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The Importance of Being Miserable
A short history of human happiness, and why sometimes it's good to feel bad
Brief Description
Humans just want to be happy, yes? After all, that’s what life’s all about. Well ... no. It turns out that, for a huge chunk of history, feeling good was the furthest thing from our minds. Expecting life to be fun and fulfilling (or, if all...
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December 2025
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The Importance of Being Miserable
$3999
Unit price
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The Importance of Being Miserable
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Description
Humans just want to be happy, yes? After all, that’s what life’s all about.
Well ... no.
It turns out that, for a huge chunk of history, feeling good was the furthest thing from our minds. Expecting life to be fun and fulfilling (or, if all else fails, fine) is actually a very recent phenomenon. And there’s every reason to think that it’s making us sad.
A playful tour of Western ‘progress’, from ancient philosophers to modern-day pop stars via pills, priests, Proust and the plague, The Importance of Being Miserable explores how, why and when we all started to pursue happiness.
And why feeling bad may not actually be all that bad.
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9781923135192
Publisher: Affirm Press
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 30 December 2025
Country: Australia
Imprint: Affirm Press
DIMENSIONS
Width: 153.0mm
Height: 234.0mm
Weight: 0g
Pages: 272
About the Author
Eamon Evans is the author of fifteen books, one or two of them pretty good. He’s written about history, sport, scandals, words, films, alcohol and urban legends, but until The Importance of Being Miserable he’s not done much with his philosophy degree, apart from bore people at parties. Eamon lives with his family in Melbourne, where he writes, teaches, overwaters his garden and worries about going bald.
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