"Let's be honest--none of us were given an owner's manual at birth. If you're having trouble solving a problem or making a dream happen, the problem isn't you. It's not that you're not hardworking, intelligent or deserving, but that you haven't yet installed the one key belief that will change everything. My mom, who has the tenacity of a bulldog and curses like a truck driver, explained it to me this way, "Nothing in life is that complicated. You...

The "New York Times"-bestselling author of "Genome" and "The Red Queen" offers a provocative case for an economics of hope, arguing that the benefits of commerce, technology, innovation, and change--cultural evolution--will inevitably increase human prosperity

Argues that happiness can be a learned and cultivated behavior, explaining how every person possesses at least five of twenty-four profiled strengths that can be built on in order to improve life.

Teaches teenagers how to approach their adolescent years with optimism and understanding, giving them the skills they need to develop long-term well-being.