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The Geography of Bliss: One Grump's Search for the Happiest Places in the World
by Eric Weiner
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About This Book
ISBN13: 9780446580267 |
Powells.com Staff Pick
Eric Weiner takes an entertaining romp around the world in search of geographical happiness, and I was willingly taken along for the ride. His self-professed
Eeyore-centric take on the world and his grumpy wit made his discourse all the more fun. Highly recommended.
Recommended by Danielle, Powells.com
Review-a-Day (What is Review-a-Day?)
"From the Persian Gulf to the Arctic Circle, Weiner discovers that happiness blooms where we least expect it. Who knew that the long, dark Icelandic winter gives rise to a magical, communal culture that has done away with envy and sobriety? Or that the Thais so prize "fun" that their government has created a Gross Domestic Happiness Index...? Or that Moldovans are miserable...? Or that the wealthy citizens of Qatar lead pampered, joyless lives..." Daniel Gilbert, Washington Post Book World (read the entire Washington Post Book World review)
Synopses & Reviews
Publisher Comments:
Part foreign affairs discourse, part humor, and part twisted self-help guide, The Geography of Bliss takes the reader from America to Iceland to India in search of happiness, or, in the crabby author's case, moments of "un-unhappiness." The book uses a beguiling mixture of travel, psychology, science and humor to investigate not what happiness is, but where it is.
- Are people in Switzerland happier because it is the most democratic country in the world?
- Do citizens of Singapore benefit psychologically by having their options limited by the government?
- Is the King of Bhutan a visionary for his initiative to calculate Gross National Happiness?
- Why is Asheville, North Carolina so damn happy?
Review:
"Fortified with Eeyoreish fatalism — 'I'm already unhappy. I have nothing to lose' — Weiner set out on a yearlong quest to find the world's 'unheralded happy places.' Having worked for years as an NPR foreign correspondent, he'd gone to many obscure spots, but usually to report bad news or terrible tragedies. Now he'd travel to countries like Iceland, Bhutan, Qatar, Holland, Switzerland, Thailand and India to try to figure out why residents tell 'positive psychology' researchers that they're actually quite happy. At his first stop, Rotterdam's World Database of Happiness, Weiner is confronted with a few inconvenient truths. Contrary to expectations, neither greater social equality nor greater cultural diversity is associated with greater happiness. Iceland and Denmark are very homogeneous, but very happy; Qatar is extremely wealthy, but Weiner, at least, found it rather depressing. He wasn't too fond of the Swiss, either, uncomfortable with their 'quiet satisfaction, tinged with just a trace of smugness.' In the end, he realized happiness isn't about economics or geography. Maybe it's not even personal so much as 'relational.' In the end, Weiner's travel tales — eating rotten shark meat in Iceland, smoking hashish in Rotterdam, trying to meditate at an Indian ashram — provide great happiness for his readers." Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)
Review:
"In the last two decades, psychologists and economists have learned a lot about happiness, including who's happy and who isn't. The Dutch are, the Romanians aren't, and Americans are somewhere in between. Eric Weiner — a peripatetic journalist and self-proclaimed grump — wanted to know why. So with science as his compass, he spent a year visiting the world's most and least happy places, and the result..." Washington Post Book Review (read the entire Washington Post review)
Review:
"Part travelogue, part personal-discovery memoir and all sustained delight, this wise, witty ramble reads like Paul Theroux channeling David Sedaris on a particularly good day...Fresh and beguiling." Kirkus Reviews
Review:
"Weiner's travel tales — eating rotten shark meat in Iceland, smoking hashish in Rotterdam, trying to meditate at an Indian ashram — provide great happiness for his readers." School Library Journal
About the Author
Eric Weiner, an award-winning foreign correspondent for NPR and a former reporter for the New York Times, has written stories from more than three dozen countries, including Iraq, Afghanistan, and Indonesia. His commentary has appeared in The New Republic, The International Herald Tribune, and The Los Angeles Times, and he writes the popular "How They Do It" column for Slate. He has lived in New Delhi, Jerusalem and Tokyo.
What Our Readers Are Saying
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Average customer rating based on 1 comment:
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Bridget Colontonio, February 20, 2008 (view all comments by Bridget Colontonio)
Eric Weiner wrote this book to make us happier, and he succeeded. A self-described “mope”, he embarks on a journey to find some of the world’s happiest places, and perhaps more importantly, to find out why they are so happy. A longtime foreign correspondent for National Public Radio, he has seen and reported his share of adversities and misfortunes. But now he wants to explore the flip side of all this misery.
His quest begins in The Netherlands, at a place called, the World Database of Happiness located in Rotterdam. Here, he learns many trivial facts about happiness, but he doesn’t get any closer to the answer to his burning question, who and where are the happiest people and why? From here, he heads out to nine different countries in search of the answer. Along the way, he meets a variety of interesting, unforgettable, and yes, happy people. From each of them he takes away what happiness (and unhappiness) means to them despite their global positioning. Upon his return to America, he recalls the many anecdotes told to him about what makes a person or a place happy, and he comes to a certain conclusion, and possibly, the answer to his burning question.
Eric Weiner has revealed to us that happiness can be measured in many different ways in several different countries by religion, culture, and even politics. And we’re all in search of happiness, yet we tend to forget that it sometimes comes with a price, perhaps not always monetarily, yet an expense nonetheless. So was it worth the search? Find out by reading The Geography of Bliss and you decide wherein happiness lies.
Also, if you read this witty, insightful book, you must visit the author’s website at www.ericweinerbooks.com. Here you will be able to enjoy a slideshow of the photos of Eric’s incredible journey in the search for happiness.
Product Details
- ISBN:
- 9780446580267
- Subtitle:
- One Grump's Search for the Happiest Places in the World
- Author:
- Author:
- Publisher:
- Twelve
- Subject:
- General
- Subject:
- Voyages and travels
- Subject:
- Weiner, Eric
- Subject:
- Essays & Travelogues
- Publication Date:
- January 2008
- Binding:
- Hardcover
- Language:
- English
- Pages:
- 329
- Dimensions:
- 9.24x6.36x1.19 in. 1.21 lbs.
