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

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