Daniel Gilbert explores imagination,perception, how our brains predict our future, and happiness. Predicting our happiness becomes a scientific study. The book did cause me to think, but I did not always enjoy the flippant style of writing. For example, he describes emotional happiness as common to the feelings of seeing a new granddaughter smile for the first time, Belgian chocolate, hearing a favorite song, or getting a really good snootful of cocaine. p. 32. These kinds of comments detract from any real sense of science or understanding.

There is a lot of discussion of scientific studies. And ultimately the conclusion is that people are not good predictors of their own futures. I found myself chuckling regularly at the authors use of humor. If you've read other similar books you know how much you appreciate the occasional joke to alleviate the dryness of the material.