About this title: Part foreign affairs discourse, part humor, and part twisted self-help guide, The Geography of Bliss takes us from America to Iceland to India in search of happiness. Using a beguiling mixture of travel, psychology, science and humor, Eric Weiner investigates not what happiness is, but where it is. Are people in Switzerland happier because it is ...
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Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: PAPERBACK
Publisher: Black Swan
Date Published: 2008
ISBN-13:9780552775083ISBN:0552775088
Description: Fair. Paperback, larger format, a good reading copy. Cover image is a stock image and may vary. Your book will be securely packed and promptly dispatched from our UK warehouse. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: TRANSWORLD PUBLISHERS LTD Country = UNITED KINGDOM
Date Published: 2008
ISBN-13:9780552775083ISBN:0552775088
Description: BRAND NEW PAPERBACK. 416 pages. What makes a nation happy? is one country's sense of happiness the same as another's? this travel book evaluates each country's different sense of happiness. it shows how the author in his quest to find the world's happiest places, eats rotten icelandic shark, meditates in bangalore, and drinks himself into a stupor in reykjavik. (Paperback) read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Twelve
Date Published: 2008-01-03
ISBN-13:9780446580267ISBN:0446580260
Description: Very Good. Book will be packaged with care for a safe journey! *** 13 Years of online selling experience! ! **** Customer satisfaction guaranteed! read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Twelve
Date Published: 2008
ISBN-13:9780446580267ISBN:0446580260
Description: Good. Used item may show library stamps, stickers and marks. Buy with confidence-your satisfaction is guaranteed at B-Logistics! Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. Please note that Expedited shipping is not available at this time. read more
Description: Good. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Very Good. Great condition for a used book! Minimal wear. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Twelve
Date Published: 2009-01-05
ISBN-13:9780446698894ISBN:044669889X
Description: New. Pre-release ARC book with same cover and publisher stickers. New, unread, unused & in perfect condition with no damaged or missing pages. Great Copy. Ships Lightning Fast. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Twelve
Date Published: 2008-01-03
ISBN-13:9780446580267ISBN:0446580260
Description: Very Good. New York: Twelve, 2008. Third printing. Hardcover. 329 pp. Near fine, in near fine unclipped dust jacket. Tiny bump at lower front corner. Two light indentations to back of jacket. An almost new copy. read more
Description: New. 1600242588 SATISFACTION GUARANTEED! NEW Book! May have remainder mark. Most orders ship within 1 BUSINESS DAY with ORDER CONFIRMATION. Great Book at a Great Value! read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Twelve
Date Published: 2009
ISBN-13:9780446698894ISBN:044669889X
Description: New, Publisher overstock, may have small remainder mark. Excellent condition, never read, purchased from publisher as excess inventory. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Twelve
Date Published: 2009
ISBN-13:9780446698894ISBN:044669889X
Description: New, Publisher overstock, may have small remainder mark. Excellent condition, never read, purchased from publisher as excess inventory. read more
Description: Good. 1600242588 BOOK IS IN VERY GOOD CONDITION, SOME READER WEAR AND SHELF WEAR, PLEASE EMAIL IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS BOOK. MAY HAVE WRITING OR HIGHLIGHTING, read more
"Why do some places have a higher happiness index? Eric Weiner travels to a number of detsinations named as happy places in the world in search. Is democracy the answer??? Money????? Personally, as my dear friend Sandy always says and I like to believe... "as you think so shall you be." Whatever floats your boat, no???? Seems to me that if we can accept our lives and look for the magical moments each day.... we can find a place of happiness. Yeah... winning the lottery could be awesome however- I never did that so I have no idea of what could come along with the cash. This reader will keep cleansing her house from negative energy with sage.... laughing as much as she can, and doing what she loves to do when she is not doing what she has to do. Distpite where I am standing on the globe...I am positive happiness and a fairly high degree of joy will be my shadow."
"The NPR correspondent goes around the world, travelling to the places considered the happiest to discover their collective secrets. We often relate our happiness to our geography, and he seeks to find out if this has any truth to it. "With our words, we subconsciously conflate geography and happiness. We speak of searching for happiness, of finding contentment, as if these were locations in an atlas, actual places that we could visit if only we had the proper map and the right navigational skills. Anyone who has taken a vacation to, say, some Caribbean island and had flash through their mind the uninvited thought, 'I could be happy here' knows what I mean."
He travels to the Netherlands where happiness is being researched scientifically, to Switzerland where shear boredom and cleanliness seems to be the answer to the world's purported happiest people, to Bhutan where happiness is a government goal and mandate. In Qatar he finds folks who think money can buy anything, including happiness, to Iceland - the happiness of failure, and in Thailand where happiness is just plain not thinking about it. In Moldova he finds the concept that happiness is always somewhere else, and in the US where it is in the place you consider home.
I laughed outloud three times while reading just the opening page. Weiner's descriptions are so good, I was brought back to the places I've been, and felt a huge since of desire for the places I haven't seen yet. Except for Moldova. Moldova is the one place he visited that isn't happy. They are described as the unhappiest people in the world. Their reasoning is that they don't have enough money. But as Weiner viewed in Bhutan, money isn't as important as a strong sense of culture and belonging. 90% of Bhutanese that have a chance to study in the US or Britain return to their home country, even though there is virtually no economy there. (To which an American tourist commented, "well, why would they do that.") The real reason Weiner encounters for unhappiness is a lack of trust and true friendships, two qualities that are belittled as weakness in Moldova.
Overall, I just found this to be an intensely enjoyable book."
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