In Everybody Have Fun: What can policymakers learn from happiness research? New Yorker writer Elizabeth Kolbert features several books including Derek Bok’s The Politics of Happiness.

“It’s not just hitting the jackpot that fails to lift spirits; a whole range of activities that people tend to think will make them happy—getting a raise, moving to California, having kids—do not, it turns out, have that effect,” writes Kolbert.

“What should we do with information like this?” she asks. “On an individual level, it’s possible to stop buying lottery tickets, move back to Minnesota, and, provided the news reaches you in time, have your tubes tied. But there are more far-reaching societal implications to consider. Or so Derek Bok argues in his new book.”