Modern World Has Robbed Us of the Simple Joys in Life

It all sounds so achingly obvious. Our houses are too big, our jobs are too far away and our neighbors are strangers.

It's no wonder the men and women of this generation are less happy than their parents.

Indeed, all the extra stuff we buy, the dozens of cable channels we sample and the entertainment gadgets we program to our micro-niche interests can't make us as happy as people in other parts of the world with far less.

That's the bleak but not hopeless vision offered by environmentalist Bill McKibben in his 2007 best-seller, "Deep Economy."