The Power of Meaning

The overall message of the book can be summed up in this sentence from the introduction: “As three scholars put it, “The more directly one aims to maximize pleasure and avoid pain, the more likely one is to produce instead a life bereft of depth, meaning, and community.” But those who choose to pursue meaning ultimately live fuller—and happier—lives.”

The rest of the book is an outline of her thoughts about what constitutes meaning, and lots and lots of anecdotes to fill the space.

It felt a little bit like an expanded TED Talk, and you could probably get more value from reading the books she recommends at the end of the kindle version, especially Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning.

People are often in search of happiness, but Emily Esfahani Smith argues that people would do well to search for meaning instead. Smith looks closely at the research that has been done on four areas of finding meaning: relationships to others, contributing to society, making sense of experiences, and connecting to something bigger than one's self. The book is, happily, both readable and based on research, and that doesn't often happen.