Paula Poundstone: How to Find Happiness

Paula Poundstone: How to Find HappinessTop of Mind with Julie Rose • Season 1, Episode 569, Segment 2

Jun 8, 2017 • 25m

Guest: Paula Poundstone, Author of “The Totally Unscientific Study of the Search for Human Happiness” Comedian Paula Poundstone has a new book. It took nearly a decade to write, because she wasn’t just writing, she was experimenting with how to find happiness. In the name of science, she sweat a lot, threw stuff away, got a Twitter account, drove a Lamborghini, took swing dancing lessons, meditated, volunteered at a nursing home and hugged a lot of strangers. And now the rest of us can cheat by using her field notes, helpfully compiled in her book, “The Totally Unscientific Study of the Search for Human Happiness.”

Other Segments

50 Years after the Six Day War, Consequences PersistJun 8, 201727mGuest: John Macfarlane, Adjunct Professor of Political Science, Utah Valley University Fifty years ago this week, conflict erupted between Israel and its largest Arab neighbors – Egypt, Syria and Jordan. Six days later, it was over and Israel had beaten its much larger Arab rivals. The Six Day War of 1967 had a profound effect on the Middle East, even setting the stage for modern-day terrorism.

Guest: John Macfarlane, Adjunct Professor of Political Science, Utah Valley University Fifty years ago this week, conflict erupted between Israel and its largest Arab neighbors – Egypt, Syria and Jordan. Six days later, it was over and Israel had beaten its much larger Arab rivals. The Six Day War of 1967 had a profound effect on the Middle East, even setting the stage for modern-day terrorism.

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(originally aired: Sept. 14, 2016) Guest: Lincoln Blumell, PhD, Associate Professor of Ancient Scripture, BYU When contemplating how we’ll be remembered after we’re gone, a common hope is that our gravestone can say something about having loved and been loved. Late last year, BYU ancient scripture professor Lincoln Blumell helped translate a small and exceptionally sweet epitaph carved into limestone that’s languished in the archives of the University of Utah’s library for decades.

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(originally aired: Jan. 17, 2017) Guest: Jed Gottlieb, Music and Theater Critic, Boston Herald It’s pretty rare to find a newspaper anywhere in the country with a full-time writer dedicated solely to covering theater, music or books. These are tough times for print journalism and it seems arts critics are among the first to go in layoffs and buyouts. So, do newspapers really need someone dedicated full time to arts, or have internet reviews and friend recommendations on social media taken over?

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(originally aired: May 14, 2015) Guest: Denise Pope, Senior Lecturer, Stanford University, Co-founder of Challenge Success At the start of summer, kids race home from the last day of school, ditching their backpacks in hallways and kitchen corners. Inside will likely be a packet the kids—and their parents—prefer to forget for now. Summer homework assignments are meant to counter the "brain drain" that can leave kids a little rusty when they show up for school again in the fall, but is homework the answer?