1.  Interview with Harvard's Tal Ben-Shahar, Ph.D

On Monday, July 23^rd, join me for a live question-and-answer interview with Harvard's Tal Ben-Shahar, Ph.D. on his new book Happier.

Before I tell you about Tal, here's your invitation to the interview:

Subject: Live Interview with Tal Ben-Shahar

Topic: Tal's new book, Happier: Learn the Secrets to Daily Joy and Lasting Fulfillment  Date: Monday, July 23, 2007

Teleconference Bridge:  1-212-461-5849 Pin 0636#

Time: 12:00 pm - 1:20 pm Eastern (NY time), 9:00 am -10:20 am Pacific (LA time)

International Times:

4:00 pm - 5:20 pm GMT/UTC

5:00 pm - 6:20 pm British Summer Time (London time)

2:00 pm - 3:20 am EST (Sydney time) on Tuesday 7/24/07

Tal Ben-Shahar is a leading proponent of positive psychology.  An international management consultant, a veteran of the Israeli army, and the author of four books, Tal graduated from Harvard College, studied at Cambridge University in England, and received his Ph.D. from Harvard in Organizational Behavior.  In addition, he was an outstanding squash player, winning both the Israel National and U.S. Intercollegiate squash championships.

He's a marvelous teacher.  I've now heard Tal speak four times--at the Gallup International Summit on Positive Psychology last fall and three times in January at the International Conference on Coaching in Tel Aviv.  He's an extremely effective speaker who, among other things, has a wonderful way to inject video into his presentations and has a rare ability to make positive psychology research accessible and engaging.

As an undergraduate at Harvard, Tal became interested in organizational behavior while taking a class with the late Phil Stone, a major figure in the development of positive psychology.  In 1999, Stone taught the first-ever class on positive psychology at Harvard as a seminar.  And Tal was his teaching assistant.  When Tal finished his Ph.D., Stone suggested he teach the class.  He did.  Students loved it.  And gradually the size of the class expanded.

Last year, Tal shot to national prominence last year when this course "Positive Psychology," had grown to an enrollment of 855 students, the largest class in Harvard's history.  Together with a second class, "The Psychology of Leadership", Tal taught a full 25% of the Harvard student body to rave reviews.

What you'll like about Tal in this interview is he has a unique and practical model for increasing one's happiness.  It's based both on positive psychology research and on his own experience.  He spells it out in his new book, Happier, and we'll talk about it in our interview in a very clear, compelling way.

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2.  Tal's New Book--Happier: Learn the Secrets to Daily Joy and Lasting Fulfillment

Tal argues that much of the work done on happiness comes from two camps.  Self help books and presentations that are not grounded in science but may involve charismatic presenters.  Or the research-based work of academics that is often not easily accessible to the public.  In Happier, he aims to take the best of the research and to present it in a way that can engage lay readers. 

About this book, legendary psychologist, Ellen Langer writes "Dr. Ben-Shahar, one of the most popular teachers in Harvard' s recent history, has written a personal, informed, and highly enjoyable primer on how to become happier. It would be wise to take his advice."
--Ellen J. Langer, author of "Mindfulness" and "On Becoming an Artist"

"This fine book shimmers with a rare brand of good sense that is imbedded in scientific knowledge about how to increase happiness. It is easy to see how this is the backbone of the most popular course at Harvard today."  --Martin E. P. Seligman, father of Positive Psychology and author of "Authentic Happiness"

We will write more about this book in a future issue.  I've found it to be fascinating and look forward to talking to Tal about it.

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