Not offering a self-help book, but instead mounting a scientific  explanation of the limitations of the human imagination and how it  steers us wrong in our search for happiness, Gilbert, a professor of  psychology at Harvard, draws on psychology, cognitive neuroscience,  philosophy and behavioral economics to argue that, just as we err in  remembering the past, so we err in imagining the future.

"Our desire to  control is so powerful, and the feeling of being in control so  rewarding, that people often act as though they can control the  uncontrollable," Gilbert writes, as he reveals how ill-equipped we are  to properly preview the future, let alone control it. Unfortunately, he  claims, neither personal experience nor cultural wisdom compensates for  imagination's shortcomings. In concluding chapters, he discusses the  transmission of inaccurate beliefs from one person's mind to another,  providing salient examples of universal assumptions about human  happiness such as the joys of money and of having children. He concludes  with the provocative recommendation that, rather than imagination, we  should rely on others as surrogates for our future experience. Gilbert's  playful tone and use of commonplace examples render a potentially  academic topic accessible and educational, even if his approach is at  times overly prescriptive.