美国国家公共电台 NPR Paula Poundstone's 'Totally Unscientific' Search For The Secret Of Happiness（在线收听）

LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST:

You may know Paula Poundstone from the smash public radio hit - other than this program - Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! But she's also an accomplished author, now of two books, all the more an accomplishment because each book took nearly a decade to write. The latest is "The Totally Unscientific Study Of The Search For Human Happiness." And it's full of experiments Poundstone undertook to try and unlock the secrets happy people must surely know. And of course, her motivations were pure.

PAULA POUNDSTONE: All right, don't tell anybody that I ever said this.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: I won't say anything.

POUNDSTONE: I was hoping that the publisher would pay for the things.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: (Laughter).

POUNDSTONE: You know? Like, I could do all this fun stuff, and somebody else would pay for it, you know, because it's research on this book.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Right.

POUNDSTONE: Boy, I could not have been more wrong about that.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: (Laughter). Yeah, you spent eight years doing this, right? How many different experiments did you do?

POUNDSTONE: Well, I can't remember. There might be 10, maybe...

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Yeah.

POUNDSTONE: ...Or something like that. You know - let's see, I did one thing where I got fit for a long period of time. I mean, several months taking really grueling taekwondo classes. I went backpacking for a few nights and days with my oldest daughter. I - let's see, I spent a day hugging everyone I met. I rented a Lamborghini for a day. But there's a difference between enjoying something and something making you happy, you know?

The question was, when I left off doing whatever the thing was, what kind of umbrella did that leave me with for the inevitable rainstorm of life's difficulties that come sprinkled throughout every day? So the real meat of the story is, yes, I mean, hopefully they're the funniest field notes ever taken...

GARCIA-NAVARRO: (Laughter).

POUNDSTONE: ...On each individual thing, but the real story is, when I was back in my regular life - raising my children, doing my goofy, stupid job, you know, a house full of animals, constant scheduling nightmare - how did whatever that thing that I did bear up?

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Yeah. Well, how did you come up with these ideas? How did you come up with this very scientific study, or not so scientific?

POUNDSTONE: Well, some of them were suggested by other people. And each chapter is written as a science experiment. This one, me and my kids thought, was surefire to be the one that was really going to make us happy. My children - and I never allowed them to watch television growing up, so we decided that we would try watching movies all day long, which was, like, the most exotic thing that we could think of really for us.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: What could possibly go wrong (laughter)?

POUNDSTONE: We argued and argued. Plus, my tailbone began to hurt. But my son's movie tapes - I forget how old he was at the time. He might have been 13 maybe, 14 maybe. You know, he kept wanting to watch one of those horrible crashy one - "Fast And"...

GARCIA-NAVARRO: "The Fast And Furious."

POUNDSTONE: Yeah. And, you know, we put it on, and me and my daughters could only last so long with it before I finally had to go - you know what? - I can't watch another second of this. And he didn't understand why, like, his films got vetoed, so I finally just simplified it. I said, you know, Honey, a good film, Vin Diesel's not in.

(LAUGHTER)

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Aw, poor Vin Diesel.

POUNDSTONE: Oh, yeah, because he cares so much what I think.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: You also tried the power of positive thinking. Tell us some of your mantras.

POUNDSTONE: Well, let's see. One of them was, I can find my happy place. I got them off the internet. I remember one of them was, my body is my vehicle, and, you know, I fill it with hope or something. And I could get as far as my body is my vehicle. But I fill it with hope was almost speaking another language for me. So I changed it to my body is my vehicle. I'll never pass the smog test.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: (Laughter) So what of everything you tried made you the happiest?

POUNDSTONE: Well, I don't think it comes in huge, long stretches. And if it appears to, then you're probably daft. I think that the answer is very unromantic. I think that the answer is a lot of stuff that we kind of sort of knew but were hoping wasn't true, which is exercise, good sleep habits. You know, I wish I could tell you that there was, like, a class that you took, and then you're all set. But the truth is - and it's such a dry, horrible answer - drink water.

(LAUGHTER)

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Good to know.

POUNDSTONE: Yeah.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: So Paula Poundstone, are you happier now? Are you happier?

POUNDSTONE: I think I am. Yeah, I think I am

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Paula Poundstone's new book is called "The Totally Unscientific Study Of The Search For Human Happiness." Thanks so much.

POUNDSTONE: Thank you.

(SOUNDBITE OF JOHN SCOFIELD'S "BOOZER")

GARCIA-NAVARRO: And Paula Poundstone's new NPR podcast, Live, From The Poundstone Institute, launches in July.