Reviewers Respond to My New Book Happiness, Plus EPM Giving Away 10 Copies

Reviews of my new book Happiness are coming in. After three years of researching and writing this book, it’s fun and encouraging to see readers’ responses. Very grateful! Below are a few excerpts from some of those reviews. Also, Eternal Perspective Ministries is giving away 10 signed copies of the book. —Randy Alcorn

I’ve started working my way through Randy Alcorn’s massive new tome Happiness. It’s a thoroughly biblical treatment of an important subject.

…The book does a great job of dispelling some common myths about happiness. Alcorn argues there is no real biblical difference between happiness and joy. He writes, “Only in recent times have happiness and joy been set in contrast with each other. I believe this is biblically and historically ungrounded and has significant downsides.” Which leads to another common misunderstanding: the notion God is concerned about our holiness, not our happiness, or that the two are somehow opposed to each other. Simply not true, says Alcorn. And he backs it up with plenty of biblical evidence.

…Reading Happiness has been, so far, a happy experience itself. I think every Christian could benefit from its lessons.

Matt Erickson, Lifeway 


(Listed on Tony’s 50 Best Books of 2015.)


Tony Reinke said it perfectly—Randy Alcorn’s new book, Happiness, is a “200,000-word encyclopedia on joy.” Its 450-plus pages present the most comprehensive Christian treatment of happiness I know, resulting in one of the most enjoyable, exciting, and exuberant books of theology I’ve read in a long time. It’s one of those rare, potentially life-changing books that has the ability to positively transform our view of God, the Bible, the world, and the Christian life.

…for its positive effect on my own soul, for its capacity to radically transform Christians’ lives, and for its potential to improve the church’s evangelistic message, Happiness is my 2015 book of the year, and I pray God will make it the most-read and happiest “encyclopedia” ever published.

David Murray, The Gospel Coalition


Pastor Alcorn isn't content just to tell us to be happy. He insists on searching Scripture and showing us the Gospel-centered reasons for a happy life. And if you trust him for a few hundred pages, he'll convince you that there's a lot of happiness to be found, first in God Himself, then in the gifts He gives us, and in our response to God and His world.

I really enjoyed reading this book. (Frankly, if a book called "Happiness" wasn't a pleasure to read, wouldn't that be a major problem right there?) …Also, as you're sitting there holding a thick book with "Happiness" emblazoned on the cover, you may have somebody come up and ask you what you're reading. Won't it knock their socks off when you tell them? Now that's a way to start a Christ-conversation, with happiness.

TheophilusFarrell4, Amazon reviewer


Enter to win 1 of 10 signed copies of Happiness from EPM

The giveaway is now closed. The randomly drawn winners are:

  • Betty Hepburn (jb.hepburn)
  • Bridget Ulibarri (bridgeu)
  • Cathy Simon (casimon)
  • Chuck Orr (chuck.orr)
  • Mary Parker (mkpstamps)
  • Matt Johnson (jesus_the_king)
  • Derek Hastings (derek.hastings)
  • James Jewell (bjjewell12)
  • Greg McGaha (gregmcgaha2)
  • Chris Fitch (christinefitch) 

Thanks to all who entered!

Randy Alcorn (@randyalcorn) is the author of over sixty books and the founder and director of Eternal Perspective Ministries

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