Well & Good

how we feel & why it matters

Richard Eckersley

We're richer, healthier and generally better off than ever before, according to the statistics. So why do so many of us have the uneasy feeling that things are not quite right, that we're less happy and less sure of our beliefs than we'd like to be?

In Well and Good, Australian social scientist and researcher Richard Eckersley examines the question of whether life is getting better or worse.

Thought-provoking, insightful and measured, the book offers a synthesis of recent research and presents a range of perspectives on some key social issues-health and happiness; economic growth, inequality and environmental sustainability; culture and values, meaning in life; science and spirituality; youth suicide; and visions of the future.

Eckersley challenges the prevailing political equation of economic growth with progress, more with better, standard of living with quality of life, arguing that the equation is simplistic, outdated and increasingly hostile to our wellbeing.

Well & Good stresses the importance of the non-material aspects of life to our wellbeing. It highlights the need to go beyond strategy and policy to the more fundamental issues of values and worldviews in seeking to make life better.

Australia has been waiting for this landmark book, which tells a big story in the most accessible way. Well & Good is fascinating material for anyone who cares about the big questions, and who believes we can't afford to be complacent about the direction in which contemporary society is heading.

Great material for conversation and talkback formats, this book opens up a number of important social issues in an easy and understandable manner.