Martin Seligman’s work as a research psychologist has always been accessible and useful. His early work in behavior identified how depression is related to a pattern of helplessness. That we learn helplessness, and experience this as depression.

His subsequent work shifted from understanding how we learn to be depressed to researching how we might learn to be happy. This exploration fueled the advancement of the field of positive psychology.

Seligman’s current focus is on human character, in particular, what are the aspects of wisdom and how can psychologists help us attain it.

Authentic Happiness: Using the New Positive Psychology to Realize Your Potential for Lasting Fulfillment, was Seligman’s original book on positive emotions and positive psychology. After decades of studying depression, Martin Seligman had an epiphany — all this work had left him depressed. So, he turned his eyes towards how to be happy, and in the process created the field of positive psychology.

In Flourish: A Visionary New Understanding of Happiness and Well-being, Seligman acknowledges that the initial focus in Positive Psychology on Happiness was overly narrow. Happiness in itself does not result in well-being. This 2012 book adds additional dimensions to happiness and positive emotions as necessary elements for flourishing: engagement, meaning, positive relationships, accomplishment.

Character Strengths and Virtues: A Handbook and Classification is a key piece of Seligman’s effort to chronicle what it takes to Flourish. Specifically, he and his coauthors analyzed the composition of wisdom, virtue, and character. This academic text sets basic categories and definitions of human character that have generally not been the focus of traditional psychological research. The promise of this text is that systematic research in this area will be furthered by having systematic categorization of the components of character. This book is good for all who wish understand what constitutes Character.