Ah, library aisles.
Perfect for researching candidates for the Blog of Funny Names.
Sonja Lyubomirsky? The author of The Myths of Happiness? You betcha. Especially when I turn over the book and find the first blurb on the back cover contributed by one Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, author of Flow. Double-play.
Says the Author.
Now that’s a mouthful.
Lyubomirsky, says her biography on Wikipedia, is a professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of California, Riverside and author of “The How of Happiness,” a book of strategies backed by scientific research that can be used to increase happiness. She is often quoted in news articles about positive psychology and happiness. In the book “The Only Self-Help Book You’ll Ever Need,” a criticism of self-help books, Lyubomirsky’s “The How of Happiness is praised as a self-help book that has claims backed by empirical data.
All I know is that landing this new job at the Liverpool Public Library has made me very happy. Working there into my second week has made me very happy. Do I want to pick this feeling apart with Sonja Lyubomirsky’s guidance?
She looks happy, don’t you think?
No, I do not. Not today. I wish to savor my happiness.
But I did check the book out last Friday. Book-cover pictures and further research, you know. Oh, the pleasure of holding a library card. The book I s due June 10. Part I is titled Connections. Funnier things have happened.
The Blog of Funny Names 
Very cool Mark. On a philosophical note, I believe that the quest for happiness is one of mankind’s great follies. Some of the most right, hardest, decisions I have made in life have taken me as far from happiness as could be imagined – and I knew that when I made those decisions. And in the end those decisions ultimately brought me fulfillment and peace – that which seems to best complete us.
One of our great questions in life, Paul, is: What is happiness? Your point is a great one. Is it immediate fulfillment or eventual life results from an act? But here at the BoFN, I tend to be a bit lighter with my posts. 🙂
Ha! Good point.
love the names and you can never have too much happiness, i think.
I sure hope not, Beth! I wish you a very happy day, my friend.
“. . . Mark’s new post refutes his subject matter: it should make us happy and, by garsh, it DOES . . .”
“. . . there’s nothing mythological about the joyful vibe we get from reading the Markmeister . . .”
“. . . with this new post on the Big Lyubomirsky all we can say is, the Mark Dude abides . . .”
Oh, harsh, Diddy, I may be blushing with joy. The Big Lyubomirsky! Fabulous blurbery there, my friend.
Great blurb, Wdydfae! The Big Lyubomirsky definitely brought a smile to my face.
Mark, what does your library job entail? I would love working with the books more than the people! LOL I used to work for a paperback book manufactury. I LOVED it in the old days when they let us take home books for free, stamped EMPLOYEE COPY. They don’t do that nowadays.
I work with people and information about the facility’s events and services, Lorraine. Not so much the books, but that’s part of it, too, of course. Any information the public needs to know, I’m in the department that spreads that information. 🙂 Your job getting freebie copies does sound like the good old days, my friend. ❤
At least you will be in touch with the newest best sellers to borrow.
Always. 🙂
Person, lets say a guy, walks into a library and says, “Where’s the self-help section”. Librarian answers: “Now, if I told you, it would sort of defeat the purpose wouldn’t it?”
Ba-da-boom. That one will be repeated by me at some point to my new colleagues, Rio, who will … 🙂
Ha! I am a person who predates emoticons and so I spent some time searching for the rest of your sentence.
In the words of Data in STNG: AH! Thank YOU!.
Oh, Rio, I, too predate emoticons by a handful of decades. FYI. 😉
Good one! Never heard it before but I feel like I should have.
Yes, Diddy, it’s an instant classic to me as well.
I have a really limited time machine that only lets me read future Blog of Funny Name posts and comments. So, it is a classic however, not until the year 2116.
But, seriously, I was seriously looking at the buzz around this book, The Happiness Trap, a year or two ago, and considered buying it (didn’t get around to it). I wonder if they’re talking about the same thing:
http://www.thehappinesstrap.com/
I think they are talking about the same thing, Diddy. Check it at your neighborhood library, I say.
A perfect choice to check out. ☺
Thank you Van, I reply happily. 🙂
Can you imagine what it was like to fill out the SAT bubble answer sheets with last names like that? I wonder if they had enough room?
To be continued on line two! Yikes. You are right, SD.
Whenever I see names like those, I thank heaven that I have a relatively simple name that I could pronounce before I was 10, even though everybody else mangles it.
I have to pronounce mine for everybody, Elyse, Bee-Al-Zack. Easy as pie. 🙂
I used to work at a library some years ago myself, and remember coming across the Csikszentmihalyi book. Took me a moment to wrap my head around that one.
Lyubomirsky is the kind of name that should induce happiness on its own. And it does. I’m gonna keep saying it to make sure. Lyubomirsky.
It makes me smile indeed, Arto, especially because now I don’t have to type it anymore because it’s ingrained into my auto type! 🙂
Auto type is a true savior. I had to resort to copy paste. 😉
Good move, sir.
Mark, way to knock it out of the ball park of happiness. Happy books, happy people and happy names to boot.
Pharrel must approve of this book, Tracy. 🙂
I was tempted to post the video in my comment.
Why not . . .
Enjoy. 🙂
Perfect, Tracy. Thank you.
Psst! Mark Dude . . .
How in the heck do yer get captions in the photos with this newfangled flangdaggly WordPress theme hootenanny thingamabob?
I saved the old Post Generator template, Diddy, and still use it. That’s my secret, out for the world.
Finding a job that makes you happy is difficult! Im glad you found yours:)
Thanks so much, Sonja. Pleased to meet you here after finding you on the LPL shelves.