For the cost of a single therapy copay, the audiobook of Hardwiring Happiness provides seven-and-a-half hours of psychotherapeutic advice designed to help listeners overcome the brain's tendency to pay more attention to negative experiences than to positive ones. As neuropsychologist Rick Hanson (Buddha's Brain, Just One Thing) reads his Hardwiring Happiness, he offers plenty of metaphors and autobiographical examples to illustrate his points.
In the early chapters, Hanson explains that in the days of marauders and predators, pleasurable experiences had to matter less to the brain than possibly life-ending negative experiences. Now that most of us are less vulnerable to imminent demise, this evolution-honed negative bias is not necessary for survival. Additionally, the pace of modern life distracts us from sufficiently appreciating our positive experiences. Hanson provides mental exercises designed to alter the brain's structure by teaching it to retain more joy and store up resilience. The claim that practicing these exercises changes the brain's neural "hardwiring" is difficult to assess from the research Hanson cites, but nurturing one's ability to absorb the positive seems like an excellent mental health skill.
Hanson's narration style is relaxed and clear, and though he has a tendency to repeat concepts, the repetition is probably therapeutic. If you divide the chapters into mini (one-sided) talk therapy sessions, at the very least you'll find yourself embracing the positive elements in your day more consciously. --Holloway McCandless, blogger at Litagogo: A Guide to Free Literary Podcasts