Review of <em>The book of joy: Lasting happiness in a changing world</em>.


Reviews the book, The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World by Dalai Lama, Desmond Tutu, and Douglas Abrams (2016). Two senior leaders from different religious traditions, Tibetan Buddhism and Christianity, offer a practical and inspiring teaching on how to live with the difficulties of the human condition. Through stories about their world-changing actions, their various intensive spiritual practices, and their respect for contemporary science and other fields of knowledge they guide the reader through the complexities of finding happiness and joy in a profoundly “changing world.” One of the unexpected strengths of the book is the participation and commentary of the third cowriter, Douglas Abrams, a senior religion editor and literary agent. He not only helped a staff of more than 100 arrange and guide the dialogues but as a more secular voice also offers important observations based on psychological, physiological, and medical research bearing directly on the topics under discussion. The entire book is designed to intimately connect the message of the cowriters to the reader. The chapters are short and conversational, with disarmingly delightful, even amusing photos. After the story of the week-long meeting concludes, the book presents an extensive group of joy practices, detailing how to train the mind to deal with various universal human problems, in one’s personal life, in relationships, and community. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved)