Happier Hour

Starred review from July 4, 2022
“How can each of us make the absolute most of the time we have?” asks social psychologist Holmes in her enlightening debut. Adapting her UCLA business school course, Holmes pulls from behavioral economics, marketing, and psychology research to offer wisdom on how to optimize one’s time “to live a better, happier, and more fulfilling life.” She recounts how burnout from her professional and parenting duties spurred her to conduct research that found survey respondents who had two to five hours of free time per day reported being happier than those with more or less time, suggesting that while discretionary time is important, feeling productive also pays happiness dividends. The author recommends “bundling” chores with fun activities, such as listening to an audiobook while folding laundry, and encourages readers to outsource chores when financially practical. She also includes exercises to help readers reflect on their priorities, track how they spend their time, and deepen their appreciation for activities they enjoy. The extensive surveys and studies cited lend Holmes’s contentions an intellectual heft that puts this a notch above similar volumes, and her presentation remains accessible and remarkably unstuffy throughout. As thorough as it is practical, this one’s well worth readers’ time.