Stumbling on Happiness

Finally, in Part VI, "Corrigibility," I will tell you why illusions of foresight are not easily remedied by personal experience or by the wisdom we inherit from our grandmothers.  I will conclude by telling you about a simple remedy for these illusions that you will almost certainly not accept.

That is from Daniel Gilbert’s Stumbling on Happiness, so far the best book this year. 

He takes Proust and turns it into social science.  Your brain distorts both your anticipations and your memories; we do not know how happy we were or how happy we will be.  Here is a short article on Gilbert.  Here is a long article on Gilbert.  Here is a short piece on why dreading pain can be as bad as pain itself.  Or is it…?  Was it…?