If your mum loves reading, has a sense of humour and enjoys the classic Ladybird book series, this little gift is a winner for Mother's Day

A brilliant book that thoroughly explains an all-natural approach to planned pregnancy and birth control. Straightforward and unbiased information on achieving pregnancy and tips for an effective, chemical-free method of contraception.

a bible for many women trying to conceive

Ruth Whippman is my new favorite cultural critic, and her book was such a joy to read that I temporarily forgot about all my neuroses. It’s a shrewd, hilarious analysis of why a country obsessed with happiness is so darn unhappy.

A smart, insightful and at times hilarious critique of America's booking "Happiness industry" ... You might not end up happy but you'll be glad you read it.

Those wanting to understand the complex reality of our personal quest for happiness might usefully turn to Ruth Whippman’s The Pursuit of Happiness – the lively memoir of a British journalist in California, on the hunt for that elusive but, as she sees it, increasingly sought-after, American ideal of happiness … Whippman – whose narrative voice is an unlikely mix of Kathy Lette’s and Louis Theroux’s – has followed her husband to Silicon Valley to start a new life … Whippman argues persuasively that happiness is something that emerges from the quality of relationships we have with others … The Pursuit of Happiness also sheds light on the link between religion and happiness.

She writes with a light touch ... Her conclusions are amusing and offer a useful commentary on this age of materialism and gloating.

Wry and often hilarious … Whippman takes readers on an engaging and perceptive personal romp through the $10 billion happiness industry, and, along the way, shreds much of the 'science' that happiness is both an individual responsibility and a solo endeavour. A great - and important – read.

Ruth Whippman manages the trick of being funny about what is, deep down, a serious problem

If you're on a quest for happiness, you want to start with buying this book. Wit, wisdom, and the kind of analysis only a Brit could bring to the topics of anxiety and contentment ... I laughed my way through it.

With insight and intellect, Whippman brings a fresh perspective to American culture that is almost impossible to find in today’s positivity-at-all-costs ethos ... a vibrant, hilarious, necessary book.

Ruth Whippman cuts to the heart of America's obsession with happiness - and the strange and wonderful things we do to obtain it ... a funny, timely book that everyone should read

For anyone who has fallen prey to a book promising the secret of a happy life, and then failed to feel any happier, THIS book, by Whippman, might just provide the answers you didn't even know you were seeking.

So well-written and witty, you won’t notice that Whippman is delivering a devastating verdict on positive psychology as pseudoscience.

Ruth Whippman captures the absurdity of our late capitalist moment with sharp, insightful prose and a wicked sense of humor that makes every single page a pure joy to read. The Pursuit of Happiness not only entertains without fail, but it also offers a wealth of devastating insights into how our culture demands happiness of us in ways that only seem to make us miserable ... I don't think I've enjoyed cultural observations this much since David Foster Wallace's A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again. Reading this book is like touring America with a scary-smart friend who can't stop elbowing you in the ribs and saying, "Are you seeing what I'm seeing?!" If you want to understand why our culture incites pure dread and alienation in so many of us (often without always recognizing it), read this book.