Happiness is Overrated
I didn't really like this book. Cuong Lu is a disciple of Thich Nhat Hanh and has studied at Plum Village (A buddhist temple) for 16 years. This book is an attempt to examine buddhist psychology, but I feel that it fails to captivate the reader as well as Thich's astounding masterpieces. The applications, or "apps" at the end feel simplistic and ineffective, and could have just been called exercises. Perhaps Cuong Lu just wanted to relate to a younger, terminally-online crowd? Regardless, I found it a little bot cringeworthy. Besides that, it's a bunch of spiritual babble that doesn't really get to the heart of things. Maybe I'm not the target demographic. However, I really enjoyed the books of his teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh.
The book does, however, touch on some profound buddhist concepts; not fearing suffering is one of them. I don't want to sound arrogant, but I think after studying buddhism for two-three years, it seems to me like this book is too entry level and doesn't dig deep enough. Perhaps the issue lies with me, as I expected this book to be just as well-written and profound as The Miracle of Minfulness or You are Here by Thich Nhat Hanh. If you want to get into Buddhist literature, these badboys run circles arounf Happiness is Overrated. Overall, I rate this book a 3/10.