Geography of Bliss - Softcover

Weiner Eric

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0552775088 ISBN 13: 9780552775083

Publisher: BLACK SWAN, 2008

Synopsis

What makes a nation happy? Is one country's sense of happiness the same as another's? In the last two decades, psychologists and economists have learned a lot about who's happy and who isn't. The Dutch are, the Romanians aren't, and Americans are somewhere in between...After years of going to the world's least happy countries, Eric Weiner, a veteran foreign correspondent, decided to travel and evaluate each country's different sense of happiness and discover the nation that seemed happiest of all.Eric Weiner discovers the relationship between money and happiness in tiny and extremely wealthy Qatar (and it's not a good one). He goes to Thailand, and finds that not thinking is a contented way of life. He goes to the tiny Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, and discovers they have an official policy of Gross National Happiness! He asks himself why the British don't do happiness? In Weiner's quest to find the world's happiest places, he eats rotten Icelandic shark, meditates in Bangalore, visits strip clubs in Bangkok and drinks himself into a stupor in Reykjavik. Full of inspired moments, "The Geography of Bliss" accomplishes a feat few travel books dare and even fewer achieve: to make you happier.

About this title

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.

From AudioFile:

Foreign journalist Eric Weiner, tired of bearing so much bad news for National Public Radio, visits 10 nations around the world to learn what makes their citizens happy. He's an appealing narrator--clear voiced and good natured--and he can tell a good story. The understated chumminess in his voice is a perfect vehicle for his wry observations, well-disguised self-deprecation, and ultra-smooth writing skills. Weiner's stories and observations warm the heart but also deliver a satisfying supply of his abundant wit, big-city perspective, and generous appreciation of the human condition. More literary than scientific and free from any pretense of inspiration, this production offers time well spent with a nuanced thinker and a relaxing account of the large and small experiences that make people everywhere so interesting. T.W. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine

About this edition

• Publisher: BLACK SWAN
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0552775088
• ISBN 13: 9780552775083
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 416