HN Books @HNBooksMonth

Read this summary of the research on how to maximize happiness per dollar.

Happy Money: The Science of Happier Spending https://www.amazon.com/dp/1451665075/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_...

There’s a lot of guidance on which “keeping up with the joneses” spending might actually make you happier. It’s also easier to resist some spending when you can recall a concrete reason from the book that you know that purchase was researched and the happiness was short-lived.

If you’re in the United States you should also read this. The title doesn’t hint at it, but similar ideas of maximizing happiness per dollar spent over lifetime, but more US-specific advice:

Money Management Skills by Michael Finke, The Great Courses, narrated by Michael Finke: https://www.audible.com/pd?asin=B00Q5DHLBM&source_code=ASSOR...

> To be fair there is no objective value in travelling either.

Except that the literature has shown that people generally find greater happiness using their money to buy experiences rather than things. From a researcher who wrote (the) book on happiness:

> "Shifting from buying stuff to buying experiences, and from spending on yourself to spending on others, can have a dramatic impact on happiness," writes Dunn and her co-author Michael Norton.

* https://www.independent.ie/lifestyle/happiness-is-buying-exp...

* https://dunn.psych.ubc.ca

* http://www.amazon.com/Happy-Money-Science-Happier-Spending/d...

If, per Aristotle, happiness is the supreme good, it would objectively be better to spend your limited resources on things that are more likely to give it to you.

* https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/hide-and-seek/201301/ar...

⬐ Jach

You can't just come in here with "the literature has shown" in $current_year. Here's an article on a piece of the literature that clearly hasn't shown: https://slate.com/technology/2017/07/new-research-clouds-the...

"We found no significant evidence supporting the greater return received when buying experiences."

That was a couple years ago, there might be a meta analysis or actual replication attempts by now, but I'm not going to dive for them, just pointing out this bad discussion tactic of "studies show [what I want to argue for]" without considering the ongoing replication crisis.

Speaking personally, the most bang-for-buck is probably video games. I don't know if I would classify those as experiences or things. Perhaps it depends on the game's replayabilty.

⬐ throw0101a

> You can't just come in here with "the literature has shown" in $current_year.

Read the book. Every chapter covers an idea on how to best use one's monetary resources to increase happiness, and there are dozens of endnotes to studies for each chapter.

This is literally the book author's field of study. If you have a problem with the claims, talk to her: I'm just the messenger and will bow to the experts.

⬐ growlist

Let's be honest though, travelling is becoming less fun in the era of mass travel. I'm not saying everyone doesn't have the right to travel or something like that, but I think only a fool would argue it's a better experience visiting x tourist hotspot when that involves having to fight it out with thousands of other people doing the same thing.

⬐ hombre_fatal

There's far more to traveling than hitting up tourist hot spots and fighting your way through people to see something, though unfortunately that's what most people, especially on HN, seem to synonymize with "travel" which explains why it's so common here to poo-poo "travel" as something lame and boring.

Then again, most Americans get, what, two weeks off in the year? It makes sense to me how travel then becomes an all-inclusive resort trip instead of the more enriching slow-boil flavor of travel that provokes the best experiences and potential change in your life and perspective. Pretty hard to get that in two weeks.

⬐ throw0101a

> Let's be honest though, travelling is becoming less fun in the era of mass travel.

Traveling is not the only way to create experiences. I (the person you replied to) have no interest in it. I'd rather spend time/money on a local motorcycle racetrack staring at the upcoming corner and figuring out the best line.

⬐ hellisothers

We’re tourist hot spots ever all that special? Travel is still amazing, lame spots are now super lame :)

⬐ growlist

Believe it or not, they have got worse based on my experiences in the 80s versus now. Think about it - whole regions of the world were effectively shut out of tourism either by economics or politics back then e.g. China, India, Soviet Union.

⬐ shantly

World's full of 2nd-tier places to visit that are damn near as good as 1st-tier, but have 1-5% the visitors, putting them way the lead, experience-wise, except for taking instantly-recognizable "I been thar!" photos.

World population should level off before those 2nd-tier ones start to get swamped, too. So that's nice.

⬐ magduf

We have an entire planet here; you don't have to go only to tourist hotspots. Of course, I'll admit there's many very boring places that probably aren't worth your time and money, like Oklahoma, and some very dangerous places that you should avoid, like El Salvador or Syria, but there's lots of very nice places in civilized countries where you can go, which aren't chock-full of tourists. As a bonus, they're pretty cheap to stay at, since there's not so much demand for lodging there. Even if you confine yourself to western Europe, there's lots of places to go without running into throngs of tourists.

⬐ growlist

True - I love the boring US states! I have fond memories of a coast to coast US trip in 1992, early summer, stopping at small towns in mid America. Everything seemed so peaceful, sleepy, and warm, and the people so friendly. Watched a meteor shower one night, went to an open air cinema another. Lovely.

⬐ magduf

>Everything seemed so peaceful, sleepy, and warm, and the people so friendly.

I'm guessing you aren't black...

Those "peaceful" towns are now either full of old people because the young ones have moved away, or a bunch of opioid and meth addicts. America's small towns are falling apart. Things were really different in 1992; that's over a quarter-century ago now.

⬐ bildung

> Except that the literature has shown that people generally find greater happiness using their money to buy experiences rather than things.

Yes, but a) travelling is not the only way to buy experiences by any means, b) Actually doing/ creating things or experiences is infinitely more rewarding than consumption[1]. Programming, making music, painting, woodworking, cooking, gardening, whatever tickles your fancy. All those studies still only are about buying.

[1] for certain personalities.

⬐ throw0101a

Except that nowhere in my post do I explicitly say travels. Travelling is not the only way to create experiences. (I personally have no interest in it.)

⬐ asdf21

Thank you. Traveling is generally pretty boring to me (especially after the first couple times visitng somewhere.) Making things with friends though, amazing time.