# The Happiness Trap by Russ Harris

4 Hacker News commenters recommended The Happiness Trap by Russ Harris and 0 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 5 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Recommended for its practical take on acceptance and acting by your values, and its simple point that humans didn't evolve to be happy all the time.

## Why people recommend it

- Practical acting-on-values approach (1 comments): "The suggested path (that i am finding somewhat helpful) is to learn to act in accordance with your values" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45939900))
- Simple point about evolution and happiness (1 comments): "it makes the simple point that we didn't evolve to be happy all of the time" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49580402))
- Recommended by multiple readers (2 comments): "Russ Harris has a great book about this called The Happiness Trap" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47413259)) "I really like the book "The Happiness Trap."" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50098675))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie](https://hackerapproved.com/p/how-to-win-friends-and-influence-people.md): 67 recommend
- [Atomic Habits by James Clear](https://hackerapproved.com/p/atomic-habits.md): 20 recommend
- [The Easy Way to Stop Smoking by Allen Carr](https://hackerapproved.com/p/easy-way-to-stop-smoking.md): 9 recommend
- [Feeling Good by David Burns](https://hackerapproved.com/p/feeling-good.md): 8 recommend
- [The Art of Money Getting by P.T. Barnum](https://hackerapproved.com/p/art-of-money-getting.md): 8 recommend

## Where to get it

- [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1472147170?tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link)
- [Bookshop.org](https://bookshop.org/a/130825/9781472147172) (affiliate link)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "The Happiness Trap by Russ Harris", https://hackerapproved.com/p/happiness-trap/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).