David Niven

Coronet Books

The Simple Science of HappinessScientists and academics have spent entire careers investigating what makes people happy. But hidden in obscure scholarly journals and reports, their research is all too often inaccessible to ordinary people. At last, social scientist and psychologist David Niven, Ph.D., distills the scientific gobbledygook of over a thousand of the most compelling and important studies on happiness into easy-to-digest nuggets of advice. Each of the hundred practices, attitudes, and habits for happiness is illustrated with a clear example and illuminated by a straightforward explanation of the science behind it to show you how to transform a ho-hum existence into a full and happy life.Believe In Yourself: Across all ages and all groups, a solid belief in one's own abilities increases life satisfaction by about 40 percent, and makes us happier both in our home lives and in our work lives.Turn Off The TV: Watching too much TV can triple our hunger for more possessions, while reducing our personal contentment by about 5 percent for every hour a day we watch.Enjoy What You Have: People who have the most are only as likely to be happy as those who have the least. People who like what they have, however, are twice as likely to be happy as those who actually have the most.Don't Forget To Have Fun: Having fun is one of the five central factors in leading a satisfied life. Individuals who spend time just having fun are 20 percent more likely to feel happy on a daily basis and 36 percent more likely to feel comfortable with their age and stage in life.

RONNIE CORBETT: Introduction P.G. WODEHOUSE: 'The Voice from the Past' RING LARDNER: Mr and Mrs Fix-It H.F. ELLIS: Lent Term 1939 The Man Faggott (from The Papers of A.J. Wentworth, BA) FREDERIC RAPHAEL: Chinatown MARK TWAIN: A Restless Night KEITH WATERHOUSE: A Family Breakfast (from Billy Liar) BARRY PAIN: The Insult ANONYMOUS: The Simple Story of G. Washington PAUL THEROUX: Algebra NATHANIEL GUBBINS: Gubbins Goes to War JAMES HERRIOT: Tristan's Romance (from Vet in a Spin) BRET HARTE: A Jersey Centenarian A.C. GAMES: Russell's Fantasy ROBERT J. BURDETTE: First-class Snake Stories BOB LARBEY: New Jobs for Old (from A Fine Romance) OSCAR WILDE: The Canterville Ghost RING LARDNER: A Day with Conrad Green SEAN O'FAOLAIN: The Woman Who Married Clark Gable JEROME K. JEROME: I Become an Actor DAVID NOBBS: Chlistmas (from The Better World of Reginald Perrin) BARRY PAIN: The Unsuccessful Sinner GIOVANNI GUARESCHI: Crime and Punishment (from The Little World of Don Camillo) JAMES HERRIOT: The Butcher (from Vets Might Fly) DOROTHY PARKER: You Were Perfectly Fine ARNOLD BENNETT: Raising a Wigwam (from The Card) W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM: The Facts Of Life STEPHEN LEACOCK: Mr Plumter, BA, Revisits the Old Shop (from Happy Stories) ROB BUCKMAN: Jogging from Memory (from Jogging from Memory) ALASDAIR GREY: The Problem (from Unlikely Stories, Mostly) JOYCE GRENFELL: Canteen in Wartime (from Turn Back the Clock) ART BUCHWALD: Coward in the Congo (from I Chose Caviar) SAKI: The Story-teller JOHN VERNEY: Tea at the Embassy (from Verney Abroad) HARRY SECOMBE: Goon Away — Try Next Door (from Goon for Lunch) JOHN WYNDHAM: Pawley's Peepholes (from The Seeds of Time) JEAN DAVIS: Trees and Tribulations GROUCHO MARX: A Blind Date Can Be a Pig in a Poke Bonnet (from Memoirs of a Mangy Lover) DOUGLAS SUTHERLAND: The Gentleman at Home (from The English Gentleman) P.G. WODEHOUSE: 'The Great Sermon Handicap' (from The Inimitable Jeeves) GEORGE & WEEDON GROSSMITH: Diary of a Nobody (from Diary of a Nobody) ART BUCHWALD: My Favourite Tourists (from I Chose Caviar) IRIS MURDOCH: The sale of the Artemis (from The Flight from the Enchanter) ARTHUR MARSHALL: Take A Pew (from I'll Let You Know) JAMES THURBER: The Day the Dam Broke (from My Life and Hard Times) C. NORTHCOTE PARKINSON: Nonorigination (from In-laws and Outlaws) DOUGLAS ADAMS: April Showers (from So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish) JAMES THURBER: A Sequence of Servants (from My Life and Hard Times) JOHN MOLE: The Monogamist RUDYARD KIPLING: A Friend's Friend FRAN LEBOWITZ: Writing: A Life Sentence (from Metropolitan Life) PETER USTINOV: Schooldays (from Dear Me) PATRICK CAMPBELL: East is West PHYLLIS BENTLEY: At the Crossing (from More Tales of the West Riding) O. HENRY: Memoirs of a Yellow Dog BASIL BOOTHROYD: Coming to Grips (from Let's Move House) A.C. GAMES: The Concerns of Angus Daines ROBERT ROBINSON: The Middle-aged Philistine Abroad (from The Dog Chairman) SUE TOWNSEND: A New School Year (from The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole) GROUCHO MARX: Speed the Parting Guest (from Memoirs of a Mangy Lover) SAKI: The Secret Sin of Septimus Brope NEIL BOYD: One Sinner Who Will Not Repent (from A Father Before Christmas) DOUGLAS SUTHERLAND: The Gentleman and the Opposite Sex (from The English Gentleman) DAMON RUNYON: The Big Umbrella ROBERT ROBINSON: Our Betters (from The Dog Chairman) JOYCE GRENFELL: Antique Shop (from Turn Back the Clock) W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM: The Escape GEORGE S. KAUFMAN: School for Waiters ARTHUR MARSHALL: Cold Comfort Cottage (from I'll Let You Know) MAX APPLE: Carbo-loading (from Free Agents) ROB BUCKMAN: Gray's Anatomy in a Country Churchyard (from Jogging from Memory) BARRY PAIN: The Recitation ART BUCHWALD: Alone in No Man's Lapland (from I Chose Caviar) GERALD DURRELL: The Human Animal (from Encounters with Animals) E.F. BENSON: The Party (from Lucia's Progress) AUBERON WAUGH: Inflammable Nighties (from Consider the Lilies) DAVID NIVEN: 'The Emperor' (from Bring on the Empty Horses) G.K. CHESTERTON: The Singular Speculation of the House Agent (from The Club of Queer Trades) NANCY MITFORD: Castle Life (from Love in a Cold Climate) GEOFFREY WILLANS and RONALD SEARLE: How to Succeed as a New Bug (from How to be Topp) GERALD DURRELL: A Porcupine in the Parish (from Menagerie Manor) E.M. DELAFIELD: Foreign Climes (from The Provincial Lady Goes Further) JOHN VERNEY: Top of the Morning (from Verney Abroad)

Fair stood the wind for France / H.E. Bates -- How Brigadier Gerard won his medal / Sir Arthur Conan Doyle -- The Invaders (from The Last enemy) / Richard Hillary - The War of the worlds / H.G. Wells -- All quiet on the western front / Erich Maria Remarque -- The Battle of Borodino (from War and peace) / Leo Tolstoy -- Catch 22 / Joseph Heller -- Buller's guns / Richard Hough -- Arctic convoy (from H.M.S. Ulysses) / Alistair MacLean -- The Red badge of courage / Stephen Crane -- Escape from Colditz (from They have their exits) / Airey Neave -- Goodbye to all that / Robert Graves -- The Moon's a balloon / David Niven -- The Warrior's soul / Joseph Conrad Fly for your life / Larry Forrester -- The Naked and the dead / Norman Mailer -- The Reason why / Cecil Woodham Smith -- The Affair at Coulter's Notch / Ambrose Bierce -- The Fort at Zinderneuf (from Beau Geste) / P.C. Wren -- The Cruel sea / Nicholas Monsarrat -- Waterloo (from Vanity fair / W.M. Thackeray -- Enemy coast ahead / Guy Gibson V.C. -- Into battle (from Her privates we) / Frederic Manning -

The metamorphosis of a cross-section group of Britons from squabbling individuals into a top fighting unit in the final phase of the African campaign against Rommel.