Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Geography of Bliss

3.79 of 5 stars 3.79 · rating details · 12,760 ratings · 2,105 reviews

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."

Paperback, 345 pages

Published January 5th 2009 by Twelve (first published January 3rd 2008)

more details... edit details

Get a copy:

More…

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

This book is not yet featured on Listopia. Add this book to your favorite list »

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 3,000)

filter | sort: default (?) | rating details

Apr 30, 2013 Kristen rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Anyone

I laughed my way--out loud--through most of this book. It was clever, very funny, and totally enjoyable. It's written by an NPR correspondent who travels the globe searching for the place, or source, of happiness. What makes us happy, and what doesn't make us happy? It was insightful and hilarious, peppered with quotes from philosophers (from Russell to Nietzsche), scholars, and spiritual leaders.

************

Just read it again for book club and enjoyed it the second time, though I was much more...more

8 likes · like · see review

Dec 03, 2009 Trish rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: adventure, nonfiction, audio, totally-unexpected

The subtitle of this book is One Grump's Search for the Happiest Places in the World, and I am going to cut to the chase and discuss his conclusions. You're going to want to read the book anyway, to figure out how it can be true that a very unlikely country comes in first in the happiness lottery. But do get the audio of this book. The author reads it, and as an NPR commentator, talking is his trade. He is very good at it, and is as funny as David Sedaris in parts of this reading.

"Happiness is...more

8 likes · like · see review

Mar 20, 2008 Andy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction

I will admit that I was initially put off by the title of NPR correspondent Eric Weiner’s engaging, highly readable travelogue, The Geography of Bliss. That conjunction of the global and the delightful conjured visions of a frequently flying chick lit heroine named, without irony – you guessed it. Thankfully (happily?), the book’s title is a minor bump along the road to an otherwise largely satisfying read.

While the author’s self-confessed grumpiness kills any chance of a candy-colored happily e...more I will admit that I was initially put off by the title of NPR correspondent Eric Weiner’s engaging, highly readable travelogue, The Geography of Bliss. That conjunction of the global and the delightful conjured visions of a frequently flying chick lit heroine named, without irony – you guessed it. Thankfully (happily?), the book’s title is a minor bump along the road to an otherwise largely satisfying read.

While the author’s self-confessed grumpiness kills any chance of a candy-colored happily ever after, the nature of Weiner’s project insures against the opposite extreme: “What if,” Weiner writes in his introduction, “I spent a year traveling the globe, seeking out not the world’s well-trodden trouble spots but, rather, its unheralded happy places?” Candace Bushnell might not have signed up for the journey, but neither would William T. Vollmann have.

That year of traveling keeps Weiner zigzagging over an impressive swath of the Northern hemisphere, with junkets to nine countries spread across various geographic regions of Asia and Europe before return to the United States. Along the way, Weiner examines the pithy conventional wisdom on happiness – that it can’t be bought, and so on – and recent findings on the emotional state. Though Weiner hits enough global-travel clichés (a hashish bar in the Netherlands, a sex show in Thailand, an ashram in India) to make his journey recognizable, the best passages aren’t the ones that evoke place or custom but those in which the author taps locals’ minds for interpretation of their cultures’ emotional well-being. In the chapter on Switzerland, “Happiness Is Boredom,” the ongoing dialogue the author conducts with himself, his Swiss contacts and the more canonical wisdom of such thinkers as Bertrand Russell leads to these insights: the urbane Swiss owe no small part of their collective happiness to their relationship with nature, their lack of envy and ostentation to the small town-like close knitting of their social fabric. Whether or not Swiss happiness truly is boredom is another question, one whose cultural components are indirectly alluded to in the image of an ex-pat Hollywood agent nervously thumbing her Blackberry, and surprise from the Swiss that, statistically speaking, they are happy.

The further Weiner travels, geographically and culturally, the more perspicacious his book seems to become about happiness in the United States. This is partly due to the range of farther flung countries he visits. In India, though Weiner does visit that ashram and socialize among the Indian middle class, he of course glimpses that country’s endemic poverty – and concludes that, in certain fundamental ways, it is less grinding than extreme poverty in the United States, the Indian “houseless” (as Weiner refers to the indigent of India) maintaining strong social and familial ties all but unknown among the American homeless. On the other hand, the oil kingdom of Qatar is, in Weiner’s analysis, a Wahhabite Brave New World whose dry cultural well is greased with Starbucks coffee. Happiness isn’t, it seems, a reserve of iced mocha vast enough to caffeinate the world for the next hundred years.

But Weiner’s a-ha moment in an exotic country comes during a conversation with Karma Ura, who runs Bhutan’s most important think tank (which, as Weiner notes, “also happens to be Bhutan’s only think tank”). “I have achieved happiness,” Ura tells Weiner, “because I don’t have unrealistic expectations.” This perspective is so opposite Weiner’s own (“In America,” he writes, “high expectations are…the force behind our dreams and, by extension, our pursuit of happiness”) that Ura’s expounding temporarily disarms Weiner of his personal guardedness. He drops his guard to tell Ura the story of a recent visit to the hospital, scheduled by the author after be began experiencing numbness in his extremities and shortness of breath; MRI results confirmed that these symptoms were brought on by a panic attack, by hypochondria. “You need to think about death for five minutes every day,” Ura responds. “It will cure you, sanitize you.” His rationale? Human beings must be prepared for death, as most Westerners are not. Ura then reveals that he was once a cancer patient.

“Ask yourself whether you are happy and you cease to be so,” wrote John Stuart Mill. Indeed, Weiner’s findings mostly confirm the old adage about the preferability of existing as a happy Forrest Gump rather than as an unhappy Socrates. Weiner relates the story of his firing from the New York Times, which came a few weeks after the paper’s executive editor labeled his work “naïve and unsophisticated.” It is only in Iceland, where “being naïve is okay because you can always start over,” as it’s put by a relatively young music producer on his career, that Weiner finally gets over the insult. “The world, I now conclude, would be a far better place with a bit more naïveté,” writes Weiner.

But Weiner’s book suffers less from simplicity than from not treading certain paths. His travels begin in the Netherlands, with a visit to the Dutch professor who compiles the World Database of Happiness. The ostensibly scientific focus is, for all intents and purposes, mostly forgotten once the WDH has been left behind. And that’s a shame. Some of the most interesting, and promising, recent neurology research has focused on the relationship between the brain’s structure and its functioning. Could happiness be a well-wired brain? Is it possible to rewire one’s brain and thus recalibrate the happiness gauge of one’s psyche? That Weiner devotes almost no space to such questions is understandable on the one hand – it’s the geography, not the neurology, he’s after – and puzzling on the other: as Sharon Begley describes in her book Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain, neuroscientists are now beginning how meditation practice actually changes the brain’s physiology; two of the nine countries Weiner visits are predominantly Buddhist; another the birthplace of the Buddha himself. And geography, like all received stimuli, influences the way we think.

The Geography of Bliss ultimately begs larger questions about the nature of happiness. To what extent is happiness a function of culture, and vice versa? And does happiness translate easily from one culture to another? Weiner’s findings suggest a negative answer to the latter, as he admits that much of what accounts for the happiness of other cultures would be an acquired taste for most in the United States.

It’s not a giveaway to say that nowhere does Weiner find utopia. The happiness he does encounter reflects in the book itself: imperfect but charming, and as stimulating for the questions it raises as for those it answers.(less)

22 likes · like · see review

Feb 13, 2009 David rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2009

This is a late entry in the glut of “science of happiness” books that peaked a couple of years ago. The best among those books was Daniel Gilbert’s “Stumbling on Happiness” and, while this book is not without a certain charm of its own, it poses no serious threat to Gilbert’s supremacy. It might seem as if this ground has already been covered more than adequately, but Weiner is smart enough to have come up with a reasonably appealing, and effective, gimmick. Instead of just giving yet another pr...more

13 likes · like · see review

Feb 07, 2009 Jessica rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: nonfiction-geography, nonfiction

Okay, not really fair to post a review, since I'm just more than halfway through (it has to go back to the library now). But: I've read enough to know that I find the book too superficial for my taste. The author covers several countries (so far: Netherlands, Switzerland, Bhutan, Qatar), but there is nothing probing in his method. He stays a few weeks, talks to natives and to ex-pats and forms conclusions. Maybe the topic itself is irritating to me: talk enough about it, and it disappears. This...more

15 likes · like · see review

Jun 26, 2008 Jenny rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Jenny by: travelers, self-help, geography buffs

This was a very interesting book. It's about happiness, a subject that I never realized I thought about so much. Most of my thinking is subconscious, but throughout this book I kept questioning myself and trying to decide if I agreed with most of the major ideas. I did. Here's a few of the highlights:

"Extroverts are happier than introverts; optimists are happier than pessimists (shocking!); married people are happier than singles (certainly in Utah), though people with children are no happier th...more This was a very interesting book. It's about happiness, a subject that I never realized I thought about so much. Most of my thinking is subconscious, but throughout this book I kept questioning myself and trying to decide if I agreed with most of the major ideas. I did. Here's a few of the highlights:

"Extroverts are happier than introverts; optimists are happier than pessimists (shocking!); married people are happier than singles (certainly in Utah), though people with children are no happier than childless couples (surprising); Republicans are happier than Democrats (I'll have to ask Jeff about that one); people who attend religious services are happier than those who do not; people with college degrees are happier than those without, though people with advanced degrees are less happy than those with just a BA (damn that MBA); people with an active sex life are happier than those without (no comment); women and men are equally happy, though women have a wider emotional range; having an affair will make you happy but will not compensate for the massive loss of happiness that you will incur when your spouse finds out and leaves you; people are the least happy when they're commuting to work (I could have told you that); busy people are happier than those with too little to do (could have told you that too); wealthy people are happier than poor ones, but only slightly (surprising)."

Most of all this book made me want to travel. I'd love to really spend some time in different countries, and get to know the people and their culture. My brief stay in London taught me invaluable lessons (some of which shall not be named here), but one major lesson I learned was that people in foreign countries think differently. I knew they dressed differently, ate differently, talked differently, but realizing that they THOUGHT differently was an important revelation. It's made me more tolerant.

Another particular point that stood out was the concept of thinking. We certainly believe that thinking and analysis are important, but the Thais don't think so. One of their expressions is "Don't think too much." I like this concept. I know, I'm a teacher, I should encourage thinking. And I do. I think that examining ideas, literature, cultures, politics, etc. is very important. I'm grateful to my higher level math classes for helping me to think through complex topics. However, I think many of us have taken it too far. Think just a minute about Seinfeld. The show drives me crazy. I know everyone everywhere loves this show, but it just makes me tense. They spend the entire show talking about nothing, nitpicking every detail of everything. And they're miserable. You know they are. We're told that the examined life is a good life, but I think that can go too far. I'm not advocating ignorance, stupidity, or small-mindness; I'm just saying that most of what we spend our lives thinking and worrying about doesn't really matter. As a side note, they don't sell a lot of self-help books in Thailand, or England, or anywhere else really other than the U.S.

Here were Weiner's conclusions: "Money matters, but less than we think and not in the way that we think. Family is important. So are friends. Envy is toxic. So is excessive thinking. Beaches are optional. Trust is not. Neither is gratitude....Our happiness is completely and utterly intertwined with other people: family and friends and neighbors and the woman you hardly notice who cleans your office. Happiness is not a noun or a verb. It's a conjunction. Connective tissue."

I like that. I put this book down with a sigh and thought "That was a good book." I'll try not to overthink it now.(less)

16 likes · like · see review

Nov 21, 2011 Helen rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Who knew there was a World Database of Happiness (WDH)? From this startling starting point Eric Weiner (not to be confused with Anthony Weiner who found his Twitter Bliss and then found out HIs Bliss was not other's Bliss)travels the globe in search of the happiest places. He finds that the Swiss find happiness in clean toilets. In Qatar happiness is money, lots of money. With oodles of money they can buy themsleves the culture they lack. In Iceland they enjoy their misery and so on to Bhutan, T...more

1 like · like · see review

Jul 16, 2012 Ruth rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: casual fun read

Recommended to Ruth by: Book in Box/ Library

The Geography of Bliss by Eric Weiner

“My bags were packed and provisions loaded. I dragged my reluctant friend Drew along with me to find happiness…..to this day I am convinced I would have reached it….had the Baltimore Co. Police concluded that the shoulder of a major thoroughfare for a couple of 5 year olds…was too dangerous..” Having penned these words at the beginning page of his book Author Eric Weiner had me!! He took me along with him thru thousands of miles and multiple countries looking...more

1 like · like · see review

Mar 13, 2009 Helynne rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I loved American journalist Eric Weiner's dry humor as he describes his recent romp around the world researching different societies and their philosophies on happiness. During his travels to the Netherlands, Switzerland, Bhutan, Quatar (Persian Gulf), Iceland, Moldova, Thailand, India, Great Britain and finally back to the USA, he learns so much about various ethnic groups and what is and is not important to their overall contentment. My favorite chapter happened to be the visit to Iceland whe...more I loved American journalist Eric Weiner's dry humor as he describes his recent romp around the world researching different societies and their philosophies on happiness. During his travels to the Netherlands, Switzerland, Bhutan, Quatar (Persian Gulf), Iceland, Moldova, Thailand, India, Great Britain and finally back to the USA, he learns so much about various ethnic groups and what is and is not important to their overall contentment. My favorite chapter happened to be the visit to Iceland where, despite the months of neverending darkness, the people are upbeat and creative, great contributors to their culture in terms of writing and music, and fiercely proud of their language ("the pure speech of the Vikings") and identity. In short, there is a correlation between creativity and happiness. The most downbeat chapter is the discussion of Moldova, a poor country between Romania and the Ukraine, which has virtually no culture, no optimism, and no desire to reach out to make other people's lives better. The one thread that runs through this psychological study is that there is a definite link between altruism and happiness. "The part of the brain linked to altrusim is also the part linked to food and sex," Weiner notes. "We're hardwired for altruism, not just faking it (202-203). He also states that "People engaged in the highest altruistic professions--nurses, clergy, physical therapists, and firemen report the greatest happiness (211). While in Quatar, Weiner says that Jean-Paul Sartre was wrong in his famous quote from "No Exit" that "Hell is other people." He says, "Hell isn't other people. Seventy percent of our happiness rests on our relationships with other people" (114). He also notes that materialistic people are not as happy as non-materialistic people. As for us Americans, we have more money today than Americans ever have had, yet we are not as happy. The self-help movement actually makes this worse "by telling us that happiness lives inside of us just when we should be looking outward; not to money, but to other people, to commmunity and to the human bonds that so clearly are the sources of happiness" (310). Lots to be learned here from a cultural and psychological point of view!(less)

5 likes · like · see review

Dec 17, 2011 Jenny rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This guy is a journalist who usually covers the tragedies of life. He decided to go in search of what and where happiness is. So far it is delightful and entertaining. I find his observations to be spot-on. (Who doesn't find it funny that the Swiss have zero sense of humor but rate themselves as happy?) It helps my love of the book that he starts his search in Europe because I love that place!

This was a very worthwhile book. I enjoyed his humor and his travels. He includes interviews with locals...more

1 like · like · see review

Dec 15, 2008 sal rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I want to be Eric Weiner and travel the world and talk to people and learn about happiness and learn about culture (and lack there of) and learn about ... everything.
I don't want this book to end, I love it so much. And that's saying something, considering it's nonfiction.
-----------------------------------------------------

I am contemplating buying 10 or so copies of this book, wrapping them with a ribbon, and passing them out to people I encounter as an altruistic Christmas present. I think t...more

8 likes · like · see review

Jan 21, 2013 Christina Buckman rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A book everyone should read. It's not sappy, lame or filled with useless information. It's not the kind of book where for ten minutes I feel awesome and then forget about it. It's a re-evaluation of happiness. Happiness is transient and complicated. It's fleeting, yet in our field of vision at all times. If I may use such a cliché, this is a profound study of what makes us happy; and right now, it's a cup of coffee and my dog. That's all I need at this very moment. Who knows what it will be in t...more

2 likes · like · see review

Jul 31, 2008 Ken rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is a gem of spiritual/travel book that informs while keeping us smiling. Weiner seems to cover all aspects of the happiness question including even those that are at the other end of the spectrum (no, not Iraq). Although his tone is comfortably conversational, there is lots to sink your teeth into here. So you can read this book for the pure fun of it or to gain a greater understanding of what we may be missing here in America (apparently we rank fairly low on happiness scale). Either way,...more

2 likes · like · see review

May 05, 2008 Annie rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: travel, memoir

Granted, I read this book right after Tales of a Female Nomad, but I spent most of the travels wondering when this author would actually connect with the people he was trying to figure out. Now granted, he kept falling back on the "but I'm a journalist, so naturally I can't too connected," excuse, but frankly it got old. I guess if I was supposed to read it as a lay-person's explanation of the science of happiness that's been more and more popular lately instead of his actual search for happines...more

2 likes · like · see review

Apr 08, 2008 Tina rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction

I really liked this; in fact, it might have gotten five stars if not for the fact that the author rubbed me the wrong way a few times with his sweeping generalizations. The book is supposed to be funny (and it is, a lot of the time) and so I understand the generalizations are mostly there to get laughs, but sometimes they struck me as rather prejudiced, and that was annoying.

Overall, though, I really enjoyed this book and feel happier for having read it. I think the title is misleadingly sappy,...more

1 like · like · see review

Feb 10, 2008 Leanna rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Eric Weiner’s book The Geography of Bliss addresses a question that has been uppermost in my mind for many months. Can geography influence one’s level of happiness?

Although the premise of Weiner’s book, studying the influence of geography on happiness, sounds scientific, Bliss is much more a personal narrative or travelogue than scientific treatise.

That is not to say that Weiner, a correspondent for NPR, has not thoroughly researched the topic—he has—but the tone of the book is far from the neut...more

2 likes · like · see review

Aug 18, 2008 Sarah Sammis rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: released

Inspired by research done in the Netherlands on the World Database of Happiness (page 7), NPR correspondent and self proclaimed grump Eric Weiner decided to travel to the happiest countries in the world to see if he could figure out the secret of happiness.

Weiner's tour included The Netherlands, Switzerland, Bhutan, Qatar, Iceland, Moldova, Thailand, Great Britain, India and home to the United States (Florida). Like so many recent travelogues the book quickly stops being about the research and...more

2 likes · like · see review

Mar 19, 2008 Hilda rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Hilda by: Michelle

I really enjoyed "The Geography of Bliss" by Eric Weiner. In the book Weiner, an NPR correspondent, travels across the world to understand why people are happy or unhappy. In the process he ponders on his own happiness or lack thereof. You will do the same when you read it.

Far from a dry, scholarly sociology study, the book is totally readable and at times very, very funny. In addition to the "happiness studies" we learn a little history and a lot of culture about the various countries. We also...more

4 likes · like · see review

Apr 21, 2011 Adria rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I have long pondered the questions "Am I happy?" and "What exactly is happiness?", so when I saw this book on the shelf at the soon-to-be-bankrupt Border's in San Francisco, I recognized the opportunity to read another's perspective. The connection between place and happiness, I am convinced, is true, though I was extremely happy in Romania, neighbor of the unhappy Moldova, which Mr. Weiner visits and deems a miserable place indeed. So who knows? Maybe happiness is just accepting your life as it...more

1 like · like · see review

Nov 21, 2008 Theresa rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: people who love to travel

Shelves: travel

Mix of psychology, spirituality, and travel, Weiner writes an enjoyable and light journey around the world. I read this while on a plane going to and coming back from a trip, and I really enjoyed myself. I tried not to laugh out loud too much on the plane, but I find Weiner's honest and often-pessimistic humor quite chuckle-worthy. Perhaps people might find fault in expecting too much from this book: Weiner is an NPR correspondent of foreign affairs (or something or other) and the quest he sets...more

2 likes · like · see review

Jul 29, 2009 GoldenjoyBazyll rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: travel

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...more

2 likes · like · see review

Apr 28, 2008 Turi rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: microhistory, immersion-journalism, travel

The Geography of Bliss wasn't quite what I expected. I picked it up because one of the blurbs on the back compared it favorably to Bill Bryson's writing, and I was in a mood to laugh. Didn't make me laugh more than a few chuckles, but it did make me think.

Eric Weiner travels around the world, exploring the concept of "happy places," places where the inhabitants are considered "happy." He hits some places that are supposed to be among the happiest, like Denmark and Bhutan, and some on the other e...more

2 likes · like · see review

Feb 25, 2008 Alexander rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: everyone, travellers

If you've ever contemplated happiness, this book will put into words a lot of what you've probably been thinking about. There's a lot of paradoxes and ironies which keep the book fascinating (e.g., cold weather can actually promote happiness, darkness can promote happiness, less taxes can actually decrease happiness, etc.).

Eric Weiner's 10 year journey around the world is enlightening and enjoyable (his style is very entertaining).

If you're fascinated by cultural comparisons , country by country...more

3 likes · like · see review

May 18, 2012 Sve rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Един журналист обикаля по света в търсене на отговора какво прави хората щастливи. И достига до някои очевадни истини като например че завистта е враг на щастието, че ако започнеш да мислиш много много за щастието, то намалява и че не се купува с пари. Може би най-големия извод от книгата е, че щастието е различно за всеки и няма универсална формула.
Книжката е приятна и не особено задълбочена, има някои свежи опити за хумор и съм склонна да простя на автора и някои откровено повърхностни комента...more

1 like · like · see review

Mar 02, 2008 Ash rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: women, travelers, wanderers, young adults

Recommended to Ash by: NPR, The New York Times

Shelves: diy-and-green

I wanted to love this book, it is all about how places change us and can be instrumental in making us happy or sad. These are all things I am fascinated by and the book left me a little... underwhelmed.

I liked this book, I didn't love it. I'd recommend it for a quick read (I got through it in about a day and a half) on vacation but if you're looking for a real travel book and/or self-discovery book there are others that are better. It certainly made me want to travel and evoked place very well,...more

1 like · like · see review

Mar 15, 2009 Bettie rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: room-101

What's the chances of this - three raspberries in a row!

How can the only stop in Holland be Rotterdam to give an anaylsis that the Netherlands is not where you would find bliss!

Meh.

5 likes · like · see review

Jun 09, 2013 Hilda Espinal rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I enjoyed this book very much. It got somewhat repetitive towards the end, but for an explorer like me (As an unforgettable Lebanese called me) it was still interesting. Money matters, but less than we think. Family is important. So are friends. Envy is toxic, so is excessive thinking (Mai Pen Lai!) Beaches are optional. TRUST IS NOT. Neither is gratitude. As for geography, "paradise" is a moving target....where is my PTO, passport once again is burning a hole in my desk drawer. :) Looking forwa...more

1 like · like · see review

Feb 26, 2009 Heather rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I've almost finished it. It's enjoyable and moves quickly. I find the research studies and quotes from "happiness experts" more interesting than his personal stories but his personal stories play a necessary role in creating the context for the research.

Some of my favorite ideas included in the book: In 1973, King Wangchuk of Bhutan responded to the Western idea of "GNP" (Gross National Product) with "GNP" (Gross National Happiness), demanding that all government decisions be based on the degre...more

1 like · like · see review

Jan 01, 2009 Judy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Eric Weiner admits that he is gumpy and decided to spend a year traveling the world looking for places where the population is happy. It turns out that happiness studies are becoming more commonplace and Weiner is able to come up with a ranking of nations from most happy to least happy (The U.S. comes in 23rd). This is an interesting book which looks at the factors that make us happy--always given that happiness is a highly personal state of being. The author finds that the usual suspects--money...more

like · see review

Dec 02, 2008 Anita rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: everyone, especially people who travel

Recommended to Anita by: book group

This is an engaging "travelogue" through eight countries searching for the essence of "happiness."
Eric Weiner is an NPR correspondent who claims he's a natural
grump who travels to Iceland, Switzerland, Qatar, India, Thailand, Bhutan, Moldavia, Britain and America. What makes Icelanders so creative? What is culture and what countries have more of it than others?

Weiner's wry sense of humor and insights into human nature and culture make this an enjoyable and memorable book. It's a bit along the l...more

like · see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … 99 100 next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

topics	posts	views	last activity
Almost Fearless: ...: March 2013: The Geography of Bliss	40	71	May 28, 2013 02:59pm
Based on this book, which countries would you most like to visit?	23	78	May 20, 2013 05:56pm
The Reader's Den	1	30	Oct 05, 2009 09:16am
Books I Want To T...: General Discussion - Geography of Bliss	0	16	May 26, 2008 04:38pm

combine
Other Editions (23)

More editions...

Genres

Non Fiction

544 users

Travel

421 users

Book Club

102 users

Autobiography > Memoir

66 users

Psychology

48 users

Humor

37 users

Philosophy

26 users

Sociology

25 users

Adult

17 users

Culture

15 users

See top shelves...

Readers also enjoyed similar books

About Eric Weiner

FOR as long as he can remember Eric Weiner wanted to be a foreign correspondent. So he could hardly believe his good fortune when, one day in 1993, NPR dispatched him to India as the network's first full-time correspondent in that country. Weiner spent two of the best years of his life based in New Delhi, covering everything from an outbreak of bubonic plague to India's economic reforms, before mo...more

More about Eric Weiner...

Books by Eric Weiner

Man Seeks God: My Flirtations with the Divine

Little Star (Dora the Explorer 8x8 (Sagebrush))

Steer Clear of Haunted Hill (Ghostwriter)

More…

Share This Book

Facebook Twitter Your website

Trivia About The Geography of ...

1 trivia question

More quizzes & trivia...

Quotes from The Geography of Bliss...

“Money matters but less than we think and not in the way that we think. Family is important. So are friends. Envy is toxic. So is excessive thinking. Beaches are optional. Trust is not. Neither is gratitude.” — 87 people liked it

“So the greatest source of happiness is other people- and what does money do? It isolates us from other people. It enables us to build walls, literal and figurative, around ourselves. We move from a teeming college dorm to an apartment to a house, and if we're really wealthy, to an estate. We think we're moving up, but really we're walling off ourselves.” — 31 people liked it

More quotes…

title link	preview: Geography of Bliss
avg rating	preview: Geography of Bliss Goodreads rating: 3.79 (12760 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3307582-geography-of-bliss?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1278673914l/3307582.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3307582-geography-of-bliss?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Geography of Bliss by Eric Weiner[/url]

Geography of Bliss

Friend Reviews

Community Reviews

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website