For an in-depth study of all things happy, check out this entry on “Pleasure” from the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. While it isn’t exactly what most people would call light reading, the entry is a fascinating and comprehensive discussion of pleasure and happiness.  You will find a multitude of philosophies regarding what pleasure and happiness truly mean to the human experience we all share.

Pleasure, in the inclusive usages most important in moral psychology, ethical theory, and the studies of mind, includes all joy and gladness — all our feeling good, or happy…