have grandiose notions about the world, other people and themselves. By giving up these notions using logical, realistic thinking, they can live better and rid themselves of emotional problems such as anger, anxiety, and depression. Ellis was one of the first psychologists to plainly state that faulty thinking causes most emotional disturbance. It seems to me to be almost a trivial observation. He basically shows you how to analyze your faulty thinking, which is almost trivial, and then shows you how to minimize it, which is really difficult. There are several chapters in the book, which are basically transcripts of a session using his therapy. I found them extremely fascinating and it really started to challenge a good deal of my thinking. The last chapter deals with self-actualization. It just a list of the things that bring people pleasure. I still refer to it when I feel depressed. It's a real pick-me up. I have read many books by Ellis and over the years and I'm amazed on how profound his ideas are. I don't always like what he says, but what he says is usually realistic.

This book changed my life. Psychotherapy does work. But just like you cannot learn guitar from a guitar teacher you cannot learn from a therapist. You have to become your own therapist and Ellis shows you how to do that.