From one of our foremost psychologists a trailblazing book that turns the idea of a good life
on its head and urges us to embrace the transformative power of variety and experience. For
many people a good life is a stable life a comfortable life that follows a well-trodden path.
This is the case for Shigehiro Oishi's father who has lived in a small mountain town in Japan
for his entire life putting his family's needs above his own like his father and grandfather
before him. But is a happy life or even a meaningful life also a good life? In Life in Three
Dimensions Shige Oishi enters into a debate that has animated psychology since 1984 when Ed
Diener (Oishi's mentor) published a paper that launched happiness studies. A rival followed in
1989 with a model of a good life that focused on purpose and meaning instead. In recent years
Shige Oishi's award-winning work has proposed a third dimension to a good life: psychological
richness a concept that prioritizes curiosity exploration and a variety of experiences that
help us grow as people. Life in Three Dimensions explores the shortcomings of happiness and
meaning as guides to a good life pointing to complacency and regret as a "happiness trap" and
narrowness and misplaced loyalty as a “meaning trap.” Psychological richness Oishi proposes
balances the other two offering insight and growth spurred by embracing uncertainty and
challenges. In a lively style drawing on a generation of psychological studies and on
examples from life and literature Oishi shows how anyone can use the three core
dimensions—happiness meaning and psychological richness—to build a fuller more authentic
life.
