In this short book, Brown seeks to turn our contemporary ideas of happiness on its head.
Brown’s target is a certain brand of modern self-help, where an alleged “law of attraction” is put forward to suggest that the more you desire something (money, status, power), the universe automatically responds to your desire and the object of desire materialises.
In other words, you need only wish for happiness for you to be happy.
As Brown correctly points out, there is nothing to suggest this so-called “law of attraction” is true. The apparent short-term success of such self-help practices in some cases is better explained by (1) the common sense point that trying is better than not trying and (2) selection bias in that only the successful report their results.
Relying on magical thinking to live our lives is a dangerous idea, especially bearing in mind how many unscrupulous people peddle this sort of faith-healing for private gain.
Instead, Brown advocates Stoicism, which is based on a rational reflection on the limited control we have of our lives. Tenets of Stoicism include a focus on what we can control and detachment from what we cannot; and stepping back from our immediate reactions/emotions and reflecting on whether they have proper basis.
As Brown notes on p.252 on the 2016 paperback edition, this is different from the otherwise similar Buddhist exhortation to “let go” of thoughts and emotions. The point is not to achieve some kind of nirvana, but the more prosaic point that (for instance) people may be ignoring our texts or messages because they are busy, not because they want to ignore us. He quotes David Foster Wallace “You will become way less concerned with what other people think of you when you realize how seldom they do.'
In short, Brown argues that we are better off being rational and accepting a healthy life comes with a degree of “natural unhappiness” (Freud’s phrase). Better that than work ourselves up to be “happy” when we aren’t.