Unlock Joyful Moments: Harness the Power of Everyday Things to Create Unforgettable Happiness

Ana: This book is not only interesting in terms of a design and art but it reads like a poetry. one of my favorite books and make me see more beauty in the everyday world. Highly recommend this book and I just lov e it so much.

United States on Oct 02, 2023

Patricia MatiellaPatricia Matiella: Muy bonito libro, aún no lo leo pero llegó muy sucio, creo que son detalles que tienen que cuidar al vender un producto

Mexico on Aug 02, 2023

Chris R: I found a lot of this book fascinating and interesting, and some of it felt far fetched. The author does provide a lot of evidence, but not sure if it was cherry picked as little on some issues. But my big beef with the book was the absence of illustrations apart from a few sad line drawings. The whole premise of this book is about joyful visual experiences but to have to read it with Google images on permanent standby was annoying

United Kingdom on Apr 05, 2022

Lee: Full disclosure: self-help books aren't usually my cup of tea. Not that there is anything wrong with self-help books, it's just that I usually don't get much out of these types of books, for one, and two, non-fiction books of any kind generally take me much longer to read, so I prefer not to spend precious reading time on them when I could use that time to instead choose something from my mile-high, teetering TBR stack. Given this context, I very likely would not have picked up Ingrid Fettell Lee's Joyful on my own if it hadn't been chosen as a monthly read for one of my book clubs. While the subject matter (the aesthetics of joy and how to find it in our surroundings) is one that I'm definitely interested in reading about (which usually also plays a huge role in whether I choose to read a non-fiction book or not), I worried about the timing and the impact to my already tightly-packed reading schedule.

Now that I've finished, I'm actually glad I decided to pick this one up, as I ended up enjoying it quite a bit. I think this was due to the fact that I didn't approach this book from a "self-help" perspective in terms of how I could apply the author's advice to bring more joy...

United States on Dec 23, 2021

KDubInKDub: I found myself feeling lighter just reading the descriptions of things that typically bring joy (bubbles, balloons, rainbows, colour, etc), and jotting down ideas of places to go & things to add to my living space… wonderful reminders of where we can look for & add joy to our everyday lives.

Canada on Nov 13, 2021

skyebluepink: This book is well-written and full of information and interesting ideas with something new to learn on every page. But while it is written with the rigor of thoughtful research, it is as enjoyable and easy to read as a novel. It is a fascinating read! At least twice in every chapter I went to the internet to see and learn more about the people and places mentioned in the book. I started taking notes before realizing that key elements of the ideas in the book are summarized in the back, along with worksheets that can be downloaded as well. There is an excellent list of references in the back as well and a good index. The book has really surpassed my expectations and I am only halfway through. I had started several weeks ago trying to find some ideas about happiness and joy on the internet but these “joy lists” were predictable and not very inspiring. But this book has given me so many new ideas, and has also confirmed a few things that I had already known about making my home environment better, but had not consciously thought much about.

I have to update my review after reading the chapter on Magic. It was condescending and tone-deaf to nature-based spiritualities. For...

United States on Jul 12, 2020

Mary Lynn: It started out innocently enough. My husband asked me to do a bit of research around JOY, as a possible pivot theme for their holiday campaign. Thanks to Google, I landed on Ingrid's website - and, down the joy-filled, magnificent, madly inspiring rabbit hole I went. Hours and hours and hours were spent reading all things JOY. I was so inspired by her work, that I had to read her book. And, because I have a hard time waiting, I ordered it on Amazon and it came the next day - small miracles! I read cover to cover so quickly, I was deeply saddened when I turned the last page. There is SO MUCH GOODNESS in this book. Ingrid is an exquisite human for bringing us all of this work. Her book is loaded with words you are going to highlight and underline to come back to again and again and again. THIS book was the MUSE to our holiday campaign; but, I think most importantly it invited me into a new world of colour. Of joy. It helped clear my monochromatic lens on life. And, I now tell every single human I know that they MUST READ THIS BOOK. So buy it. Read it. And, go buy a pair of bright yellow rain boots to slosh around in during our gray winter days. I did. Thanks Ingrid. Your soul has to...

Canada on Nov 01, 2018

John Zahl: As a designer I am always interested not only WHAT works by WHY things work, aesthetically speaking. It's easy to know what you like, easy enough to find out what people are drawn to, but understanding conceptually why we like what we do and are drawn to what we are drawn is often mostly elusive knowledge - until now.

From smaller nuggets - that the word "gaudy" has Latin roots from which the word joy was also derived, to broader and more impactful observations - that our physical environment can also deeply effect our physical health and mental well being - Ingrid lays out a perfect blueprint for understanding, appreciating and creating joy.

She even examines the art (and explores the validity of) of Feng Shui, the larger ideas of both harmony and abundance and how even simple things like indoor plants can channel the direction and mood of our daily activities. These points seem obvious once stated, but is not something we often take the time to think about. Her examination of joy is far reaching - from landscape architecture to one of my favorite interior designers Dorthy Draper - to the more obscure and magical Icelandic elves, with each chapter coming at her...

United States on Oct 22, 2018

Nonenenee: A few months before Ingrid Fetell Lee's Joyful book was released, I discovered her on a TED talk. I stumbled on it after looking for inspiration after a pretty rough start to the year. Nothing terrible, but I felt stuck in a rut. Ingrid's talk was a revelation. Literally, it was a classic lightbulb moment. She described, in practical detail, how she had begun a search to discover the 'aesthetics' that make us feel joy. My favourite example of hers is one confetto (singular for confetti) doesn't really bring joy, but a whole lot of confetti does. (I'm paraphrasing here)

She goes on to describe how we can find joy, practically, in some of our most mundane surroundings. After watching (and rewatching) her TED talk, following her on instagram under @aestheticsofjoy and joining in the #joyspotting revolution, I was hooked. I started sharing my experiences with those close to me, describing how to go about daily life discovering the joy staring us in the face. It was like treasure hunting. Soon everyone from my 71 year old mum to my 6 year old daughter, were joyspotting.

So when I found out Ingrid had a book coming out, I pre-ordered it and purely waiting for it to arrive...

United Kingdom on Sep 15, 2018