The Algebra of Happiness [en]

This book, by Scott Galloway, was ok. It was short and had a few good pieces of information, but overall it was quite repetitive and family focused. Basically, if you’re not married and if you don’t have children, you’re never going to be truly happy. So…

The writer is rich, white, healthy, smart, and very privileged, and he acknowledges so at the beginning of his book, but still, too much of what he says comes from that place. What he says is not bad, not wrong, and I agree with most of it: love your family and friends, be kind to people around you, work hard, don’t be obsessed with money (which is something rich people can say), be a mentor, live in the right place (again, rich people), when you are married don’t keep scores (I agree that, this is great advice for any relationship), plan your end of life (100% agree), invest wisely (again, rich people), take your kids to Disneyland, etc. It felt like most of the advice was for married rich white young men in the US.

There was one really funny part where he talked about doing the « easy stuff » (be kind, respectful, on time, etc.), because if you can’t handle the « easy stuff, » you’ll never be able to face the really tough stuff (get a job, be a good husband, navigating the politics of the workplace, etc.) (and I 100% agree with all this). At one point, he exchanged emails with a university students who had come to class late and left class early, and someone posted his response on the internet where it went viral. That was in 2010. Today, no prof could EVER say something like that to his students, they’d be fired in 5 minutes, but I often wish I could, though!

So yeah, ok book.