The Art of the Good Life — 52 Surprising Shortcuts to Happiness, Wealth, and Success

In the preface Dobelli states the problem plainly: for 2,500 years people have sought a single golden rule for «how should I live?» and been disappointed every time, because no such rule exists. The modern world is too complex to grasp intuitively, so we need a «toolbox» of thinking methods. He calls the book «a classical philosophy of life for the twenty-first century» and adds, with a wink, that thanks to these tools his life has improved in almost every respect — «thinner hair and more laughter lines do not diminish my happiness».

Chapter one, «Mental Accounting», shows the book's style. The speed camera on the Bern motorway and a parking ticket in Zurich used to infuriate Dobelli; now he pays fines from his «donations account». In psychology this is a logical error — people spend money according to how they earned it — but Dobelli deliberately turns it to his advantage. Is a wallet lost in a poor country and found without its cash a theft, or a donation to someone in need? We cannot change the fact, but we can choose its interpretation. The most memorable scene comes from Einsiedeln Abbey: the cutlery is kept in a small black coffin, and the message is «you are already dead; everything that follows is a gift».

Chapter two opens with an aircraft analogy: on what percentage of its flight from Frankfurt to New York is a plane on course? Answer: never — the autopilot corrects deviations thousands of times a second. Dobelli's thesis: there is no perfect plan; the key to a good life is the ability to spot and correct mistakes quickly. The end of chapter five sums up «counterproductivity»: technology that brings no gain saves no time — our «mountain» of photos and videos, 99% of them superfluous, is a case in point.

The book's strongest idea is in chapter six, «the negative art of the good life». As a hobby pilot, Dobelli focuses in flight not on the beautiful views but solely on eliminating the risks of crashing; investor Charles Ellis's observation about amateur tennis is the same — amateur matches are not won but lost. The approach is linked to «negative theology»: we cannot say what God is, only what God is not. Likewise, we don't really know what makes us happy, but the list of what makes us unhappy is as concrete as «granite»: alcoholism, chronic stress, noise, a long commute, a hated job, debt, loneliness, constant comparison, victimhood, lack of sleep, envy.

Weaknesses: the chapters are short and entertaining, but most follow the same formula — anecdote, psychological term, advice. The author's examples from his own life — private plane, Swiss taxes, the stock market — may feel remote to some readers. Scientific references often stay at the level of popular psychology. Even so, it is a sensible, common-sense guide for everyday decisions.

• 52 short, self-contained chapters — can be read in any order
• A formula of personal anecdote + psychological concept + practical takeaway
• A blend of Stoic philosophy, investor thinking and behavioural economics