Radio Shangri-La: What I Learned in Bhutan, the Happiest Kingdom on Earth

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

Radio Shangri-La: What I Learned in Bhutan, the Happiest Kingdom on Earth

by Lisa Napoli (Goodreads Author)

3.37 of 5 stars 3.37 · rating details · 834 ratings · 249 reviews

Lisa Napoli was in the grip of a crisis, dissatisfied with her life and her work as a radio journalist. When a chance encounter with a handsome stranger presented her with an opportunity to move halfway around the world, Lisa left behind cosmopolitan Los Angeles for a new adventure in the ancient Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan—said to be one of the happiest places on earth.

Lo...more

Hardcover, 304 pages

Published February 8th 2011 by Crown (first published 2010)

more details... edit details

Get a copy:

Friend Reviews

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

Lists with This Book

City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare

What Should I Read in 2011?

228th out of 564 books — 751 voters

Best Orientalist Literature

15th out of 34 books — 37 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 2,297)

filter | sort: default (?) | rating details

Feb 23, 2012 Sandi marked it as lemmed

Shelves: first-reads, non-fiction

I entered two giveaways for this book, one through FirstReads and one from the publisher's website. I won the FirstReads one and am hoping I don't end up with two. Isn't this title terrific?

After reading the 20 page introduction and the first 3 chapters, I decided that this just isn't my kind of book. I got suckered in by a terrific title and great cover. The blurb sounded pretty good too. However, I'm just not that into memoirs about middle-aged women (of which I am one) who feel a need to zip...more

8 likes · like · see review

May 19, 2011 Stephanie rated it 3 of 5 stars

I was wary of this one, but I'm not about to turn down a new book about Bhutan!

Travel memoirs are tricky. The author must strike a balance between blandly listing what they experience in the country and making the journey all! about! them! Radio Shangri-La is hit or miss in this regard. Unlike other travel memoirs I've read, there is a wealth of information about the Bhutan of the past four years. Napoli's pretty straightforward about how little she knew about Bhutan before arriving, and how mu...more

3 likes · like · see review

Mar 10, 2011 Athira (Reading on a Rainy Day) rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011, nonfiction, nf-bios-memoir, nf-travelogue, source-review, source-own

When I was first offered to review this book, I spent a while thinking about Bhutan, the country which is the focus of this travelogue memoir. The first sad thing I realized was that even in spite of having stayed for eight years in India, and having grown up on a steady diet of news regarding the southern Asian peninsula, Bhutan very rarely featured in any flash news from that region. Although I knew plenty about Bhutan, there was still a lot I didn't. That, as well as the real reason why news...more When I was first offered to review this book, I spent a while thinking about Bhutan, the country which is the focus of this travelogue memoir. The first sad thing I realized was that even in spite of having stayed for eight years in India, and having grown up on a steady diet of news regarding the southern Asian peninsula, Bhutan very rarely featured in any flash news from that region. Although I knew plenty about Bhutan, there was still a lot I didn't. That, as well as the real reason why news about Bhutan rarely invaded my living room couch, was revealed to me in this book.

Radio Shangri-La is about Lisa Napoli's rediscovery of self through this remotely tucked away country in Asia. The book started out typically - a mid-life crisis bringing about a yearning for travel - especially to a little known country shrouded in mysticism and full of a promise of spiritual awakening. Warning flags immediately started popping up in my antenna - I haven't still forgotten the debacle that was Eat, Pray, Love. Luckily though, Lisa Napoli is very practical, and doesn't start off with dumping all her issues on us. In fact, it is many pages later that we really know what her troubles are. If not for the candid admission in the Preface that this is a story of her midlife crisis, I might have taken her for any one of us.

By the end of the book, I've learned enough about Bhutan to wonder which planet this country was in. Bhutan's monarchy made a conscious decision not to be "corrupted" by outside influences. It's unbelievably hard to get into this country - $200 per head per day! (Even if that hefty pay serves to keep most potential tourists out of the country, and thus not turn Bhutan into yet another country that serves as the world's spiritual ground, it's not a policy I approve of.) Lisa vividly describes the many customs of the country and its geographic characteristics that I could picture the place so well in my mind's eye. Too often, I find travelogues focus on only some particular aspect of a country. Not Lisa's, though. She doesn't stick to exploring only one facet of her favorite place in the world - instead she easily delves into other political and commercial news, and shares them with us.

I liked the second half of the book better than the first. The first half was way too descriptive for me, while the pacing of the second half a lot faster. The first half is really the exploration / rediscovery / change part of the author's life, and consistent with that, she shares a lot of what she learns during that phase with us. It has whole chapters that show what makes Bhutan the way it is -- resilient, incorruptible, paradisaical. I appreciated how well she made a case for it. But the second half, which is the acceptance / moving on part shows the reverse culture clash -- of her returning back to the states, completely transformed; and of one of her favorite people from Bhutan, who comes to visit her in LA.

Moreover, the first half of the book focuses on the "good" side of Bhutan. I may not have visited Bhutan, but there's a lot (esp the customs) that sounds similar to me because of the way of life in India. The author's initial perspective about the good virtues of Bhutan left me asking - where's all the bad stuff and the bad people? Even in a country so isolated, where radio broadcasting is received with the same gusto as Apple's iPads are in the tech world, and where everyone absolutely loves the king, there should still be the odd person indulging in bad politics or something about this mystic place that feels too ancient. I was rewarded in the second half with all those answers. The author presents a well-written case of why some things had better not be done in Bhutan, and what some changes can mean to the country and the rest of the world.

While I didn't agree with the author on everything, I loved that this was a very honestly written account of what she benefited from Bhutan. She didn't believe in superstitions or prayer rituals to make her life better but if that option was provided to her, she didn't denounce it or jump into it outright - instead she had a very practical response. That practical approach, her candidness and matter-of-fact tone in making any decisions are what make this memoir work very well.(less)

2 likes · like · see review

Feb 14, 2013 Parri Sontag rated it 4 of 5 stars

So much of this book resonated with me ... the longing for simpler times ... when your office couldn't reach you 24/7 on a cell phone ... when people were fully present and not texting while you were in their company ...

Many of Lisa's mid-life feelings really struck a chord in me --- not being at the place I thought I'd be by now at 50 ... settling for a life that is not at all the one I'd imagined ... being overwhelmed by the infiltration of communication technology that, ironically, has made...more

like · see review

Oct 24, 2012 Karen Hansen rated it 4 of 5 stars

I have a soft spot for travel memoirs, especially ones that involve quirky, fish-out-of-water scenarios. Lisa Napoli's Radio Shangri-La documents the author's many trips to the country of Bhutan, the self- proclaimed "Happiest Kingdom on Earth."

Bhutan is a country that is not accessible to the average tourist. It's difficult to obtain a visa and if you are allowed in, there is a heavy daily tax levied on visitors. Napoli managed to gain entry by way of her career in radio and arrived to help the...more I have a soft spot for travel memoirs, especially ones that involve quirky, fish-out-of-water scenarios. Lisa Napoli's Radio Shangri-La documents the author's many trips to the country of Bhutan, the self- proclaimed "Happiest Kingdom on Earth."

Bhutan is a country that is not accessible to the average tourist. It's difficult to obtain a visa and if you are allowed in, there is a heavy daily tax levied on visitors. Napoli managed to gain entry by way of her career in radio and arrived to help the nations first station geared towards Bhutanese youth, radio Kuzoo. Radio Kuzoo became a phenomenon in Bhutan, as it allowed the citizens in a very closed culture, access to the outside world, When Napoli was visiting in 2008, the country was beginning to let in the modern world and changes were happening rapidly.

The book is as much about Bhutan's changes, as the changes in Napoli's own life. It is very reflective, especially with regards to Napoli's younger Bhutanese friends. Napoli is in her forties and reflecting on the decisions made in her youth and focused on how to spend the second half of her life. This is especially profound in the last half of the book, when Napoli befriends Ngawang, a young adult, who is trying to carve out her own future and in the process makes life altering decisions.

The contemplative tone of the memoir, also has a lot to say on the idea of happiness and what it means of different people. Bhutan claims to be the "Happiest Kingdom on Earth" and when Napoli first arrives, she goes in with a rather, western, hippy notion that it's because the people are unplugged from modern distractions. Bhutan does eschew many of the trappings of modern society, but it's more deep rooted cultural priorities of family and belonging that give the citizens a sense of happiness. If Napoli write another book, ten or twenty years from now, it may give us a very different view of Bhutan, as the outside world becomes a bigger part of daily life. However, at this junction, it doesn't seem that any negative affects have invaded.

The afterword could have easily been a jumping point for a new book. It was actually quite surprising. Napoli met with a family of Bhutan refuges in Tuscon, Arizona, who told their story about being forced out of the country twenty years ago. Bhutan made it very uncomfortable for their ethnic Nepalese citizens to live in the country, forcing them to flee Bhutan and find safe havens in other countries. This happened to approximately 1/6th of the population of Bhutan, many of whom, wish that they could return home despite being unwated in their home country. Reading about this, made the whole "Happiest Kingdom.." bit sound like even more P.R. nonsense than it did initially.

This being said, the idea of whether or not it is the Happiest Kingdom is irrelevant. Napoli's book is about herself and the individuals that she encounters. It is a micro, not a macro view of her experience of the culture of Bhutan. In the end, the concept of Happiness is vast and impossible to define. It is an individual feeling and absurd to apply to an entire country.
(less)

3 likes · like · see review

Oct 15, 2012 Maria rated it 2 of 5 stars Recommends it for: People who like travel logs

Recommended to Maria by: Montgomery County Public Library

Shelves: memoir

This is another book that I read by chance: I searched through the Montgomery County Public Library, and then I decided to read what was available. I knew from the first few pages that this book would not pass from hand to hand through generations of travel literature. However, I looked forward to reading it because it was about a place that measured gross national happiness as opposed to gross national product. It wasn’t until after I read the afterward, and the epilogue, and the ending that I...more

like · see review

Oct 15, 2012 Lori rated it 4 of 5 stars

After reading Jamie Zeppa's great memoir of Bhutan (Beyond the Sky and the Earth), I wasn't ready to leave Bhutan so I found this story of Lisa Napoli's radio connection to Bhutan, where she traveled to help them establish their first radio station. Unlike Zeppa's book, which has a greater personal focus on her experiences in Bhutan, with the people and the culture, Napoli's book feels slight. That's not really fair, of course; Zeppa moved there to live, to integrate into the culture, while Napo...more

like · see review

Oct 12, 2012 Louise rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: biography, bhutan

This was a good follow up to Married to Bhutan: How One Woman Got Lost, Said "I Do," and Found Bliss which I read last week. Linda Leaming, the author of that book went to Bhutan in 1993. Her book covers Bhutan in the 1990's and early 2000's with some hint of what was brewing as international media was seeping into the kingdom. Lisa Napoli brings this up to date. Napoli is a media professional. This background and her life experience inform her response to the country. Her honesty about her life...more This was a good follow up to Married to Bhutan: How One Woman Got Lost, Said "I Do," and Found Bliss which I read last week. Linda Leaming, the author of that book went to Bhutan in 1993. Her book covers Bhutan in the 1990's and early 2000's with some hint of what was brewing as international media was seeping into the kingdom. Lisa Napoli brings this up to date. Napoli is a media professional. This background and her life experience inform her response to the country. Her honesty about her life helps the reader understand where she is coming from.

Napoli descrbes a country in the throes of great change. Unlike Leaming, Napoli is a later visitor, temporary, media savvy and through her volunteer consultancy to Radio Kuzoo FM, plugged into the youth and ex-pat communities. I can only wonder how Leaming, Namgay and Namgay's extended family are coping with the rapid changes Napoli describes.

The American TV that reaches the kingdom presents a distorted view of the US. Young people are enamored of it. They are learning English, celebrating Valentine's Day, enjoying Karaoke, and preferring hamburgers to traditional food. The reaction to Rinpoche's proposed "puja", despite acceptance of his blessings, implies that young people might go through the motions, but are not totally committed to the traditional beliefs.

There are curious ex-patriates. Madam Choden and her reasons to commit to a lifetime in Bhutan are not clear. Martin's establishment of what appears to be a western household through a career in agriculture is also a story yearning to be told.

Lisa's bill paying, time pressured, crime victimed American life is totally incomprehensible to the people of Bhutan. When Ngawang arrives on a visit to LA, (with a hidden agenda of making a new life) she is totally wrapped up in its trappings. The pressures and the institutional structures that can/will thwart her dreams eclipse her.

The ending with the $9.1 million consultant study is ominous. While the King and the country, through the new democracy, pulled back on its recommendations for more tourists, there will undoubtedly be interests pushing for franchises and commercial advantage. This story is far from over.

This is not a deep book, nor an intellectual critique. It is a book of the impressions of an informed traveler. I recommend this for its honesty, its thoughtful portrayal of Bhutan and the descriptions of the response of individuals to modernization. It is an excellent book and I highly recommend it. (less)

like · see review

May 05, 2012 Louise rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: memoirs

Story Description:

Crown Publishing Group | February 8, 2011 | e-Book | KOBO

Lisa Napoli was in the grip of a crisis, dissatisfied with her life and her work as a radio journalist. When a chance encounter with a handsome stranger presented her with an opportunity to move halfway around the world, Lisa left behind cosmopolitan Los Angeles for a new adventure in the ancient Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan-said to be one of the happiest places on earth.

Long isolated from industrialization and just beginn...more

1 like · like · see review

Apr 27, 2012 Laura rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: anthropological, memoirs, non-fiction, tigard-library, travel

Read this right after Beyond the Sky and the Earth, by Jamie Zeppa, who lived and taught in Bhutan for several years. The two books provided very different perspectives on Bhutan, not only because the action took place a few decades apart but because Napoli didn't immerse herself in Bhutanese culture to the extent Zeppa did. (For example, Napoli avoided the Bhutanese staple dish, finding it too spicy and foreign, instead favoring imported Western goods; Zeppa learned to cook and eat like a nativ...more

2 likes · like · see review

Feb 17, 2012 Shomeret rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: memoir, around-the-world, my-reviews

Although I did learn about Bhutan from this book, I thought that Lisa Napoli's memoir was not the best vehicle for doing so. It occurred to me that Napoli isn't very visual. One incident that stood out for me was when she was guessing the nationality of another visitor to Bhutan by his accent rather than his appearance. Another one was when she purchased a ring as a keepsake from Bhutan and didn't describe it at all. Her descriptions are general rather than specific. A travel writer should be mo...more

3 likes · like · see review

Oct 20, 2011 Renee rated it 3 of 5 stars

This book is about the author’s accident introduction to Bhutan and her series of visits between 2007 and 2010. I certainly learned more about the country and found that aspect of the book interesting. For example, Bhutan until recently had no access to television, radio, internet.

Not a heavily tourist destination, as many travelers are put off by the (still in place)$200 per person per day tourist tax. The country boasts the idea of measuring a society's GNP worth in “Gross National Happiness”...more

1 like · like · see review

Jun 08, 2011 Sarah Booth rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: anyone with an adventurist spirit.

Story of a 43 year old Public Radio worker who ended up in Bhutan for 6 weeks helping with the country's first radio station for Bhutanese youth with music (pirated from the internet) and news of a country that was just opening up to outsiders and had literally kept the rest of the world out to maintain its "Gross National Happiness". But the new king, who would be starting elections for a democratic government instead of the singular power of the monarchy which had been run by this family for t...more

2 likes · like · see review

May 25, 2011 Jaylia3 rated it 5 of 5 stars

In spite of being in the news business herself, Lisa Napoli was tired of its noisy, incessant, over simplified sound bites, so when offered a six month volunteer position at a startup radio station in faraway Bhutan she put her job at NPR on hold and jumped at the chance. Bhutan, a tiny landlocked Buddhist kingdom surrounded by India and China and full of gorgeous alpine vistas, is famous for having a king who prefers promoting Gross National Happiness over Gross National Product. Mass communica...more

like · see review

Apr 26, 2011 Brenda Rupp rated it 3 of 5 stars

Any time you read a book that isn't based on the United States and our language you often have names of people and places that makes the eye like the tongue when reading out loud, stumble every time you see it. That is what slowed me down with this book. It wasn't totally enjoyable for me, I didn't zoom through the book in a day or two as I do when reading books I'm totally enamored with. This story was a true story of one womens fascination with a country that she went to visit often after her...more Any time you read a book that isn't based on the United States and our language you often have names of people and places that makes the eye like the tongue when reading out loud, stumble every time you see it. That is what slowed me down with this book. It wasn't totally enjoyable for me, I didn't zoom through the book in a day or two as I do when reading books I'm totally enamored with. This story was a true story of one womens fascination with a country that she went to visit often after her first trip to help out with their new radio station. She went through total economic shock, she lived with so much less, so much that wasn't aH available, and found that in some ways it made life simpler and easier and happier.

At the end of the book she said: Here's to believing that the next person you meet could very well be a source of adventure, if not an instrutment of change! I do so believe that.
Here is the info from the back of the book: Lisa Napoli was in the grip of a crisis, dissatisfied with her life and her work as a radio journalist. When a chance encounter with a handsome stranger presented her with an opportunity to move halfway around the world, Lisa left behind cosmopolitan Los Angeles for a new adventure in the ancient Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan—said to be one of the happiest places on earth.

Long isolated from industrialization and just beginning to open its doors to the modern world, Bhutan is a deeply spiritual place, devoted to environmental conservation and committed to the happiness of its people—in fact, Bhutan measures its success in Gross National Happiness rather than in GNP. In a country without a single traffic light, its citizens are believed to be among the most content in the world. To Lisa, it seemed to be a place that offered the opposite of her fast-paced life in the United States, where the noisy din of sound-bite news and cell phones dominate our days, and meaningful conversation is a rare commodity; where everyone is plugged in digitally, yet rarely connects with the people around them.

Thousands of miles away from everything and everyone she knows, Lisa creates a new community for herself. As she helps to start Bhutan’s first youth-oriented radio station, Kuzoo FM, she must come to terms with her conflicting feelings about the impact of the medium on a country that had been shielded from its effects. Immersing herself in Bhutan’s rapidly changing culture, Lisa realizes that her own perspective on life is changing as well—and that she is discovering the sense of purpose and joy that she has been yearning for.

In this smart, heartfelt, and beautifully written book, sure to please fans of transporting travel narratives and personal memoirs alike, Lisa Napoli discovers that the world is a beautiful and complicated place—and comes to appreciate her life for the adventure it is.(less)

1 like · like · see review

Apr 21, 2011 Barbara Mitchell rated it 4 of 5 stars

I selected this book from Amazon Vine because I don't know much of anything about Bhutan and since the author lived and worked there, rather than vacationing, I thought she would give me an open-eyed view of the people, the government, and the landscape.

Since I have an ARC copy, there are no photographs and I can't see from amazon's website that there are any in the published book either. I hope I'm wrong because it really needs pictures of Bhutan, her friends there, and herself.

Napoli went to B...more I selected this book from Amazon Vine because I don't know much of anything about Bhutan and since the author lived and worked there, rather than vacationing, I thought she would give me an open-eyed view of the people, the government, and the landscape.

Since I have an ARC copy, there are no photographs and I can't see from amazon's website that there are any in the published book either. I hope I'm wrong because it really needs pictures of Bhutan, her friends there, and herself.

Napoli went to Bhutan in 2007 when she was 40 and going through a bit of a midlife crisis, wondering if she should have stayed married, had children, and lived a more "normal" life. As it was, she had worked at CNN, NPR, and other radio outlets, and was at that time working in Los Angeles in radio. She was originally from New York City but had lived many places. As a result, she had friends all over, many of them close friends she kept in touch with. It was one of her friends who introduced her to someone who got her a volunteer consulting position with a new radio station in Thimphu, the capital of Bhutan, and she was off on the adventure of a lifetime.

Now she has friends there as well. She has been back many times and the end of the book is quite sad as she relates the modernizing changes that have come to Bhutan. Along the way, Napoli came to terms with her own life and realized what it is she needs to do to feel truly fulfilled.

I enjoyed learning more about Bhutan, including exactly where it is. This is the country that values its "happiness quotient" rather than its GNP. The people didn't get television until a few years ago; the unfortunate result is that they believe all of us in the U.S. live in huge, posh homes like the characters on "Desperate Housewives." They found it hard to believe that we aren't all rich and that Napoli's L.A. apartment wasn't much bigger than her digs in Bhutan. As it opens to the West, perhaps some of those misperceptions will be made clear, but they are certainly paying a price.

I recommend this book, but it won't be on my list of favorite reads for the year. (less)

like · see review

Apr 06, 2011 Anna rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011, bookcrossing, readitforward

I won an advance copy of this book from readitforward - thank you RIF for allowing me to do some armchair travel (even if I rarely read on an armchair).

I like to travel in the real life, but traveling in books is usually fun too (and way cheaper). I loved all the trivia and exotic bits about Bhutan in this book (more than the story; that was well written too, but I just loved the travel and discovery parts way more). I knew vaguely where Bhutan was located before reading this book, but that was...more I won an advance copy of this book from readitforward - thank you RIF for allowing me to do some armchair travel (even if I rarely read on an armchair).

I like to travel in the real life, but traveling in books is usually fun too (and way cheaper). I loved all the trivia and exotic bits about Bhutan in this book (more than the story; that was well written too, but I just loved the travel and discovery parts way more). I knew vaguely where Bhutan was located before reading this book, but that was the extent of my knowledge.

Now I know a bit more (I promise, there are MANY, many more interesting bits and pieces in the book, I won't reveal more than a few here). There is one airline in the country, with a fleet of two aircrafts, and eight pilots are allowed to land in the country. There are no last names, and postal addresses have existed only a few years. Healthcare is free, marriage is just moving to live together with someone you love, and the country that until recently has been very excluded from the world has a very strong control over the tourists it allows to enter: a tourist tax of $ 200 per day per person takes care of that.

Lisa, 40+, with no husband, no kids, with a stressful job and looking for the source of happiness in life, ends up getting an offer for a non-paid job in Bhutan via a new interesting friend. The first part of the book is about her first trip, about the places and people she meets, about the radio station she works in (the first in the country). Bhutan is said to be the happiest country in the world, but it also changes very fast, and the people who can be happy and friendly can also be sometimes surprisingly naïve. One of her friends from Bhutan visits her in LA, and this is another interesting adventure altogether.

I enjoyed the book. Bhutan sounds like a neat place to visit, but there are so many other places I want to see first that I'm happy I visited it in this literary journey. (Plus the change there seems so fast that I'd want to conserve it somewhere with all its current cuteness). I'd also love to have an audiobook for this book, with some authentic Bhutanese people and their accents in it, and some of those jingles they used it Radio Kuzoo.

I will pass my copy on via bookcrossing (http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/9... for this copy)(less)

like · see review

Mar 19, 2011 Marija rated it 3 of 5 stars

We all have one place we’d love to visit “someday.” Bhutan is mine. I read everything I can get my hands on about that obscure country. So when “Radio Shangri-La” came out, I grabbed a copy. Lisa Napoli, in a mid-life rut, got a fantastic opportunity dropped on her lap: consult with Bhutan’s very first radio station, a fledgling start-up run by hip young people.

Napoli lacks the ability to make her stories come alive. I was more than half-way through the book before she provided a very brief day...more

1 like · like · see review

Mar 16, 2011 Denise rated it 4 of 5 stars

In Radio Shangri-La Lisa Napoli is struggling on the edges of depression, trying to find a way to reconcile herself with a life that isn't all she dreamed of. It all begins when she attends an experimental workshop on positive thinking. One day the instructor assigns the class homework, each night before you go to bed write down three good things that happened. As Lisa takes the assignment to heart her outlook on life and what she values begins to change.

Thus when the friend of a friend leading...more

like · see review

Mar 16, 2011 Rebekah ODell rated it 3 of 5 stars

Imagine Eat, Pray, Love. Subtract the self-indulgent whining. Add work. Voila! An approximation of Lisa Napoli’s Radio Shangri-la.

I don’t mean that in a reductive way, though. This is a very thoughtful, interesting travel memoir about a successful journalist in a mid-life crisis. After a chance meeting at a party, Lisa agrees to travel to Bhutan, a tiny country touted as the “happiest kingdom on Earth.” A radio vet, her skills are needed to help professionalize a Bhutan’s first radio station. So...more

2 likes · like · see review

Mar 02, 2011 Jen rated it 3 of 5 stars

First of all, I am so thankful for the opportunity to have read this book. I won a free copy and received it in the mail not long after- the best kind of package ever!

I have long been intrigued by the Kingdom of Bhutan, so this book was something of a pot of gold for those of us interested in knowing more. I read every single word of the entire book (literally) because I didn't want to miss a single thing Lisa Napoli had to share about her Bhutan experiences. The resource list at the end of the...more

like · see review

Feb 27, 2011 David rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: first-reads, non-fiction, read-in-2011, bio-autobio-memoir, travel, arc

I received this book as part of the Goodreads First Reads program.

After a chance meeting at a party, Lisa Napoli stumbles across the adventure of a lifetime. Radio Shangri-La covers two main narrative threads: a memoir of Napoli's sort of mid-life crisis and the history of Bhutan as well as its increasingly rapid democratization and commercialization. As a geography/culture junkie, I found the latter topic more compelling. Indeed, at times Napoli's personal developments seem a bit superfluous to...more

2 likes · like · see review

Jan 09, 2011 Jeannie Mancini rated it 3 of 5 stars

Although I am an avid reader of travel narrative books, Radio Shangri-La was my first armchair adventure story into the country of Bhutan.

While going through a personal midlife crisis, Lisa Napoli realizes she needs some changes in her life. Her personal relationships, her work at an L.A. radio station, and her previous view of the American dream dipped in a materialist world, were ingredients causing her life to fold and unhappiness to descend upon her life devoid of joy and meaning. One evenin...more Although I am an avid reader of travel narrative books, Radio Shangri-La was my first armchair adventure story into the country of Bhutan.

While going through a personal midlife crisis, Lisa Napoli realizes she needs some changes in her life. Her personal relationships, her work at an L.A. radio station, and her previous view of the American dream dipped in a materialist world, were ingredients causing her life to fold and unhappiness to descend upon her life devoid of joy and meaning. One evening at a party she is introduced to an international tour guide named Sebastian who is not only handsome but intriguing, living a life most people would love to experience. Days later she is invited by him to avail upon an opportunity to assist a small radio station in Bhutan. Desperate to break the monotony of her life and to find new meaning, Lisa accepts without batting an eye.

Radio Shangri-la is Lisa's story of her many trips to beautiful Bhutan, a small country tucked hidden in amongst the high peaks of the Himalayas. A land much like that of Tibet. Landing in the "Happiest Kingdom on Earth", Lisa is soon accepted by the local Bhutanese and ingratiates herself by assisting with a new radio station called Kuzoo FM. Teaching the staff ethics of media do's and don'ts, helping the members as they adopt techniques of gathering information, reporting accurate news, sticking to facts, and creating a station that will have all people of Bhutan listening 24/7 as faithfully as listening to their beliefs in Buddha, proves rewarding as Lisa soon sees positive results as Kuzoo improves.

The book entails many vignettes of Lisa's work at the station, her friendships with the locals, and her new views on what is important in life, taken from a world without materialistic problems. Readers will become entranced in the many aspects of the Bhutanese culture such as their food, clothing, religious beliefs, folklore, changing politics, and the effects of media such as the internet and television, two things previously not allowed in Bhutan until very recently. Lisa slowly falls in love with her surroundings and is captivated by Bhutan and it's people. Over the course of a few years she makes many visits to Bhutan to both garner knowledge of their culture and to teach them about ours. I very much enjoyed her many meanderings into comparing American life with theirs and I think this book will allow other readers to stop and contemplate how our media-filled world has created many social and cultural dilemmas for our own country.

As travel narrative books go, Radio Shangri-la is an enjoyable read filled with facts and fun antidotes the author chose to share with us. On the whole, her story is an engaging one and I feel most readers will find it an interesting tale.

My only complaint with the book is the many, many typos and various errors. I was lucky enough to get an Advanced Reading copy paperback and can only hope that these errors get cleaned up for the official copy. There were more than just a few, and not only in the realm of spelling, grammar or words running together without spaces. Those I can tolerate if they get fixed before the release date. What I found hard to accept was the fact that within the book, three times the author would be referring to one character by one name, and then erroneously slip and call that character by another name as if forgetting who she was writing about. I saw it three times and found that pretty poor. Again, hopefully these mistakes get remedied before publishing.

Taking out my comment about errors, I give 3.5 stars to this intriguing adventure into a country we don't get exposed to too often within the world of literature or non-fiction titles. I liked it, enjoyed it, learned a few things, I just can't say it was fabulous.

(less)

1 like · like · see review

May 10, 2011 Gigi Ann rated it 3 of 5 stars

My Thoughts: Radio Shangri-La is what I would guess an armchair memoir of Lisa Napoli's visits to Bhutan. From your easy chair you can visit Bhutan and follow the author and her visits to Bhutan. There are some parts of the story that are very interesting, and other parts are just downright boring, and maybe unnecessary. It was not a page turner for me. That being said, the experiences and thoughts Napoli shares made the reading of the book worthwhile.

I have to admit I had to google Bhutan to f...more

like · see review

Apr 19, 2011 Amanda Patterson rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: asia, female-author, nonfiction

Dear Lisa Napoli,
What DID you learn in Bhutan, the happiest place on earth? As a fellow traveller I hestitate to criticize your "Travel changed my life because it made me happy" epiphany, but such an epiphany does not a whole book merit. I enjoyed learning about Bhutan, a country I had only once heard of before when I went to a Gap Year meetup and a presenter who had been to nearly every country in the world insisted that Bhutan was the absolute best, and the absolute most expensive. He offered...more

like · see review

May 04, 2012 Alison rated it 3 of 5 stars

I liked this book but it wasn't amazing. I typically enjoy any book about travel to Himalayan countries and will devour them start to finish, as was the case with Radio Shangri-la. You will learn a lot about the political history of Bhutan and a bit less about cultural and religious aspects of the culture.
A couple of things did bother me though. First, it became very redundant. The same ideas "spicy hot food" "small kingdom no one's heard of" "happiest place on earth" are repeated over and ov...more

like · see review

Sep 01, 2011 Rae rated it 2 of 5 stars

There's a fine balance that should exist in the travel/self-discovery genre between the personal journey and physical one. In Lisa Napoli's Radio Shangri-La, far too much space is given to the mid-life crisis that propels her journey to the remote country of Bhutan. I was left at the end knowing more about her dislike for radio journalism and in particular her job at Public Radio's Marketplace as a reporter then what made her visits to Bhutan so special.
Bhutan is a tiny remote country tucked awa...more

like · see review

Mar 21, 2011 Jayme VA rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011, around-the-world-in-80-books

I won this book on Read it Forward.

I really enjoyed this book. A lot of people compared it to Eat Pray Love but I actually liked this quite a bit better. Lisa set out to contribute, whereas I don't think Elizabeth Gilbert really had that in mind.

This memoir is set in the tiny Kingdom of Bhutan, a place I had heard of but wasn't really sure where it was or if it was its own country. Until a few years ago, Bhutan did not have any connection to the outside world, not tv, no internet, nothing.

Lisa...more

like · see review

Mar 14, 2011 bookczuk rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-it-forward, read-for-review, biography-autobiography-or-memoir, bookcrossing, great-title, made-me-look-something-up, satisfying, taught-me-something

Bhutan captured my imagination back in my son's freshman year at Stanford because of a connection with one of his Stanford faculty and the Royal family. He almost spent part of that summer there, but time and finances worked against him heading to the Happiest Kingdom on Earth. Had he gone, he would have been in Bhutan the same time Lisa Napoli first went there, to help with the fledgling youth radio station Kuzoo FM.

There was a lot I liked about this book, but it had little to do with the autho...more

1 like · like · see review

Mar 07, 2011 MARILYN rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: march-2011, arc-copy

Radio Shangri-La: What I Learned in the Happiest Place on Earth by Lisa Napoli

This is an ARC from Reading Forward.

Radio Shangri-La is a memoir/travelogue of Lisa Napoli's adventures in Bhutan, the Happiest Place on Earth. One of the sources of Bhutan's happiness is that they have had little contract with the outside world. That is changing though, the King finally allowed a television station and radio to broadcast in the tiny kingdom. Lisa is brought in as a consultant to teach the new staff th...more

like · see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … 76 77 next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

There are no discussion topics on this book yet. Be the first to start one »

Recommend it | Stats | Recent status updates

combine
Other Editions (8)

More editions...

Genres

Travel

57 users

Non Fiction

56 users

Autobiography > Memoir

34 users

Cultural > Asia

14 users

Biography

9 users

Biography Memoir

6 users

Biography > Autobiography

4 users

Culture

3 users

Writing > Journalism

3 users

Adventure

3 users

See top shelves...

Readers also enjoyed similar books

About Lisa Napoli

Author,
Radio Shangri-La: What I Learned in Bhutan, the Happiest Kingdom on Earth
Crown, February 2011
(Paperback: Broadway Books, April, 2012)

Lisa Napoli is a journalist who has worked in all media. She began her career at CNN in Atlanta in the early eighties, worked in local TV news in North Carolina, covered the Clinton campaign and Waco standoff as a field producer for an early iteration of the...more

More about Lisa Napoli...

Share This Book

Facebook Twitter Your website

Trivia About Radio Shangri-La:...

1 quiz

More quizzes & trivia...

title link	preview: Radio Shangri-La: What I Learned in Bhutan, the Happiest Kingdom on Earth
avg rating	preview: Radio Shangri-La: What I Learned in Bhutan, the Happiest Kingdom on Earth Goodreads rating: 3.37 (834 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7494591-radio-shangri-la?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1332189268l/7494591.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7494591-radio-shangri-la?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Radio Shangri-La: What I Learned in Bhutan, the Happiest Kingdom on Earth by Lisa Napoli[/url]

Radio Shangri-La: What I Learned in Bhutan, the Happiest Kingdom on Earth

Friend Reviews

Lists with This Book

Community Reviews

new topicDiscuss This Book

combineOther Editions (8)

Genres

Readers also enjoyed similar books

About Lisa Napoli

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website

Trivia About Radio Shangri-La:...

new topic
Discuss This Book

combine
Other Editions (8)