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Part foreign affairs discourse, part humor, and part twisted self-help guide, this book 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 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 darn happy? NPR correspondent Weiner answers those questions and many others, offering travelers of all moods some interesting new ideas for sunnier destinations and dispositions.--From publisher description.… (more)
The search for happiness is a thin veil to this fun travelogue of interesting places and the people who inhabit them. Having visited many of the places in this book made it all the more enjoyable for me, and it reminded me of the importance of respecting other cultures, not just abroad, but at home as well. ( )
Read this over the fall of 2023. Generally was not impressed. The author has a very candid tone throughout that takes away from the messages of each chapter. He thinks he is being funny and clever, but it is just distracting. Each chapter presents a trip and exploration of "happiness" in an individual country, and sections in each cover the interactions of the author with local "experts." Ultimately, the best part was the epilogue and afterword where Weiner weaves the disparate themes together. The reader gets a cursory overview of the places being visited, and brief introductions to the concept of happiness in each location (often presented by coffee or pub chats between the locals and the author) but you need to stop and think about each chapter in order to really take anything away. This is not a self-help book, and it is not a travelogue, so I really do not know what this book was trying to get at. In trying to balance between the two, Weiner did neither. ( )
In these days of wars and rumors of wars, haven't you ever dreamed of a place where there was peace and security, where living was not a struggle but a lasting delight? - Lost Horizon, directed by Frank Capra, 1937
Dedication
for Sharon
First words
My bags were packed and my provisions loaded.
Quotations
(in Bhutan, with the Home Minister) Him, a tremendously important person from an insignificant nation. Me, an insignificant person from a tremendously important nation.
The emir of Qatar, ruler of the land, is determined to do something about his country's missing culture. In true Qatari fashion, he plans to buy a culture and, while he's at it, some history as well.
Part foreign affairs discourse, part humor, and part twisted self-help guide, this book 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 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 darn happy? NPR correspondent Weiner answers those questions and many others, offering travelers of all moods some interesting new ideas for sunnier destinations and dispositions.--From publisher description.
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