Review: "The Happiness of Pursuit"

This book made fireworks go off in my head.  It’s the kind of book that absolutely has the power to change your life, if you’ve ever let any book change your life, which I certainly hope you have.  Bibliometanoia.  It’s a thing.* You can tell a book is trying to get to you when it turns up at the crossroads of a number of coincidences.  I had just heard about the World Domination Summit through Benny Lewis’s web page like THE DAY BEFORE, and it turns out that Chris Guillebeau, the author, originated it!  Then I read the book, and it mentioned Gabriel Wyner, whose book Fluent Forever I just reviewed a week ago.  The kicker for me was that I was drawn to The Happiness of Pursuit when I spotted it on the library shelf; usually I only read books I’ve seen reviewed or mentioned elsewhere.  I don’t read book jackets, so I didn’t know what I was in for.

The premise is that you can bring meaning into your life by going on a quest.  I’m definitely a quest person.  For instance, in 2009 I read 500 books.  (I also moved, planned a wedding, got married, and cooked for my first family Thanksgiving, so that was a busy year).  In 2012 we spent three weeks traveling the circumference of Iceland and sleeping in a 2-man backpacking tent.  Last year I ran a marathon, although that doesn’t really count as a quest.  A marathon on every continent – now, that would be a quest, and it’s already been done by a bunch of folks, so if you want, you know IT CAN BE DONE.  Marathon on the Moon – that would be epic.  I wonder if it will happen in my lifetime.

There is something in this book for everyone.  Sadly, many people get stuck in life, feeling bored or mildly depressed and maybe not even realizing it.  A quest can really shake things up.  How much easier would it be to get in shape or pay off debt or clear the house of clutter if you had a six-month deadline and a quest at the end?  What if you woke up every morning and the first thing you thought of was your new mission?

I really hope everyone reads this book.  I’ve tried hard not to give out any spoilers, so you can be just as inspired by all the examples of personal quests as I was.  Enjoy!

*Actually, it became a thing just now.  This may be the first time I’ve Googled something that didn’t come up.

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