Life in Three Dimensions

How Curiosity, Exploration, and Experience Make a Fuller, Better Life

By: Shigehiro Oishi

Narrated by: Brian Nishii

Length: 8 hrs

Publisher's summary

From one of our foremost psychologists, a trailblazing book that turns the idea of a good life on its head and urges us to embrace the transformative power of variety and experience

For many people, a good life is a stable life, a comfortable life that follows a well-trodden path. This is the case for Shigehiro Oishi's father, who has lived in a small mountain town in Japan for his entire life, putting his family's needs above his own, like his father and grandfather before him. But is a happy life, or even a meaningful life, the only path to a good life?

In Life in Three Dimensions, Shige Oishi enters into a debate that has animated psychology since 1984, when Ed Diener (Oishi's mentor) published a paper that launched happiness studies. A rival followed in 1989 with a model of a good life that focused on purpose and meaning instead. In recent years, Shige Oishi's award-winning work has proposed a third dimension to a good life: psychological richness, a concept that prioritizes curiosity, exploration, and a variety of experiences that help us grow as people.

Life in Three Dimensions explores the shortcomings of happiness and meaning as guides to a good life, pointing to complacency and regret as a "happiness trap" and narrowness and misplaced loyalty as a “meaning trap.” Psychological richness, Oishi proposes, balances the other two, offering insight and growth spurred by embracing uncertainty and challenges.

In a lively style, drawing on a generation of psychological studies and on examples from famous people, books and film, Oishi introduces a new path to a fuller, more satisfying life with fewer regrets.

©2025 Shigehiro Oishi (P)2025 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"Many people want more out of life than happiness. They want to embrace life in all its variety and possibility. They want their lives to be great stories, or great journeys, with twists and turns, ups and downs, and many kinds of beauty along the way. Until now, psychology has had little to offer such people, who had to turn to romantic writers from across the centuries to find guidance and kindred spirits. Not any more. Life in Three Dimensions will give you new insights into the many ways to live well, including advice on how to pick the one most likely to be right for you."—Jonathan Haidt, Thomas Cooley Professor of Ethical Leadership, NYU-Stern School of Business and author of New York Times bestselling The Anxious Generation and The Righteous Mind

“No one knows more about the science of well-being than Shigehiro Oishi. In this wonderful new book he shares a lifetime of discovery about what it means to live a good life. Life in Three Dimensions is insightful, original, and wise.”—Daniel Gilbert, Edgar Pierce Professor of Psychology, Harvard University and author of the New York Times bestselling Stumbling on Happiness

"With a new book on happiness and meaning hitting the market seemingly every other week, it’s hard to stand out in this crowded field. Yet, that’s precisely what Shigehiro Oishi, one of psychology’s brightest stars, has managed to do in his compellingly written, refreshingly original and provocative new book. Life in Three Dimensions will change the way you think about what it means to lead a good life."—Ethan Kross, international bestselling author of Chatter