Book cover of Joyful: The Surprising Power of Ordinary Things to Create Extraordinary Happiness

Book description

Make small changes to your surroundings and create extraordinary happiness in your life with groundbreaking research from designer and TED star Ingrid Fetell Lee.

Next Big Idea Club selection—chosen by Malcolm Gladwell, Susan Cain, Dan Pink, and Adam Grant as one of the "two most groundbreaking new nonfiction reads of…

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Why read it?

4 authors picked Joyful as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

This book introduced me to the concept of joy spotting and changed the way I see the world. Well-researched and hugely engaging, I was fascinated to discover why I’m consistently drawn to certain color combinations, patterns, and environments. Full of ‘aha’ moments, I loved connecting the dots (in my case, multi-colored) and clarifying what and where truly brings me joy.

Few books have impacted my life and creativity so much and on such an ongoing basis. But since reading this book, I’ve embraced my love of color throughout my home, garden, and wardrobe and embedded the concept of joy spotting…

I love how Ingrid’s background comes together so perfectly to create this book, which reflects the crux of her whole professional and personal focus. Her background in design and branding led her to delve deeper into the neuroscience between our instinctual responses to our environments and how this links to our mental health, which eventually led to her hugely successful TED talk, ‘Where joy hides and how to find it’ (which was where I initially discovered her work and became instantly fascinated in this topic). Ingrid champions the idea that we can all create more joy in our homes (and…

This is such a fun book. There are things we know (I love my new orange club chair!) but we don’t know why… or you don’t, but I do, because I read Joyful and now I understand why we are neurologically primed for certain shapes, colors to bring us joy. This book explained so much for me about the push-pull so many of my clients have between craving abundance but also wanting order, and why we are all such suckers for novelty items. Fetell Lee also has a fun chart at the back, so you can try to bring some…

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Book cover of The High House

The High House by James Stoddard,

The Victorian mansion, Evenmere, is the mechanism that runs the universe.

The lamps must be lit, or the stars die. The clocks must be wound, or Time ceases. The Balance between Order and Chaos must be preserved, or Existence crumbles.

Appointed the Steward of Evenmere, Carter Anderson must learn the…

Make small changes to your surroundings and create extraordinary happiness in your life with groundbreaking research from designer and TED star Ingrid Fetell Lee. I love the simple, life-changing suggestions in this book. Thinking of adding something new to your space? Make it something round. Read Joyful to find out why. 

From Christina's list on beat binge watching.

If you love Joyful...

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Book cover of The High House

The High House by James Stoddard,

The Victorian mansion, Evenmere, is the mechanism that runs the universe.

The lamps must be lit, or the stars die. The clocks must be wound, or Time ceases. The Balance between Order and Chaos must be preserved, or Existence crumbles.

Appointed the Steward of Evenmere, Carter Anderson must learn the…

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