First-time author Burkeman centers his book on a group of people who reject the cheery self-help book messages and believe that trying so hard to make ourselves happy is making us even more depressed. The writer discusses the dogmas of everyone from Greek philosophers to experts on terrorism. "It sort of examines in this erudite but not stiff way the ethos of our culture, which has this 'You can do it! You can do everything! Everything gets a smiley face!'," says Nelson. A particularly strong section of the book, she notes, is one centered on a museum of failed inventions and ventures.
