My introduction to Mr. Russell, and I will be reading more of his work. True to its title, Russell's book is a guide to the perplexed who ask, "Why can't I be happy?" Divided into two sections - firstly, why people who are unhappy are unhappy, and secondly, why people who are happy are. The former is stronger than the latter. Mainly common sense, but oh how difficult to change the habits which lead to unhappiness! Readers should also note that this work was originally written in the late 1920s (copyright date 1930), and Russell was definitely a man of his time, with comments about race (he spends several pages at one point discussing the declining birth rate among "the white races" with it clearly being seen by him as a problem) and gender roles which would be shocking to read if not seen in context of the time. Despite these shortcomings, Russell has something worthwhile to say here, and I would recommend it to anyone, with the caveat that you may want to hurl the book across the room at times.