The Ten Worlds: The New Psychology of Happiness, is a very interesting book focusing in the science and psychology of happiness and the absence of happiness (Anger, depression, lethargy, etc)
The authors suggest that we're not happy because of our core believes about what happiness means to us, which causes us to behave in certain ways.
Each chapter presents one of those core beliefs as being part of a certain "world", and thus the name of "The Ten Worlds".
These chapters are a combination of conversations had between one of the authors and his patients during therapy, and also conversations between both authors, debating the world in which they think the patient "IS", and everything related to how to help said patient.
From this 10 worlds, only one of them is considered to bring us true happiness, while 9 of them, are actually delusions that are the very cause for out unhappiness.
These 9 worlds are: Hell, Hunger, Animality, Anger, Tranquility, Rapture, Learning, Realization, and Compassion.
The final world, the one that can attain absolute and true happiness is the world of Enlightenment.
Thru the book, the authors present their ideas on the form of debate and dialogue, but they also include mentions to studies made, results from scientific research and more, making this a very dynamic book.
It was a very nice read, that also made me stop to think about which was my own core delusion and which of the worlds I though I belonged to, and what I could do about it.
I think this is a must read for anyone with depression, or if you have a loved one with depression and you would like help understanding part of their suffering, and hopefully even how to help them.
My favorite chapter was the one on Enlightenment. The description of Enlightenment and moments when the authors experienced it, moved me and made me long for it.
Overall, I think this book is not only very interesting and informative, but could also be very helpful for someone like myself that have suffered major depression for many years. It might not provide a cure for my depression, but it certainly provided a different angle that made me realize things I haven't before.
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Disclaimer: I received an e-copy of this book before it's publication day for the purposes of reviewing it.
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