17 used from �4.25

Have one to sell? Sell yours here

The Geography of Bliss: One Grump's Search for the Happiest Places in the World

See larger image

Share your own customer images

Publisher: learn how customers can search inside this book.

The Geography of Bliss: One Grump's Search for the Happiest Places in the World (Hardcover)

by Eric Weiner (Author)

4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)

Available from these sellers.

17 used from �4.25

Other Editions:	RRP:	Our Price:	Other Offers:
Paperback	�7.99	�5.97	21 used & new from �3.89
Mass Market Paperback			3 used & new from �7.16
Library Binding (Large Print)	�20.60	�21.26	20 used & new from �15.93
Audio CD (Audiobook)	�10.46	�9.72	13 used & new from �5.87

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Against Happiness: In Praise of Melancholy

by Eric G. Wilson

5.0 out of 5 stars (1) �9.69

Journey by Moonlight (Pushkin paper)

by Antal Szerb (Author)

4.9 out of 5 stars (14) �5.48

Self-made Man: My Year Disguised as a Man

by Norah Vincent

4.2 out of 5 stars (13) �5.97

The Plague of Doves

by Louise Erdrich

4.0 out of 5 stars (3) �4.99

The Grass Is Singing

by Doris May Lessing

4.2 out of 5 stars (15) �4.99

› Explore similar items

Product details

Hardcover: 329 pages
Publisher: Twelve; 1 edition (3 Jan 2008)
Language English
ISBN-10: 0446580260
ISBN-13: 978-0446580267
Product Dimensions: 22.8 x 15.6 x 3.6 cm

Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)

Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 522,235 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

Product Description

The Guardian

'This travelogue of the human psyche is a joy to read'
--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Description

What makes a nation happy? Is one country's sense of happiness the same as another's? In the last two decades, psychologists and economists have learned a lot about who's happy and who isn't. The Dutch are, the Romanians aren't, and Americans are somewhere in between...After years of going to the world's least happy countries, Eric Weiner, a veteran foreign correspondent, decided to travel and evaluate each country's different sense of happiness and discover the nation that seemed happiest of all.Eric Weiner discovers the relationship between money and happiness in tiny and extremely wealthy Qatar (and it's not a good one). He goes to Thailand, and finds that not thinking is a contented way of life. He goes to the tiny Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, and discovers they have an official policy of Gross National Happiness! He asks himself why the British don't do happiness? In Weiner's quest to find the world's happiest places, he eats rotten Icelandic shark, meditates in Bangalore, visits strip clubs in Bangkok and drinks himself into a stupor in Reykjavik. Full of inspired moments, "The Geography of Bliss" accomplishes a feat few travel books dare and even fewer achieve: to make you happier. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

See all Product Description

Suggested Tags from Similar Products

(What's this?)

Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)

happiness

travelogue

travel

npr

journalist

eric weiner

self-help

memoir

the geography of bliss

culture

weiner

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

	95% buy the item featured on this page: The Geography of Bliss: One Grump's Search for the Happiest Places in the World 4.3 out of 5 stars (7)
	2% buy Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything 4.2 out of 5 stars (95) �4.88
	1% buy Just a Little Run Around the World: 5 Years, 3 Packs of Wolves and 53 Pairs of Shoes: 5 Years, 29 Marriage Proposals and 53 Pairs of Shoes 4.7 out of 5 stars (21) �3.49
	1% buy The Book Thief 4.5 out of 5 stars (508) �3.96

Explore similar items

Customer Reviews

7 Reviews

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

Average Customer Review

4.3 out of 5 stars (7 customer reviews)

Share your thoughts with other customers:

Create your own review

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars In Search of Happiness -- The Travelogue, 8 Feb 2008

By	Professor Donald Mitchell "Jesus Makes Me a P... (Boston) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)

"I just want my children to be happy." How many times have you heard an American parent say that before sighing out of concern for how junior might turn out?

Eric Weiner's family must have shared that vision over him at some point because the self-described grump decided to read all the research about the factors that seem related to self-described happiness . . . and then to traipse all over the world to take a closer look at extreme conditions. Such an assignment would have turned me from a joyful person into a grump. Fortunately, Mr. Weiner tolerated it all pretty well.

I'm a little puzzled by the book's premise: Why doesn't Mr. Weiner just makes notes about when he is and isn't happy and test out spending more time in the former circumstances and less time in the latter to see if his happiness grows or his grumpiness recedes? That's the scientific method of experimentation to test hypothesis.

Asking people how happy they are on a scale of one to ten seems awfully subjective and arbitrary. Cultural norms in some countries might lead people to answer more positively than those in other countries, even if people were experiencing the same amount of happiness.

But if you crave a summary of what factors are more often associated with those who describe themselves as happy, this book is pretty efficient at spelling that out early in the book.

From there, the book turns into an amusing travelogue primarily taking the reader to places you probably haven't visited (Netherlands, Switzerland, Bhutan, Qatar, Iceland, Moldova, Thailand, and India) and some you probably have (Great Britain and the United States). Mr. Weiner is most imaginative in his choice of locales and his exploration of life style choices (looking into the flesh and drugs of the Netherlands, riding on the clean trains in Switzerland, passing the flesh pots of Thailand, wandering around in the darkness of an Iceland winter, trying to meet a local Arab in Qatar while escaping from luxury and service, checking out the local culture in Qatar and Moldova, living like the locals in Moldova, studying at an Indian ashram, enjoying the beauty of Bhutan, talking to those who were part of a happiness-inducing experiment in Slough (near Heathrow Airport in England), and exploring how some people find locales that fit their personalities better than others).

I didn't learn anything about happiness research that I hadn't read in more detail somewhere else, but I thought that his summary was a fair one.

My main disappointment concerning the book was the lack of exploring a devout Christian community to see how faith adds to happiness in that context.

As a travelogue, it was all great fun . . . but few of the places attracted my interest. I was intrigued, however, by what he had to say about Bhutan. I'll have to add Bhutan to my itinerary for future travels.

Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)

5.0 out of 5 stars Laugh out loud!, 22 Sep 2009

By	Mrs. Moya Addis (UK) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Geography of Bliss (Paperback)

My son passed this book on to me -I'm sure I wouldn't have picked it out but I can heartily recommend it. The author Eric Weiner travels the globe in search of happiness, finding very different interpretations of 'Bliss' around the world. If you think money brings happiness then Qatar would presumably be wonderful. He didn't find it so. What about Iceland? Can you really be happy when it stays dark for months at a time? Perhaps - if helped out with some rotting shark to eat and plenty of alcohol to drink! What about Bhutan with it's policy of Gross National Happiness or even the UK? You won't regret buying a copy to find out...

Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Wasted travel, 15 Sep 2009

By	David J. Clifton - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Geography of Bliss (Paperback)

I did not realise that so much could be written about so little. I regarded this book as a waste of time

Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review

› See all 7 customer reviews...

Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Very interesting and thought provoking
I really enjoyed reading this book for two reasons. The first is that it gives an interesting view on different 'ways' of happiness in different cultural settings, of which some... Read more

Published 6 months ago by Nm Verbij

5.0 out of 5 stars Blissful read
The Geography of Bliss

I just sat up all day today (Good Friday) reading this book that a S African Indian friend living in Los Angeles gave me - just to explain the... Read more

Published 7 months ago by PK

5.0 out of 5 stars Happiness is where you are
As a therapist i'm always interested in what makes people happy. This is a novel and very amusing approach to the subject. Read more

Published 10 months ago by Penny

5.0 out of 5 stars Do Not Be Deceived By The Title
Do not be deceived by the subtitle "One Grump's Search for the Happiest Places in the World". Mr. Weiner begins his one year quest to find the happiest places in the world in The... Read more

Published 15 months ago by Brian Kodi

› See all 7 customer reviews...

.jsOffDisplayBlock { display: block; } .jsOffDisplayInline { display: inline; } .jsOffVisibility { visibility: visible; } .jsOnDisplayBlock { display: none; } .jsOnDisplayNoneBlock { display: block; } .jsOnDisplayNoneInline { display: inline; } .jsOnDisplayInline { display: none; } .jsOnVisibility { visibility: hidden; } .jqOnDisplayBlock { display: none; } .jqOnDisplayInline { display: none; } .jqOnVisibility { visibility: hidden; } .jqOnDisplayNoneBlock { display: block; } .jqOnDisplayNoneInline { display: inline; }