內容簡介

我們用各式各樣的方式討論「如何獲得快樂」，有數不清的書、演講、電影、報導都以探討快樂為主題，因為它是讓我們工作、戀愛、看表演、吃飯、有奇怪的執著、回家等等行為的原因，也可說是人生的一大目標。

但你可曾想過，快樂從何而來？為什麼我們那麼需要它？永久的快樂是否存在？它應該存在嗎？快樂和大腦的有什麼關聯？

本書作者狄恩‧柏納是腦神經科學專家，他用專業知識加上大量的研究報告、理論，訪問了不同領域的專家，有心理學家、喜劇腳本寫手、名人、各式各樣的專家、人生訓練教練們，將所有的資訊集結成冊寫成本書。

柏納除了腦神經專業之外，也是個喜劇演員，繼揭開大腦秘密的《Idiot Brain》之後，他用一貫幽默的方式告訴讀者快樂究竟是何物，感到快樂的時候大腦又會發生怎樣的變化。

Do you want to be happy? If so – read on. This book has all the answers! Not really. Sorry. But it does have some very interesting questions, and at least the occasional answer.

The enthusiasm for and expectation of happiness are so widespread today that fundamental questions about it are often overlooked. For starters, the most basic question of all: where does happiness come from? Is it your brain – a mere concoction of chemicals, or network of neurons? Is it in fact your gut? [Spoiler alert: yes. Sort of.] Or is it external? Is it love or sex or money or success? And what are these doing to our brains anyway?

In The Happy Brain, Neuroscientist Dean Burnett delves into our most private selves to investigate what causes happiness, where it comes from, and why we are so desperate to hang onto it. The questions he raises are ones we so rarely ask today, but they address a major part of what it means to be a modern-day human.