Artificial Happiness: The Dark Side of the New Happy Class (ISBN 0786717149)

Well written:
The book is a critique of the whole health industry in general with an emphasis on mental health. Dworkin warns against drugs and/or activities that might mask the cause of unhappiness and hamper treatment and rehabilitation. AH is not a book that criticizes antidepressants as many of the critics here claim, it simply criticizes the careless use of them by patients and physicians alike. The critics are voting on the message of the book instead of the quality and content of the book.

No Happiness? No...Know Happiness:
the kinds of artificial happiness talked about mostly in the book are drugs, obsessive exercise and herbs and stuff. the author says that indulging in these things distract or numb us from important decisions we need to make in our life's; such as figuring out how we should live or what is the good life(what if there is no 'good' life?) and so these artificial happinesses harm our chances at real happiness. but given some views of happiness most of us don't really have much hope of getting it anyway - i think Aristotle was of that mind.. so maybe a possible dream is better than an impossible reality? you might say that is just the zoloft in me talking... well, buddy, maybe its just the Platonism in you bitching at me... ok, i've taken my tranquilizers and i'm feeling calmer so ill continue... the author says that we should turn to major religious and philosophy text to figure out how to live. but, unless he was meaning that we can find happiness in philosophizing itself - we'll be as happy as Schopenhauer- i think the many and conflicting views and principles to guide life will just bring us back to the original question : what is happiness? should i live as Bentham or Mill suggest and search for their different sorts of pleasures or should i look to one of the many other views to guide my choices in life.. i'm lost in the despair of to many options... nothing a little St. johns wort cant cure... ok i'm feeling uplifted now so ill go on... the book does make many good points and i'm glad to have read it - it took my mind of my nagging wife and whiny kids for a bit anyway... but the authors idea expressed late in the book that religion should just leave science -almost- alone or view science like a novelty (i'm not sure i got this right because it conflicts with what seems to be the major thesis of the book, but...). science doesn't want to leave religion alone or be religions pet anymore. as he has shown throughout the book there was a campaign to universalize the views/ideology of some in the medical profession; they weren't content to leave religion the soul and spirit - they wanted it all. the problem, i think, is that materialism is often seen as a central method of science which inevitably puts it at odds with religion. the strategy of viewing science as a small part of our quest in life may have worked for Augustine but Augustine did not live in an age of science like we do... the whole world and all of societies elites are against us now... it is nearly hopeless... oh well, i'm going to go do my hip-hop abs workout now ...

Are publishers that desperate for material?:
The big mystery about this book is how it got published. Does Dworkin have a relative in the publishing industry? He comes across as ignorant and arrogant, pompous and boring, like the guy you most want to get away from if cornered by him at a party. I say this, even though these are topics of great interest to me and I actually agree that antidepressants can make one complacent. But don't look to Dworkin for any useful insights on this topic. He's just an overeducated windbag. What's most absurd is his contention that we are becoming too happy through EXERCISE! He sees this as a problem. Does it occur to D. that movement is a natural part of life and we become more happy as we live in a more natural way, doing the things our forbears did for millennia, such as running, walking, bending, stretching, MOVING? Just try to get a dog or any animal to remain virtually motionless all day, like office workers in cubicles. If you force them to do it, you will have a depressed animal on your hands.

You need to read the entire book:
After reading the entire book, I give it high marks. (My only hesitation is that it does read somewhat like an extended magazine article...it could have been shortened without jeopardizing its content and message). His basic point is that life is a worthwhile struggle and that people should engage the struggle, and not opt out by taking medications that are not necessary. His recommendations about the wisdom to be found in religion and philosophy are courageous given the current ignorance about those resources.

Boring:
This book talks very little about what the title implies. It's like he had a two paragraph idea and decided to write a 300 page book about it.