<p>The search for happiness is quintessentially human—a concept that has no bearing on any other creature on earth yet figures foremost among our deepest desires. In the realm of hard science, the journey to happiness is still in its infancy; the final destination, uncertain. <em>The Happiness Trip</em> is a lucid and passionate approach to the science of happiness and its conditioning factors: emotions, stress, hormonal flows and aging, as well as the social, economic, cultural and religious aspects associated with the emotion.</p><p>"We have set out on the unknown waters of our potential happiness with no previous knowledge, no maps. There are no models in nature. It is only recently that the scientific community developed technical instruments to measure the impact of emotions and stress. These have given rise in turn to the search for happiness, which immediately burst onto the field of scientific analysis."</p>