Buckingham, UK Influential educationalist, political historian and commentator
Founder, Action for Happiness
Best-selling author, "Beyond Happiness" (2015)
Sir Anthony Seldon is a unique political historian and commentator who speaks about British political leadership as well as on education and contemporary Britain.
He is Vice-Chancellor of the University of Buckingham and is renowned for turning around two of Britain’s most celebrated schools, Brighton College and Wellington College.
Anthony founded, with Lord Peter Hennessy, the Institute of Contemporary British History, the internationally respected body whose aim is to promote research into, and the study of, British history since 1945. He is a co-founder of Action for Happiness with Lord Richard Layard and Geoff Mulgan. He is on the Advisory Board of the New College of the Humanities in London.
Anthony has written or edited 40 books including the authorised or semi-authorised studies of the last four Prime Ministers of Britain. He is the historian of Downing Street, and he has written best-selling books on Trust, Happiness and Education.
He regularly appears on television, radio and in the press, and has written frequently for national newspapers including The Times, The Sunday Times, The Daily Telegraph, The Independent and The Guardian.
In this book Anthony Seldon distinguishes between pleasure, happiness and joy, and offers an original 8-step approach on how to make our lives far more meaningful and rewarding. The pursuit of happiness can all too easily become a trap which seduces us into thinking there is no more to life than being happy. In fact, the author is highly critical of ‘positive psychology’ and other dominant schools of thought.
In fact, we need to reach beyond this if we are to access the deepest levels of human experience open to us, and find our own unique path in life. The author offers a further 5 steps, which point the way to accessing these deeper levels of experience, which alone result in the joyful life which is our birthright.
Paradoxically, as this book demonstrates, stepping off the happiness treadmill will ultimately make for a happier and more fulfilled life. It is time to go beyond happiness.
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"Anthony Seldon is a renowned head teacher and historian whose views on education have been sought by the government and political parties, and have helped set the educational agenda, attracting many heads from across the United Kingdom. In addition to his political and historical commentary, Anthony speaks passionately about the importance of co-education, the teaching of happiness and well-being, and the development of the all-round child."