The Happy Brain cover art

The Happy Brain

The Science of Where Happiness Comes From, and Why

 Preview
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free
Offer ends December 16, 2025 11:59pm GMT.
Prime members: New to Audible? Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Just £0.99/mo for your first 3 months of Audible.
1 bestseller or new release per month—yours to keep.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, podcasts, and Originals.
Auto-renews at £8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically.

The Happy Brain

By: Dean Burnett
Narrated by: Matt Addis
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly. Offer ends December 16, 2025 11:59pm GMT.

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Only £0.99 a month for the first 3 months. Pay £0.99 for the first 3 months, and £8.99/month thereafter. Renews automatically. Terms apply. Start my membership

About this listen

Do you want to be happy?

If so - listen. This audiobook has all the answers!

Not really. Sorry. But it does have some very interesting questions and at least the occasional answer.

The enthusiasm for and expectation of happiness are so widespread today that fundamental questions about it are often overlooked. For starters, the most basic question of all: where does happiness come from? Is it your brain - a mere concoction of chemicals or network of neurons? Is it in fact your gut? (Spoiler alert: yes. Sort of) Or is it external? Is it love or sex or money or success? And what are these doing to our brains anyway?

In The Happy Brain, Neuroscientist Dean Burnett delves into our most private selves to investigate what causes happiness, where it comes from and why we are so desperate to hang on to it. The questions he raises are ones we so rarely ask today, but they address a major part of what it means to be a modern-day human.

©2018 Dean Burnett (P)2018 Audible, Ltd Biological Sciences Career Success Motivation & Self-Improvement Science Happiness Human Brain Career Inspiring Mental Health Thought-Provoking Health

Listeners also enjoyed...

 9 Secrets to Thriving cover art
Psycho-logical cover art
Emotional Ignorance cover art
Why Does E=MC2 and Why Should We Care cover art
If I Could Tell You Just One Thing cover art
The Science of Sin cover art
Psychology in Plain English cover art
Angst cover art
The Luck Factor cover art
I Thought It Was Just Me (but it isn’t) cover art
Tribes cover art
Algorithms to Live By cover art
Sway cover art
On Romantic Love cover art
The Science of Introverts cover art
How Emotions Are Made cover art
All stars
Most relevant
This is Dean Burnett's second book (First was 'The Idiot Brain') and it was as equally informative, entertaining and humorous. Matt Addis' narration style complements Dean Burnett in such a way, you can almost hear Dean talking in the first person because the narration brings out the emotion and humour in the book perfectly.

Despite Dean's claim that both his books are NOT 'self-help books', the information within the books has driven many positive changes in my life. I have not read any other books that have had such a profound and positive effect on me, so they are the best NOT 'self-help books I have ever read.

Thank you Dean for such an excellent book, and thank you Matt for bringing it to life with your flawless narration style. When are you releasing the third? How about a book on Pain Management?

Well worth a read...

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
It was enjoyable but it is a meandering examination of the different things thst make us happy with the occasional mention of the brain. If you're looking for how to be happy or the science of happiness, this isn't for you. Well read by the narrator.

Meandering

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A fun insight into the workings of the brain. I found the book interesting and each chapter got me thinking (no irony intended) about what makes me happy.

Fun Insight into Happiness

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Gone through book rather quick, nicely read by narrator and enjoyed all of it. Give me a couple of things to work on towards happier brain.

Very nice listening

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Really great book and wonderfully read. I was a little disappointed that it wasn’t read by Dean. Though disappointed it was still educational and entertaining. Thanks

Brilliant - enjoyable and informative

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The Happy Brain tickled my dopamine neurons and made my brain happy. The book is superbly written by Dean Burnett with his mix of high quality science writing, making complex ideas easier to understand, punctuated with sharp yet good natured humour. Matt Addis deserves great credit for his narration too, his perfect pace, rhythm and tone bring the words to life. Most impressive is how both Dean & Matt move between the science and the humour so effortlessly, there is a cheeky grin behind both the writing and delivery I'm sure. Writing and narration in perfect harmony.

The book is a real adventure into the multiple complex causes of happiness and just how different we all are. The book journeys through the whole range of life experiences from childhood, to home, work & fame, money, sex, drugs, social connection, the darker sides of happiness, health and ultimately mortality. The overriding message is that we have find out what makes us happy, there is as far as science knows, no one single answer.

The book added to my understanding of the current neuroscience and there are a number of studies referenced that were new to me. What Dean adds is his ability to make all that science so human with real world stories, his own sometimes painful emotional experiences which he then breaks up with some unexpected humorous twist, some skill that.

For me, The Happy Brain accords with the better science-based books on positive psychology that suggest many ways people have found meaning and happiness in their lives. Just like the best of those books the conclusion is that you have to try the ideas for yourself and see what works for you. Even then the happiness may be fleeting and will almost certainly change over time. The one theme that remains constant across all the work I've seen to date is our need for social connection and to be part of something.

A fact filled, honest, truthful and balanced book that can help us understand that most human search for happiness and just how individual a journey it is for each of us to find it.

More simply, I flippin loved it, thanks lads.

A neuro adventure, facts, honesty and fun

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
i can't begin to imagine how much research went into this book but honestly its not much a of story, rather a rambling of facts that ends up semi answering the question-which I guess its as good as it gets when answering such a hard question. well done

first audiobook, a bit of a convoluted book

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
nicely read and easy to follow. very interesting book! I'll be looking for more of his for my next purchase.

explains a lot!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I liked humor and science being so close and at ease with each other. I think the only thing missing is to provide a bit more of advise on what to try to improve all things which make you happy. But then, author is not a life coach, he is scientist!

good book to understand brain better

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I bought this book because I’d previously read The Idiot Brain and could barely put it down, but while I also found the subjects covered in this book fascinating, I found the book itself much heavier going both in print and as an audio book.

Now this looks more like a review of me than the book, but there you are. Top marks for the content of the book, not so many for the readability and delivery.

Felt heavier than The Idiot Brain

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews