European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 1, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 24 scene stars and stripes sunday april 1 2007 iness professor finds definition elusive i o n u o Darrin Mcmahon still Kannof define happiness after spending six years researching and writing a Book about it while that been a frustration the Florida state University history professor said its also what gives happiness its Power and failure his Book happiness a history was recently named by the new York times As one of the 100 notable books of 2006 t traces what the great thinkers of Western philosophy have thought about happiness they include Aristotle so crates Locke Rousseau Darwin Marx Freud and Thomas Jefferson who famously counted the Pursuit of Happi Ness As an unalienable right in the declaration of Independence the Book is More about the Pursuit than the attainment because in some ways you never get there Mcmahon said in an interview happiness As i try to argue in the Book tends to slip away from you when you think about it too much he got the idea for the Book while teaching a Columbia University in new York during the 1990s the Berlin Wall had fallen and the world appeared headed for democracy the Stock mar happiness a history written by Florida state University professor Darrin Mcmahon was named one of the 100 notable books of 2006 by the new York times Ket was booming and most people seemed to be prospering happiness was in the air Mcmahon recalled Clinique the cosmetics company came out with a perfume called Happy you could still remember the Bobby Mcferrin song dont worry be Happy happiness also dovetails nicely with Mcmahon academic focus on the 17th and 18th centuries the period of enlightenment when Jefferson and others put a new spin on the subject until then most people didst think of it As a right unalienable or otherwise it was More a matter of Luck or virtue greek tragedies were filled with the idea that happiness was a matter of Fate the gods Are spiteful and Capri Cious Mcmahon said just when you think everything going Well they pull the Rug out from you and Send a Thunderbolt Down that began to change with Socrates but the concept of humans having some control Over their own happiness didst Flower until the 18th Century if you ask somebody today what happiness is inevitably Tell you that it involves feeling Good Mcmahon said but it meant something More to the greeks and romans Aristotle held that happiness was based on a lifetime of experience you really Tell if you were Happy until you were dead Many Felt virtue was the key to Happi Ness even though it took suffering to achieve Cicero once said a virtuous Man could be Happy even while being tortured christianity maintained the link be tween virtue and happiness during the enlightenment though thinkers began to focus More on plea sure and the ability of people to pursue if not always attain happiness while pleasure today has become virtually synonymous with happiness Mcmahon believes the older concept of a life Well lived has not been entirely lost you push most people and they will admit that Well its not enough to be Happy simply to be pleasured As it were he said you need other things and talk about family and talk about love and talk about meaning and so Forth Mcmahon who has been talking about happiness nonstop for about a year said Hes getting a Little tired of it and next up is a Book about Genius a concept nearly As ephemeral As Hap piness he said he derives his own happiness from Little things in life walking his dog travelling having people Over for dinner teaching a Good class and working on his books i wish i could Tell you that having studied the history of happiness for six years Ive got the magic Bullet but i dont he said i just go about my business and find that happiness will come to me Usa today bestsellers key of fiction a nonfiction hard cover paperback 1 the secret by Rhonda Byrne nah 2 Nineteen minutes by Jodi Picoult Fth 3 judge jury by James Patter son Andrew Gross up 4 eldest inheritance Book ii by Christopher Paolini up 5 women Money owning the Power to control your destiny by suze Oman of he 6 prior bad acts by Tami Hoag up 7 you on a diet the own ers manual for Waist manage ment by Michael f Roizen Meh met c of nah 8 shiver by Lisa Jackson up 9 the memory keepers daughter by Kim Edwards up 10 morning comes softly by Debbie Macomber up 11 its not easy being mean a clique novel by Lisi Harrison up 12 True believer by Nicholas Sparks up 13 the measure of a Man by Sidney Poitier nip 14 Bridge to Ter Bithia by Katherine Paterson Art by Donna Diamond up 15 daddy girl by Lisa self Toline Fth 16 in an instant a family journey of love and hearing by Lee Woodruff Bob Woodruff nah 17 dragon of the red Dawn by Mary Pope Osborne Art by Sal Murdocca up 18 Whitethorn Woods by Maeve Bitchy Fth 19 the fiber35 diet natures weight loss secret by Brenda Watson Leonard Smith nah 20 shopaholic and baby by Sophie Konsella Fth 21 hey Good looking by Fern Michaels up 22 the Glass Castle a Memoir by Jeannette Walls nip 23 step on a crack by James Patterson Michael Ledwidge Fth 24 the last link closing the Gap that is sabotaging your business by Gregg Crawford nah 25 Junie b first grader dumb Bunny by Barbara Park Art by Denise Brunkus Fth 26 eat Pray love one Wom ans search for everything across Italy India and Indonesia by Elizabeth Gilbert nip 27 Sisters by Danielle steel Fth 28 Mckettrick Pride by Linda lae Miller up 29 forever in Blue the fourth summer of the sisterhood by Ann Brashares Fth 30 Naruto volume 13 by Masashi Kishimoto up 311 feel bad about my neck by Nora Ephron nah 32 everyday food great food fast by Martha Stewart living Magazine nip 33 deadly game by Christine Feehan up 34 a Long Way gone memoirs of a boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah nah 35 the namesake by Humpa Lahiri up 36 the audacity of Hope by Barack Obama nah 37 the alchemist by Paulo Coelho up 38 Irish dreams by Nora Roberts up 39 table for two by Nora Roberts up 40 the inheritance of loss by Kiran Desai up y0u weekly scene i stars
