The Happiness Trap
The Happiness Trap by Russ Harrisby Russ Harris
Shares rank 13 of 22 self-help books by recommenders
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.
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.
4 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 4
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 5 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 4 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 5 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Practical acting-on-values approach
“The suggested path (that i am finding somewhat helpful) is to learn to act in accordance with your values”
Comment from 15 Nov 2025 in “How to tolerate annoying things” Simple point about evolution and happiness
“it makes the simple point that we didn't evolve to be happy all of the time”
Comment from 5 Sep 2026 in “The Real Luxuries In Life” Recommended by multiple readers
“Russ Harris has a great book about this called The Happiness Trap”
Comment from 17 Mar 2026 in “A proposal to classify happiness as a psychiatric disorder” “I really like the book "The Happiness Trap."”
Comment from 15 Oct 2026 in “Suicide rates highest ever among middle-aged men”
Other self-help books people recommend
The four most recommended other self-help books, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| How to Win Friends and Influence Peopleby Dale Carnegie | 67 | 25 | 73% | 11 | — | Approved |
| Atomic Habitsby James Clear | 20 | 2 | 91% | 11 | — | Approved |
| The Easy Way to Stop Smokingby Allen Carr | 9 | 0 | 100% | 4 | — | — |
| Feeling Goodby David Burns | 8 | 0 | 100% | 5 | — | — |
| The Happiness Trapby Russ HarrisThis page | 4 | 0 | 100% | 5 | — | — |
What people said
4 of the 5 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“I really like the book "The Happiness Trap."”
“it makes the simple point that we didn't evolve to be happy all of the time”
“Russ Harris has a great book about this called The Happiness Trap”
“The suggested path (that i am finding somewhat helpful) is to learn to act in accordance with your values”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.