All That Happiness Is: Some Words on What Matters

by Adam Gopnik

From New Yorker staff writer Adam Gopnik, a slim, elegant volume presenting a radical alternative to our culture of relentless striving. Our society is obsessed with achievement. Young people are pushed toward the next test or the “best” grammar school, high school, or college they can get into. Adults push themselves toward the highest-paying, most prestigious jobs, seeking promotions and public recognition. As Adam Gopnik points out, the result is not so much a rat race as a rat maze, with no way out. Except to choose accomplishment over achievement. Achievement , Gopnik argues, is the completion of the task imposed from outside. Accomplishment , by contrast, is the end point of an engulfing activity one engages in for its own sake. From stories of artists, philosophers, and scientists to his own fumbling attempts to play Beatles songs on a guitar, Gopnik demonstrates that while self-directed passions sometimes do lead to a career, the contentment that flows from accomplishment is available to each of us. A book to read and return to at any age, All That Happiness Is offers timeless wisdom against the grain. none

Genres: Nonfiction, Essays, Philosophy

64 pages, Hardcover

Published April 23, 2024

About the author

Adam Gopnik is an American writer and essayist, renowned for his extensive contributions to The New Yorker, where he has been a staff writer since 1986. Born in Philadelphia and raised in Montreal, he earned a BA in art history from McGill University and pursued graduate work at the NYU Institute of Fine Arts. Gopnik began his career as the magazine’s art critic before becoming its Paris correspondent in 1995. His dispatches from France were later collected in Paris to the Moon (2000), a bestseller that marked his emergence as a major voice in literary nonfiction.
He is the author of numerous books exploring topics from parenting and urban life to liberalism and food culture, including Through the Children's Gate, The Table Comes First, Angels and Ages, A Thousand Small Sanities, and The Real Work. Gopnik’s children’s fiction includes The King in the Window and The Steps Across the Water. He also delivered the 50th Massey Lectures in 2011, which became the basis for Winter: Five Windows on the Season.
Since 2015, Gopnik has expanded into musical theatre, writing lyrics and libretti for works such as The Most Beautiful Room in New York and the oratorio Sentences. He is a frequent media commentator, with appearances on BBC Radio 4 and Charlie Rose, and has received several National Magazine Awards and a George Polk Award. Gopnik lives in New York with his wife and their two children. He remains an influential cultural commentator known for his wit, insight, and elegant prose.

Reviews

[Maede · Rating 2 out of 5]

اگر از جملات و مثال‌های تکراری متن کم کنیم، حتی همین شصت و چهار صفحه هم باقی نمی‌مونه که بشه اسم این رو کتاب گذاشت. آدام گاپنیک یک مقاله‌ی خوب (نه بد، نه خیلی خوب) در مورد خوشحالی نوشته و باید در روزنامه‌ یا مجله‌ای چاپش می‌کرده. لیاقتش همین بوده و بس. اما از اسم کتاب و گفتن اینکه خوشحالی «فقط» همینه مشخصه که خودش فکر می‌کرده چیزی که داره میگه زیادی خاص و متفاوته، که باید بهش بگم نیست. ایده‌ی اصلی این مقاله اینه که از جات بلند شو، کاری که دوست داری رو انجام بده، فقط به ثمره‌ی کار فکر نکن و از پروسه لذت ببر. که خب آقای گاپنیک، شاید این تو زندگی تو کشف شگفت‌انگیزی بوده، اما خروارها دانشمند، متفکر و فیلسوف سال‌هاست که دارند نسخه‌ای از همین رو برای داشتن حس خوشحالی می‌پیچند

با این حال، گوش دادن بهش خالی از لطف نیست و اگر به چشم مقاله‌‌ای با تجربیات شخصی بهش نگاه بشه جالبه. کتاب صوتی هم توسط خود نویسنده خوانده شده

کتاب رو می‌تونید از اینجا دانلود کنید
Maede's Books

۱۴۰۳/۶/۲۰

[Amber · Rating 4 out of 5]

“And the more confidently we pursue our own accomplishments, the less time we have to hate and fear other people’s.” Pg 52

I didn’t think such a small book could pack so much wisdom. It was charming and especially pivotal in this time as we get further and further from “the pursuit of happiness.” I think it’s easy to get stuck in a cycle, a vortex of work, fear and money. I know it is for me. I think when we are feeling the most stuck is when we aren’t allowing ourselves change. Aren’t allowing for growth and that elusive sense of accomplishment as Gopnik puts it.

“Self directed accomplishment, no matter how absurd it may look to outsiders or how partial it may be, can become foundation of our sense of self, and of our sense of possibility. Losing ourselves in an all-absorbing action, we become ourselves.” Pg 28

I was wondering what Gopnik would cook up to try and define happiness. It seems so abstract. He even says so himself that happiness isn’t always a constant in our lives but comes in bursts. However, I think the most powerful idea in this book is that it can be pursued. That it is just there in the horizon, not something as hidden as you think. Trying something new, getting lost in a task that brings enjoyment, true satisfaction rather than quick hits of dopamine is what happiness is. Once again I think the conversation being had here is so pivotal in this year of 2025, as it feels that all around us divisions are being drawn and real issues are coming in from all sides of us. It’s so easy to feel stuck in a world that seems to want to silence joy.

“By far the most important conception of a ‘liberal’ society—in the sense of a society committed to argument, elections and the oscillation of power—is not democracy or equality alone. It is pluralism. Pluralism in politics and political parties, sure, but a pluralism that extends so deeply in our imaginations and practices that it rests in the end on a pluralism of pleasures.” Pg 47

I would recommend this widely to anyone feeling stuck and in search of something.

[Alyssa · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was obviously deeply personal to the author but did not strike a “chord” with me.

[Alan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a nice extended essay on the link between happiness and accomplishment. In general, Gopnik’s message is - get up off the recliner and do something.

[Jen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nothing revolutionary here: try new things and constantly be learning. While good advice - not sure why it needed to be 64 pages of the same narrative in unnecessarily complex phrasing.

[Cody Wood · Rating 3 out of 5]

More like a 3.5. The nostalgia of picking up a guitar in your youth spoke to me in the opening, but it felt like it dragged on a bit in the middle.

“What matters is making meaning. Everything else is the human comedy, which we struggle merely to make humane.”

[Diane Henry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Basically an extended essay. Some interesting thoughts to mull, but not earth-shattering. S

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Food for thought about the pursuit of happiness! Easy to read in 20 minutes!

[Danielle LaTulippe · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m not one to usually think a book is below 3 in almost an capacity. I just enjoy reading anything, which is why I finished this book when I wasn’t fully in it. However, I felt like for what I read, which mind you was short, I didn’t get much out of it.

[Kaitlin Johnson · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m really not sure what I just read. I guess I was waiting for some golden nuggets about what happiness truly is and maybe how to shift a mindset from achievement to accomplishment. It really seemed like some random thoughts were all put together that sort of all spoke to the topic of happiness. Maybe I was expecting more of a “story” and that is why I’m left feeling like I don’t understand the book.

[Zuska · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not sure why this book was shelved as “self help” in the bookstore where I stumbled upon it.
It’s an extended essay meditating on the difference between accomplishment and achievement, and how that relates to the possibility of experiencing happiness. He begins with considering our American “right to…the pursuit of happiness” and at end circles back to contemplate how excessive focus on achievement not only gets in the way of experiencing happiness but also interferes with building community. “Accomplishment and community are a circle,” he argues; we suffer from “depredation that robs people of the time or place to find and make their way. A sense of community and self-worth is degraded and music-making, literally, gets harder.”

It is usually economic depredation that hollows out communities and robs us of the time & place to find and make our way. And now climate change is an accelerator of that. I’m thinking of Asheville, which was such a magical gathering place of artists and musicians and restaurants, and which has been so badly hurt by Hurricane Helene. Will the community be able to rebuild and thrive despite the infrastructure damage, the loss of life, the loss of income these last months? Asheville is a community that facilitated many people finding and making their way. We need more of that and can ill afford to spare any we already have.

This very slim little volume has led me to think about what I might be able to do to foster community where I live. Gopnik argues that the most important concept of “liberal” society is pluralism - one that “extends so deeply…that it rests in the end on a pluralism of pleasures.” Not just private ones, but public ones, too. The rise of autocracy is connected to “one part [of the population] hating with a passion the vision of the good life that others pursue, until the hatred is the only pleasure. The only accomplishment left is preventing someone else from having theirs.”

No happiness without accomplishment. No accomplishment without community. No community without democracy. No democracy without the right to the pursuit of happiness in all its plurality.

All that happiness is: its pursuit, an inalienable right, is the foundation of democracy.

Yes quite a bit of food for thought packed into this tiny “self-help” book!

[Brian Cluster · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author, Adam Copnik, packsa whollop in this short 62 page book. He shares a few lessons about hapiness while also describing how the current society is not setting us up for pursuits of happiness. The short answer is that we will not find happiness at the end of doom scroll. But we knew that already!

He shares his experiences as a boy and adult pursuing hobbies that require toiling to reach expertise. Mr. Copnik wanted to learn the guitar so he sequestered himself in a room for a week or more to learn the key chords. While he never became a famous guitarist he gained a skill, learned about the joy of personal achievement and a lesson for life. This accomplishment can be internal and does not need to fit the definition of outwardly focused and measured achievement.


A key for happiness is to do something outside us, stretching to learn while challenging us. During and after this work is the hapiness of achievement, whether you share it or keep it for yourself.

[Jonas Wipf · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adam Gopnik presents a slim, elegant volume that offers a radical alternative to our culture of relentless striving. Our society fixates on achievement—whether it’s acing the next test, securing admission to the “best” school, or climbing the corporate ladder. But Gopnik challenges this paradigm.
Through stories of artists, philosophers, and scientists, Gopnik illustrates that while self-directed passions may lead to a career, true contentment flows from accomplishment. This book invites readers to reflect on their pursuits, encouraging them to choose fulfillment over the relentless pursuit of external validation.

[Nicole · Rating 2 out of 5]

I almost didn't add this to Goodreads as I feel it shouldn't actually count towards my yearly book total since at just 60-something pages, it's barely a book. It should've just been a New Yorker article. But I did read it, so here we are. Since I read the e-book, I didn't even realize it was so short when I selected it. All that being said, it took me about three days to read it because I found it somehow remarkably long. As many others have pointed out, he seemed determined to take an unnecessarily convoluted path to say the very simple truth that the "pursuit of happiness" is, indeed, a pursuit of something, not the something itself.

[Alyson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short little book that I started and then started again. I liked the difference between achievement and accomplishment that he sets up. Also the "self-directed obsession" rang true with the way I feel about sewing these days. And watercolor.

"The pursuer is rarely aware that this is happening as it happens and knows it less through consciously knowing it than through the onset of happiness it mysteriously produces-the awareness, which may follow on the action by mere microseconds, that what began as something conscious and effortful now just is.

In the psychological literature— particularly in the pop-psychological literature-this apparition is called simply "the flow."

[Edward · Rating 4 out of 5]

Delightful little thing that talks about how doing things & getting better & learning is happiness Babey!! And how these things make you better. Not that they totally insulate you from misery but they help build community and help build you !!!! YAHOO !! I see the vision here & I’m going out tonight to do a new weird hobby I have not done before & I am deeply pleased abt this. Happiness is the random hobbies and things you pickup and take throughout your life :3 picked up from library on a whim etc enjoyed it well

[John Beyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gopnik starts out by pondering whether the crux of our nation’s fixation on happiness might be that our Declaration of Independence guarantees only our pursuit of happiness, and not, sadly, its capture. Warning us about the illusion of enjoying ongoing, permanent happiness, he urges us to be satisfied with “bursts of delight” based on the understanding that “the pursuit is the happiness,” which is the theme of this book.

[Rachael · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this short book, Adam Gopnik explores the idea of happiness: what is it, how do we experience more of it, is it possible to be happy all the time; would we want it without having to pursue it?
While it may require some looking up of words, it is well worth the time. His conclusions? That happiness is in the process, that it doesn't happen in isolation, and that the best of it involves not only creativity, but community.

[Ashley Philipp · Rating 4 out of 5]

What lowered my rating of this work the most was the tendency of Gopnik to use synonyms to repeat a meaning several times over. He uses this numerous times throughout this piece. I found that in most cases, this habit made the sentence somewhat conviluted. I ended up having to reread the beginning of many sentences to remember the point that he was trying to get across.

[jacewace · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't know that I agree that a sense of absorption is all that happiness is but I really like most of the other ideas in this, I really resonate with the arguments for community and connection and having multiple passions and that your passions can fuel each other, I thought this was a really sweet and solid collection of ideas.

[Audrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book/ extended essay. It’s interesting the thoughts around accomplishment vs achievement and relatable thinking about those initial moments of learning where you immerse yourself into your craft whatever that might be. The ending seemed a little abrupt but tried to tie it back to the beginning.

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

I listened to the audio book.
I thought this was a complementary essay to listen to after Rebel Girl by Kathleen Hanna. Although it is brief and distilled it underlines the epiphany or state of flow people feel when they pursue do-it-yourself activities for the sake of personal accomplishment. It is a good reminder of the benefits of a life spent doing and making and exploring and being curious.

[Nadine]

cute little book that reminds us of the importance of pursuing hobbies and finding community in which we can pursue these hobbies. a bit deterministic and limited in its view (not everyone has the time or privilege to pursue outside interests) but as i said its a cute little book to remind you that life doesn’t always have to be that deep

[Vic · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this was a good and easy book. It is basically saying that happiness can be in big and small things but the more you come to appreciate the little things the more bigger they feel. Our achievements and passions will help aid us in feeling good about ourselves as well.

[Hannah Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Four stars for me, because i always enjoy books that have (thought-provoking) depth… though I don’t necessarily agree with Gopnik’s POV. Does happiness only come from an absorption into something external to the self? Is the *pursuit* of happiness, happiness itself?

[Val · Rating 4 out of 5]

A small book but mighty book that talks of accomplishments and achievements in a path toward happiness.

[Robyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some powerful insights but it is absurdly short. Marked as 60 pages but it starts on page 8 and has many partial pages. Some nerve to publish as a full length book for a full price.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gopnik's prescription for happiness is to pursue accomplishment over achievement.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Worth re-reading often and sharing with others. So many quotable moments.

[Nancy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tiny book contain GIANT words!