Solve for Happy: Engineer Your Path to Joy

Mo Gawdat is the Vice President of Business Innovation at Google’s [X]. Applying his superior skills of logic and problem solving to the issue of happiness, he proposes an equation based on an understanding of how the brain takes in and processes joy and sadness. Then he solves for happy.

In 2001, Mo Gawdat, a remarkable thinker and leading technology executive, realized that despite his incredible success, he was desperately unhappy. A lifelong learner, he attacked the problem as an engineer would, examining all the provable facts and scrupulously applying logic. Eventually, his countless hours of research and science proved successful, and he discovered the equation for permanent happiness.

Thirteen years later, Mo’s algorithm would be put to the ultimate test. After the sudden death of his son, Ali, Mo and his family turned to his equation—and it saved him from despair. In dealing with the horrible loss, Mo found his mission: he would pull off the type of “moonshot” goal that he and his colleagues at Google’s “dream factory,” [X], were always aiming for—he would share his equation with the world and help as many people as possible become happier.

In Solve for Happy Mo questions some of the most fundamental aspects of our existence, shares the underlying reasons for suffering, and plots out a step-by-step process for achieving lifelong happiness and enduring contentment. He shows us how to view life through a clear lens, teaching us how to dispel the illusions that cloud our thinking; overcome the brain’s deadly defects; and embrace five ultimate truths.

The message in Solve for Happy is clear: humans are designed to be happy. No matter what obstacles we face, what burdens we bear, what trials we’ve experienced, we can all be content with our present situation and optimistic about the future.