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by Martin E. P. Seligman

One of the most influential living psychologists looks at the history of his life and discipline, and paints a much brighter future for everyone.

 
When Martin E. P. Seligman first encountered psychology in the 1960s, the field was devoted to eliminating misery: it was the science of how past trauma creates present symptoms. Today, thanks in large part to Seligman's Positive Psychology movement, it is ever more focused not on what cripples life, but on what makes life worth living--with profound consequences for our mental health.
 
In this wise and eloquent memoir, spanning the most transformative years in the history of modern psychology, Seligman recounts how he learned to study optimism--including a life-changing conversation with his five-year-old daughter. He tells the human stories behind some of his major findings, like CAVE, an analytical tool that predicts election outcomes (with shocking accuracy) based on the language used in campaign speeches, the international spread of Positive Education, the launch of the US Army's huge resilience program, and the canonical studies that birthed the theory of learned helplessness--which he now reveals was incorrect. And he writes at length for the first time about his own battles with depression at a young age.
 
In The Hope Circuit, Seligman makes a compelling and deeply personal case for the importance of virtues like hope, gratitude, and wisdom for our mental health. You will walk away from this book not just educated but deeply enriched. 

by Suzann Pileggi Pawelski MAPP and James O. Pawelski PhD

How do you get to “happily ever after?

In fairy tales, lasting love just happens. But in real life, healthy habits are what build happiness over the long haul. Happy Together, written by positive psychology experts and husband-and-wife team Suzann Pileggi Pawelski and James O. Pawelski, is the first book on using the principles of positive psychology to create thriving romantic relationships. Combining extensive scientific research and real-life examples, this book will help you find and feed the good in yourself and your partner. You will learn to develop key habits for building and sustaining long-term love by:

  • Promoting a healthy passion
  • Prioritizing positive emotions
  • Mindfully savoring experiences together
  • Seeking out strengths in each other

Through easy-to-follow methods and fun exercises, you’ll learn to strengthen your partnership, whether you’re looking to start a relationship off on the right foot, weather difficult times, reignite passion, or transform a good marriage into a great one.

By Angela Duckworth

In Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, Dr. Angela Duckworth shows parents, students, educators, athletes, and business people that the secret to outstanding achievement is not talent but a special blend of passion and persistence she calls "grit."

By Tom Rath

Do you have the opportunity to do what you do best every day? Chances are, you don't. All too often, our natural talents go untapped. From the cradle to the cubicle, we devote more time to fixing our shortcomings than to developing our strengths. To help people uncover their talents, Gallup introduced the first version of its online assessment, StrengthsFinder, in 2001 which ignited a global conversation and helped millions to discover their top five talents. In its latest national bestseller, StrengthsFinder 2.0, Gallup unveils the new and improved version of its popular assessment, language of 34 themes, and much more (see below for details). While you can read this book in one sitting, you'll use it as a reference for decades. Loaded with hundreds of strategies for applying your strengths, this new book and accompanying website will change the way you look at yourself--and the world around you--forever.

By Marcus Buckingham and Donald Clifton

The publication of Now, Discover Your Strengths in 2001 launched a worldwide strengths revolution. To date, more than 11 million people have discovered their strengths, and thousands more are discovering theirs every week. Gallup Press has published numerous strengths books, and Gallup Strengths Center has become a worldwide destination for strengths-based development.

By Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman

In First, Break All the Rules, Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman of the Gallup Organization present the remarkable findings of their massive in depth study of great managers. Buckingham and Coffman explain how the best managers select an employee for talent rather than for skills or experience; how they set expectations', how they motivate people by building on each person's unique strengths; and, finally, how great managers find the right fit for each person, not the next rung on the ladder. First, Break All The Rules provides vital performance and career lessons for managers at every level.

By Shane Lopez

Social scientists have learned more about how people respond to emotional experiences in productive ways. They now know more than they once did about curbing the effects of negative emotions, about making the most of positive emotions, and about how these practices lead to positive life outcomes. Given these discoveries, this set addresses the strengths, emotions, positive growth, and human flourishing of positive psychology.

By Shane Lopez

Positive psychology, the pursuit of understanding optimal human functioning, is reshaping the scholarly and public views of how we see the science of psychology. The Encyclopedia of Positive Psychology provides a comprehensive and accessible summary of this growing area of scholarship and practice.

By Ed Diener, Richard Lucas, Ulrich Schimmack, John Helliwell

In this volume, the authors explain the reasons why subjective indicators of well-being are needed. They describe how these indicators can offer useful input and provide examples of policy uses of well-being measures. The book then delves into objections to the use of subjective well-being indicators for policy purposes and discusses why these objections are not warranted. Finally, the book contains answers pertaining to the measures that are currently in use and describes the types of measures that are most likely to be valuable in the policy domain.

By Laurence Steinberg, Marc Bornstein, Deborah Lowe Vandell and Karen Rook

The combined features that distinguish this text from other titles can be summarized with an acronym: CARE: Cutting edge research Applied developmental science Readability Essential knowledge. Written by respected child, adolescent, and adulthood development experts, this authoritative and chronologically organized text presents an integrated perspective on lifespan development.

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