Every day, we have to make hundreds of choices, if not more. One of the most important ones we make is at the beginning of every day. We must choose our disposition. We can choose to be happy, or we can choose to be miserable.

Researchers have proven time and again that those who choose happiness tend to live healthier, more successful, and overall better lives. The Happiness Advantage is one of my favorite books that examines this correlation.

For most of us, we have to make a conscience decision to be happy. It is not something that comes naturally. But what if we could make happiness our default operating condition? Dr. Rick Hanson explores how one can achieve this state in the book Hardwiring Happiness: The New Brain Science of Contentment, Calm, and Confidence.

I’ve read a few Ryan Holiday books including Stillness Is the Key, Ego Is the Enemy, and Trust Me I’m Lying, which is one of my personal favorites. I also read The Daily Stoic, which inspired me to sign-up to both of his daily newsletters – Daily Stoic and Daily Dad.

It was through Daily Dad that I learned about The Road by Cormac McCarthy. Holiday has made numerous references to the book in the newsletter, so I figured it would be worth adding to my reading list.

At our core, I feel like humans are natural explorers. That nature led our ancestors to spread across the face of the Earth. It drove our desire to visit the moon. And it is currently driving us to explore Mars.

There are all sorts of reasons why we might want to live on Mars, but curiosity is probably the biggest. People just want to know what it would be like. It’s a blank slate, a new opportunity.

However, there are some big questions that need to be answered before a human sets foot on Mars. In fact, there are a lot of questions and issues that need to be addressed before someone even attempts the trip. It’s those questions and issues that Stephen Petranek explores in How We’ll Live on Mars.