Happiness is in the news. Everywhere you look, there are blogs, websites, and videos about how to be happy. Colleges and universities are designing courses and research projects about happiness. It's a subject at professional conferences where presentations focus on new scientific studies. Meanwhile, the media pursues any new angle on the popular subject.

All this attention has shown that many factors contribute to happiness. Many people, however, insist on seeing it only in material terms; s/he is happy who has the most toys and perks. Even worse are those who have cynically given up on the whole happiness quest as a waste of time and energy.

In the books and films we cover at Spirituality & Practice, we look for evidence of the spiritual nature of happiness. Here, we have chosen 12 books and 12 DVDs that offer a multidimensional understanding of its sources and effects.