THANKS AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This book began because it was too hot to go out. The seven of us were on the Greek island of Santorini in July 2009, and it was 110 degrees. Mandy and the five kids rushed out every morning to tour. I stayed in the air-conditioned room and wondered what to do. I did not intend to write a book, but I had been refining my thinking about what happiness is for a decade and had been engaged in eight large projects that stemmed from positive psychology. And it all converged to a single point: 51—that in the year 2015, 51 percent of the world’s population will be flourishing. So I began to put this all on paper, to see if what the decade had wrought hung together. The first chapter just flowed out of me.

“I don’t have an audience in mind,” I told Mandy.

“Just write it for yourself,” she responded, going off to the beach. Within a week, the first chapter was done, and the eight projects started to cohere into chapters: What Well-Being Is; Depression, Prevention, and Therapy; Master’s of Applied Positive Psychology; Positive Education; Comprehensive Soldier Fitness; Achievement and Intelligence; Positive Health; 51.

This is how I organize my gratitude and the acknowledgments.

My debt to some people is sweeping, and their inspiration pervades the whole: Robert Nozick, Peter Madison, Byron Campbell, Ernie Steck, Bob Olcott, Miss Eldred (her first name could not be found in the archives of Public School 16 of Albany, New York), Richard Solomon, and Paul Rozin set the stage for positive psychology long ago when, as a young person, I was fortunate to have them as teachers. Hans Eysenck, Ray Fowler, Mike Csikszentmihalyi, Steve Maier, Jack Rachman, Chris Peterson, Ed Diener, Richard Layard, Aaron Beck, Albert Stunkard, and Barry Schwartz have been my mentors later in life. I can feel their influence in every chapter.

Marie Forgeard, a prize graduate student, did a smashing job on the end notes and gave the entire manuscript a thorough reading. My special thanks to her.

The opening chapter on the theory of well-being and the call to 51, which is the last chapter and the whole point, owes debts to Eranda Jayawickreme, Corey Keyes, Richard Layard, Martha Nussbaum, Dan Chirot, Senia Maymin, Denise Clegg, Philip Streit, Danny Kahneman, Barbara Ehrenreich (total disagreement does not cancel gratitude), Felicia Huppert, Paul Monaco, the Dalai Lama, Doug North, Timothy So, Ilona Boniwell, James Pawelski, Antonella Della Fave, Geoff Mulgan, Anthony Seldon, Jon Haidt, Don Clifton, Dan Gilbert, Robert Biswas-Diener, Jerry Wind, Tomas Sanders, Linda Stone, and Yukun Zhao. Judith Ann Gebhardt thought up the acronym PERMA, an acronym that may outlive much of the rest of positive psychology.

The chapter on drugs, psychotherapy, and prevention owes particular debts to Tayyab Rashid, Acacia Parks, Tom Insel, Rob DeRubeis, Steve Schueller, Afroze Rashid, Steve Hollon, Judy Garber, Karen Reivich, and Jane Gillham.

The chapter on the master’s of applied positive psychology would not have been possible without the labors of James Pawelski, Debbie Swick, and the 150 graduates of MAPP. Special thanks go to Derrick Carpenter, Caroline Adams Miller, Shawna Mitchell, Angus Skinner, Yakov Smirnoff, David Cooperrider, Michelle McQuaid, Bobby Dauman, Dave Shearon, Gail Schneider, Aren Cohen, Pete Worrell, Carl Fleming, Jan Stanley, Yasmin Headley (who emblematically sold her Mercedes to pay the tuition), Aaron Boczowski, Marie-Josee Salvas, Elaine O’Brien, Dan Bowling, Kirsten Cronlund, Tom Rath, Reb Rebele, Leona Brandwene, Gretchen Pisano, and Denise Quinlain.

The positive education chapter owes huge debts to Karen Reivich, Stephen Meek, Charlie Scudamore, Richard Layard, Mark Linkins, Randy Ernst, Matthew White, and the students, staff, and teachers of the Geelong Grammar School. Thanks also to Amy Walker, Justin Robinson, Elaine Pearson, Joy and Philip Freier, Ben Dean, Sandy MacKinnon, Hugh Kempster, David Levin, Doug North, Ellen Cole, Dominic Randolph, Jonathan Sachs, J. J. Cutuli, Trent Barry, Rosie Barry, Matt Handbury, Tony Strazerra, Debbie Cling, John Hendry, Lisa Paul, Frank Mosca, Roy Baumeister, Barbara Fredrickson, Diane Tice, Jon Ashton, Kate Hayes, Judy Saltzberg, and Adele Diamond.

“Army Strong” would not have happened without Rhonda Cornum (my hero), Karen Reivich, George Casey, and Darryl Williams. Thanks also to Paul Lester, Sharon McBride, Jeff Short, Richard Gonzales, Stanley Johnson, Lee Bohlen, Breon Michel, Dave Szybist, Valorie Burton, Katie Curran, Sean Doyle, Gabe Paoletti, Gloria Park, Paul Bliese, John and Julie Gottman, Richard Tedeschi, Richard McNally, Paul McHugh, Paul Monaco, Jill Chambers, Mike Fravell, Bob Scales, Eric Schoomaker, Richard Carmona, Carl Castro, Chris Peterson, Nansook Park, Ken Pargament, Mike Matthews, Pat Sweeney, Patty Shinseki, Donna Brazil, Dana Whiteis, Mary Keller, Judy Saltzberg, Sara Algoe, Barbara Fredrickson, John Cacioppo, Norman Anderson, Gary VandenBos, Shelly Gable, Peter Schulman, Deb Fisher, and Ramin Sedehi.

The chapter on intelligence and success leans heavily with profound gratitude and evident admiration on the work of its central character, Angela Lee Duckworth. I also thank Anders Ericsson, John Sabini, Jane Drache, Alan Kors, Darwin Labarthe, and Sheldon Hackney.

The positive health chapter owes debts to Darwin Labarthe, Paul Tarini, Chris Peterson, Steve Blair, Ray Fowler, Arthur Barsky, John Cacioppo, David Sloan Wilson, Ed Wilson, Julian Thayer, Arthur Rubenstein, Elaine O’Brien, Sheldon Cohen, Monte Mills, Barbara Jacobs, Julie Boehm, Caroline Adams Miller, Paul and John Thomas, and my Internet walk group.

I have spent the last forty-five years at my academic home, the University of Pennsylvania, and I have drawn every kind of support from my colleagues and students here: first, Peter Schulman, who is my right arm, Linda Newsted, Karen Reivich, Jane Gillham, Rachel Abenavoli, Denise Clegg, Derek Freres, Andrew Rosenthal, Judy Rodin, Sam Preston, Amy Gutmann, Mike Kahana, Rebecca Bushnell, David Brainard, Ramin Sedehi, Richard Schultz, David Balamuth, Gus Hartman, Frank Norman, Angela Duckworth, and Ed Pugh. I am presently the Zellerbach Family Professor of Psychology and was previously the Robert Fox Leadership Professor of Psychology, and I am grateful to all the Zellerbachs and to Bob Fox for this support.

Positive psychology has been generously funded by Atlantic Philanthropies, the Annenberg Foundation, and especially Kathleen Hall Jamieson, the U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Department of the Army, the National Institute of Mental Health, Jim Hovey, the Gallup Foundation, the Hewlett-Packard Foundation, the Young Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (especially Paul Tarini), Neal Mayerson of the Mayerson Foundation, and the John Templeton Foundation, with special thanks to Jack Templeton, Arthur Schwartz, Mary Anne Myers, Kimon Sargeant, and Barnaby Marsh.

Positive psychology has been constructively reported by Ben Carey, Stacey Burling, Claudia Wallis, Joshua Wolf Shenk, Rhea Farberman, and Cecilia Simon, among many others, and I am very grateful for such responsible press.

To Leslie Meredith, my hardworking and unfailingly enthusiastic editor, Martha Levin, publisher, Dominick Anfuso, editor in chief, and to Richard Pine, agent without parallel and close friend, my high thanks.

To my seven children, Jenny, Carly, Darryl, Nikki, Lara, David, and Amanda, just for their patience with a father who is married to his work. My highest thanks go to the love of my life and my life companion, Mandy McCarthy Seligman.