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 the most democratic country in the world? Do citizens of Qatar, awash in petrodollars, find joy in all that cash? Is the King of Bhutan a visionary for his initiative to calculate Gross National Happiness? Why is Asheville, North Carolina so happy?
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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
Description: Very Good. Former Library book. Great condition for a used book! Minimal wear. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! 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: New. 0446580260 THIS IS A HARDCOVER FIRST EDITION, FIRST PRINTING, BOTH THE BOOK AND THE DUST JACKET ARE FINE/FINE, LIKE NEW CONDITION. NO DEFECTS INSIDE OR OUT. THIS ITEM IS GIFT QUALITY. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Twelve
Date Published: 2008-01-03
ISBN-13:9780446580267ISBN:0446580260
Description: Like New. * Gift quality. 2008 Twelve (NY) First Edition First Printing. Fine hardcover in near fine unclipped dustjacket. No wear or marks inside or out. Binding tight and square, corners sharp. Slight flare and wrinkle at top and bottom edges of the back of the dustjacket, otherwise flawless. read more
Binding: Audio CD
Publisher: Hachette Audio
Date Published: 2009
ISBN-13:9781600244346ISBN:1600244343
Description: New. Brand New! 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
Binding: Spoken Word Compact Disc
Publisher: Twelve
Date Published: 2009-01-05
ISBN-13:9781600244346ISBN:1600244343
Description: NEW. Spoken Word Compact Disc. From an inventory that is 100% brand-new, 100% direct from the publishers' distribution channel. We carry NO pre-owned, NO remaindered. We pack in CARDBOARD to ensure the pristine quality is maintained. (Bubble-wrap alone is NOT sufficient to protect from USPS equipment. ) Guaranteed brand-NEW, protected with CARDBOARD, your satisfaction is guaranteed. BKLUVID: 9781600244346. 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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