Joyful is a very detailed look at how things in our environment can bring us joy: colours, textures, confetti, pom poms, plants, architecture.....

By changing our environment we can create more joy in our lives. This simple idea is explored and backed up by research, interviews, the author also travels to experience the things that can create joy (such as staying in lofts in Japan which were designed to extend human life by challenging the immune system through their architecture).

It is an interesting read, but one that I could not read continuously (usually I read books in very few sittings), joy was under the microscope and I felt as though I needed to back away a little as it was so highly analysed. It could have been written more succinctly. However, I came away with a new appreciation for my surroundings and ideas on how to make them even more joy inspiring.

Thank you to the publisher, Ingrid Fetell Lee and the #NetGalley for my free copy of #Joyful in return for an unbiased review.

Really great read. It takes you on a really great journey of different emotions. Thoroughly enjoyed it.

I really enjoyed this book and have been talking about if and quoting it to just about anyone who will listen- which is always a sign of a good book!

I loved the anecdotes and will be incorporating the advice that I have learnt into my daily routines.

I really recommend this book and encourage everyone to read it.

Thank you to netgakkey for providing me with an arc in exchange for an honest review.

This book has changed my attitude to life, aesthetics, consumerism and my home. It's really well written and gives you so much to think about and the science behind it all. Highly recommended

Joyful was not what I was expecting. The title page promises to create extraordinary happiness by the surprising power of ordinary things. As Ingrid Fetell Lee says in her first chapter, experts urge us to find balance and calm by looking inward through mindfulness or meditation, but Joyful uses a different approach, one where enhancing our physical surroundings can impact on our mood. By this she is not referring to material accumulation but sensorial richness.
Joyful offers an eclectic mix of ideas drawn from neuroscience and psychology but with a predominant leaning towards design, as this is the author’s area of expertise, having formerly been the Design Director at innovation firm, IDEO New York. The book is full of little gems of wisdom and is well researched and I enjoyed many of her insights into what makes us feel happy. I also admire her ability to look at the world as if through the eyes of a child. But I think that it’s an ambitious project that suffers from an overemphasis on our surroundings and was very design oriented. To a certain extent the author has overanalysed joy, but I would argue that many of the things that she reports give us joy, are merely giving us pleasure and therein lies a huge difference. Whilst the material world can and does influence our mood and happiness, I’d say it’s our relationships that have the most impact.
Although I found various aspects of this book interesting and I can imagine how the author would be an inspirational speaker or a fascinating dinner party guest, I personally didn’t come away feeling as if I’d found the elusive answer to the creation of joy.
Many thanks to Netgalley, Penguin Random House UK Ebury Publishing and Ingrid Fetell Lee for the opportunity to read and review Joyful.

This was an interesting read but I did find it hard going.

Certainly Fetell Lee raises some interesting points about how to increase 'joy' in your life.

Unfortunately after starting this I realised it wasn't my type of read, it doesn't mean it's not a great read, just not for me

I've not heard of Ingrid before I heard about this book and the first thing I did after reading the blurb was to watch her TED talk Where joy hides and how to find it; debut novel Joyful follows in a similar vein, exploring some of the main things which bring people (in general) joy and the reasoning behind them.

A lot of what Ingrid covers wasn't a massive shocker; people like colourful things, people like surprises, people like celebrating but she backs everything up with research and facts; she's experienced such a variety of things in her journey to understand joy, from going to Iceland to speak to people to see elves to spending the night in a bubble house.

My favourite chapter had to be the one on colour, we moved into our house about six months ago; the people who owned it before us had renovated it, covering every wall in magnolia in the process; it wasn't until I read the colour chapter that it started to bother me and now we have a bright plum feature wall in the living room and plans to repaint the bathrooms and the spare room soon.

As Ingrid herself mentions in the introduction, some chapters of the book will be more interesting than others for different people, so don't' go in expecting to be hooked on every word, for example, I found colour and magic really interesting to read whereas transcendence I was less bothered by. I gave this four stars, mainly because while some sections I enjoyed more than others this book has impacted my life; not in a major way but my very magnolia house is slightly more colourful thanks to this book for giving me the nudge I needed into the paint aisle.

Never has a book title been so appropriate! I absolutely loved this exploration of joy, it’s many forms and the many ways it can be sparked. Highly recommend. Would make a gorgeous gift!

A book about the joy that simple shapes, design and objects can give you, notably pointing out that the woman who thinks buying flowers for herself is a waste would still be spending less than she does on therapy if she bought herself a bunch every couple of weeks.

Unfortunately, like at least one other reader, the formatting issues (in my case, it looked line line numbers appearing every few words) made it too uncomfortable a reading experience to be able to do more than skim read it, however it looks like a very detailed and interesting book with perhaps some new things to say.

Ingrid Fetell Lee's 'Joyful' is simply a how to guide about finding the joy in everyday things. However, her ideas go far beyond the tangible, exploring how we are affecting by the less measurable, like colour, something I've begun to notice on a day-to-day basis (with a lot more joy in my heart, thank you!).

This book takes a very simple idea, that our surroundings can create joy for us, and then expands it. I felt that the expansion sometimes became a little like stating the obvious, but there are still lots of new ideas to play with. More of a book for dipping in and out of, rather than reading straight through, I think.
Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC

An interesting book which encourages you to give more attention to your surroundings and suggests how simple things can add happiness to your life..

The author gives lots of examples as to how you can make simple changes to bring more joy into your life. It mostly makes sense and a lot of what she says, you probably know already without realising it.

Some of the suggestions sound really simple and sensible and I might be persuaded to try some. I'm not sure I would find the courage to paint the rooms in my house in bright colours but I do love the idea.

It's taken me longer than usual to read Joyful. I liked the book but struggled a bit with it. I couldn't read it continuously. (There was just too much joy. for this grumpy old woman!) There is a lot of information to take in and sometimes I felt I was being bombarded with examples and facts so for me it was better to read a little bit at a time, putting it aside and reading something else, before going back to Joyful. I'm happy with ebooks (sometimes I prefer them) but on this occasion I suspect I would have liked it better in physical format which would allow me to turn pages and dip in and out. I think I might have found that easier to read.

There is a 'Joyful Toolkit' towards the end of the book to help you take the ideas in the book and incorporate them into your own life using worksheets and exercises.

This book opened my eyes to a new way of believing. From centering on life’sproblems tolooking for its joys.
Sadly, too many lives lack joy these days and yet, it appears, making small changes can spark a huge difference .
Thoroughly recommended.

If your home, life and circumstances are far from joyful, then look no further. In reading this book, you will embark on a journey of discovery that will alter your perspective and fully equip you to live with a greater degree of joy and peace, once you have put its principles into practice.

In this joy filled book you will find a detailed exploration of ten significant elements, including their defining characteristics and which one(s) might speak to you most at a personal level. The closing pages provide a helpful, downloadable 'Joyful Toolkit', which offers great tips, with examples and suggestions on how to incorporate them into your life.

By investigating energy, abundance, freedom, harmony, play, surprise, transcendence, magic, celebration and renewal, backed up by intensive scientific research and personal experience, the author succeeds in opening our eyes to the possibility of introducing more joy into our daily existence. This alone makes it a worthwhile read.

I certainly had my eyes open to aspects of joy I hadn't considered before. I was also inspired to view my home in terms of what sparked joy for me or not. It’s not just about clearing the clutter and gaining breathing space, important as those things can be.

It's also about adding life and joy enhancing aspects to make it more harmonious and increase our contentment with an environment we all want to chill out, relax and be happy in. Do yourself a favour and buy this book. You won't regret it. I can highly recommend it as a valuable self-help resource. Grateful thanks to Ebury Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC.

Absolutely fascinating book - really enjoyed this and definitely planning to implement some of the ideas in my everyday life.

An interesting read, even though there are a lot of Americanisms in the text. Thought provoking as well, especially the references to dementia as my mother is a sufferer. Will definitely consider some of the suggestions when we move, hopefully soon, to our new home.

‘Snowdrops and daffodils, butterflies and bees…’
It seems that Dana was onto something when she sang these words in the 1970 Eurovision Song Contest.
In ‘Joyful’ Ingrid Fetell Lee looks at how certain things – like rainbows, polka dots and round objects – can cross demographic groups and bring joy. It’s clear that Lee has spent many hours researching this subject. She discusses many people – designers, architects etc who have incorporated joy into their work – there are no photos, so it’s best to keep Google available if you want to see what she’s writing about. She includes many personal stories of herself (and frequent mentions of her husband, Albert) as she travels far and wide experiencing joy. She really is thorough.
I loved so much about this book but I did find it all too much in one go. Maybe I should have paced myself more. I suspect there’s something of the dark in my nature because I started to find the joyfulness a bit cloying at times.
In her introduction, Lee tells of a woman who found that buying cut flowers lifted her mood for days, yet she restricted herself to buying them for special occasions. Lee notes that if she were to buy them weekly, they’d cost far less than her therapy sessions. Good point!
A few days ago, my son and his friend were sneaking bright balloons out of a restaurant display. The other boy’s mum expressed surprise that they still got so excited by balloons at the age of eleven…so I told her about this book. It may not be the easiest book to read, but it really is worth talking about.

In this warmly written book, the author explores the idea of joy - what it means to us as humans, and how and why it can be brought into our lives. The good news is that the answer seems to be that joy can be found in small, simple things. She explores the effects of different colours, shapes and experiences on our minds, and how joy can be found in the new and the familiar, in comfort and adventure.

It's an uplifting little book that can help you to take a look around and take pleasure in the simple things, but there is also so really interesting science exploring the why as well as the what.

Please note, my e-book copy had formatting errors that made it very difficult to read, so I have only partially read the book. What I managed to read I enjoyed - I liked the idea of colours & aesthetics having a big effect on how we feel, so making simple changes to our environment can have a big impact on our happiness and state of mind.
I certainly enjoy having small, pretty things, and I feel vindicated for lining up pretty postcards on my wall at work, and sticking cute pictures to my fridge. It's a shame I couldn't manage to read all of the book, but I'm sure there were further interesting points made in the story.