mrspenningalovesbooks's review
3.0
I really liked the concept of this book and a lot of her points. It just felt dense in parts and wasn’t bringing me joy :) I LOVE the big ideas, though, in realizing how much of our lives and society try to weed out the things that bring us joy. “Once we accepted that joy is inessential, it became easy for it to slip out of of the center of our lives. Work became about endless gains in productivity, rather than the joy of craft or creation. School became a push for a achievement, rather than an exploration or an adventure.” Great for any reader who wants to see and implement easy changes to their daily life to find more moments of joy.
mimmyjau's review
2.0
4 stars for the ideas in this book. 2 stars for its execution.
Joyful reads like a typical pop. non-fiction book. Each chapter touches on a different driver of joy and follows a relatively similar framework - it starts with an anecdote of how the author serendipitously stumbled upon an example of this type of joy, followed by a few conversations with designers, artists, architects, or urban planners that specialize in this type of aesthetic, then a few examples of scientific research suggesting that this type of joy is intrinsically linked to our primitive survival as a species, and finally, some tips on how to incorporate this design principle into your home and your life. The concepts in each chapter are, for the most part, mutually exclusive from one another.
With that being said, the book was a huge source of inspiration for things I could be doing (both personally and professionally) that I otherwise wouldn't have considered.
Two main criticisms:
1) Clearer examples of how to incorporate each principle into industrial design. The author focuses almost exclusively on the visual / aesthetic elements of each principle and much less on the experiential component of interacting with a product.
2) Pictures of examples she references. I had to keep jumping back to my phone to look up examples of what or who the author was referring to.
Joyful reads like a typical pop. non-fiction book. Each chapter touches on a different driver of joy and follows a relatively similar framework - it starts with an anecdote of how the author serendipitously stumbled upon an example of this type of joy, followed by a few conversations with designers, artists, architects, or urban planners that specialize in this type of aesthetic, then a few examples of scientific research suggesting that this type of joy is intrinsically linked to our primitive survival as a species, and finally, some tips on how to incorporate this design principle into your home and your life. The concepts in each chapter are, for the most part, mutually exclusive from one another.
With that being said, the book was a huge source of inspiration for things I could be doing (both personally and professionally) that I otherwise wouldn't have considered.
Two main criticisms:
1) Clearer examples of how to incorporate each principle into industrial design. The author focuses almost exclusively on the visual / aesthetic elements of each principle and much less on the experiential component of interacting with a product.
2) Pictures of examples she references. I had to keep jumping back to my phone to look up examples of what or who the author was referring to.
resslesa's review
4.0
Interesting and like the subheading especially play and surprise etc. Got a little tedious toward the end. I feel like I also want the cliff notes -stories quite cool but want to learn and get out too.
kristaallysa's review against another edition
5.0
This book was such a fun one to read. And, it really got me thinking about how intentional choices in how you design your surroundings can make you smile. I definitely want to take these aesthetics into account when making decisions about things to have in my next apartment.
quasinaut's review against another edition
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.75
I liked the abundance of examples, from the author's experiences and travels, from people she's interviewed, and from studies and stories around the world. This book made me appreciate how joy shows up around me, and gives me insight into figuring out why something brings joy, but I also think there's a lack of depth and nuance as well as an unwillingness to dwell on any downsides and how these aesthetics of joy aren't universally applicable.
I plan to return to elements of this book and Ingrid Fetell Lee's work in the future.
I plan to return to elements of this book and Ingrid Fetell Lee's work in the future.
darthchrista's review against another edition
3.0
Helped me think about adding or finding joy in my daily life. It doesn’t have to be over the top, despite all of her examples actually being just that (flying in hot air balloons, going to amazing places, etc). She managed to talk about how to bring the ideas down to a normal person life.