I really enjoyed this book.

I’ve been paying more and more mind to my own mental health over the last few years, and am on something of a journey of discovery with it. I’ve been reading and learning a lot about mindfulness, meditation, stress management, burnout, trauma recovery, yoga, and the whole gamut of topics around the free flowing concept of happiness.

This book was a refreshing break from that genre of happiness pornography.

This book is lighter than that, less highfalutin and much more fun.

Bill takes us through a collection of rather more tangible and explicit things he has found to bring smiles to his bearded face, through the lens of recounting to us the stories of how he came upon these divine-sent talismans of contentedness.

As Bill himself says in Chapter 2: “Regarding the positive thinking bandwagon, I’ve no quibble with the defined precepts such as ‘don’t judge others’, ‘stay optimistic’ etc, but in my experience, something less high minded and more mundane like “always put the lids back on jars” will often elicit the same amount of well-being” - and this pearl early on in the book very much sets the tone for how we will proceed.

For this book, a yoga mat will not be required - nor a background in buddhist philosophy.

I’ve always been a fan of Bill, from growing up watching his standup sets late night on Paramount Comedy channel in the UK, when I should have been in bed early for school the next day, through Black Books and up to having seen him live a little while back. With him mostly off our screens these days this book was, for me, a welcome return of his voice into my life.