The Highway to Happiness
Truly Follow the Highway-67 to Reach Your Destination Safely
This assertive guide presents ways in which happiness can be achieved through following specific rules.
“Always put yourself first in order to be happy now, and later enjoy life,” writes Narayan Aryal in The Highway to Happiness: Truly Follow the Highway-67 to Reach Your Destination Safely. It’s the first of several rules of life that Aryal lists in his thorough, easy-to-read book.
While the book is centered around happiness and its sources, religion, morality, and ego all come heavily into play. Earlier chapters summarize reasons to act selfishly (think putting on your oxygen mask before you put on your child’s), the difference between your mind and your brain, and why your health is the greatest source of happiness that you’ll ever possess. The last chapter details “Highway 67,” or, as the book puts it, the “Highway to Happiness.” The book is filled with several of Aryal’s personal and favorite quotes, which help illustrate the point that happiness ultimately comes from within.
The Highway to Happiness comes across as optimistic, written in a style that seems to promise that following these directions will guarantee success in life. At times, however, the writing is vague. For example, sentences like “Follow the ‘Highway 67’ to ensure the happiness you long will truly last,” though encouraging in their simplicity, fail to transition to sentences that are actionable. Additionally, there are many grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors.
That said, the book is written in a way that is accessible to anyone—with honesty and candor, the book suggests that genuine happiness is rare to find: “I’ve not seen a genuinely happy man or woman in my life. If you have, then you are lucky.” This may seem sad, but the book immediately counters with the notion that “happiness is always with us.” The rest of The Highway to Happiness is spent demonstrating how this happiness can be achieved.
This well-thought-out guide to achieving happiness tackles a wide variety of topics. While the book lists certain steps that are needed to reach this state—faith or eating in moderation, for example—these steps are based on opinion rather than research. The rules ultimately appear dogmatic because of their lack of explanation.
The Highway to Happiness targets those with an interest in the self-help genre. Rather than base claims on scientific research, the author uses his personal experiences and observations about the world around him to make the suggestion that happiness comes from within and, with the right skills, can be harnessed.
Those interested in adopting optimism, faith, and a healthy dose of selfishness into their lives will find this book a quick page-turner.
Reviewed by
Jade Belzberg
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book and paid a small fee to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. Foreword Reviews and Clarion Reviews make no guarantee that the publisher will receive a positive review. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
