∎ Download The Geography of Bliss One Grump Search for the Happiest Places in the World Eric Weiner 9780446580267 Books

The Geography of Bliss One Grump Search for the Happiest Places in the World Eric Weiner 9780446580267 Books

Download As PDF : The Geography of Bliss One Grump Search for the Happiest Places in the World Eric Weiner 9780446580267 Books

The Geography of Bliss One Grump Search for the Happiest Places in the World Eric Weiner 9780446580267 Books

I guess this book made me insane cause I smiled and laughed a lot while I read it. I was also amused while reading some of the negative reviews. People actually read this book thinking it would answer the age old question of what is happiness. That's not what you'll find. However the author's vast knowledge of both centuries old and modern day literature, art, and science on the subject is impressive.

It's a good, light read, intelligent and witty. It's critics seem to be those that expected him to explore every aspect of every culture he visited and come to profound conclusions. Instead he engages the reader with a breadth of knowledge on the studies of happiness, while making humorous cultural observations, and interviewing a wide scope of humans to get their observations on happiness.


Tags : The Geography of Bliss: One Grump's Search for the Happiest Places in the World [Eric Weiner] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. 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,Eric Weiner,The Geography of Bliss: One Grump's Search for the Happiest Places in the World,Twelve,0446580260,Voyages and travels.,1963-,Applied Psychology,Description And Travel,Essays & Travelogues,Travel,Travel - General,Travel Essays & Travelogues,Travel General,Voyages and travels,Weiner, Eric,Weiner, Eric,

The Geography of Bliss One Grump Search for the Happiest Places in the World Eric Weiner 9780446580267 Books Reviews

"That old saw about the glass being half full or half empty is dead wrong. What really matters is whether water is flowing into or out of the glass." - from THE GEOGRAPHY OF BLISS

"Watching Brits shed their inhibitions is like watching elephants mate. You know it happens, it must, but it's noisy, awkward as hell, and you can't help but wonder Is this something I really need to see?" - from THE GEOGRAPHY OF BLISS

Writing The Innocents Abroad, Mark Twain billed himself as a foreign correspondent. In THE GEOGRAPHY OF BLISS, author Eric Weiner is the foreign correspondent for National Public Radio reporting on what he admits is probably a self-imposed fool's errand, i.e. to find the happiest place on Earth despite possessing what he describes, on page one, as a "gloomy disposition." With that admission, I liked him already.

In ten chapters, Weiner records his search for joyful life in The Netherlands, Switzerland, Bhutan, Qatar, Iceland, Thailand, Great Britain, India, and America. For the sake of contrast, Eric also visits Moldova, where, apparently, everyone is profoundly miserable. And, in case you're wondering, our foreign correspondent does indeed seem to arrive at a consensus of one as to which of those places is the happiest. Perhaps my wife and I, always on the lookout for a retirement venue, should begin looking at the real estate listings.

The obvious question is why the author didn't include Disneyland on his itinerary, the self-styled "Happiest Place on Earth." That would've been an insightful touch with the potential for much humor, I suspect, if not necessarily uncovering overabundant happiness.

Weiner's style is easy-going and gently self-deprecatory. I like that in a travel essayist since a road trip of any length is best not taken too seriously.

There are travel narratives, and then there are travel narratives. I've usually found the best to be those through which runs a topical thread that wouldn't perhaps be cconceptualized by most writers. Attention All Shipping A Journey Round the Shipping Forecast (Radio 4 Book of the Week),Pagan Holiday On the Trail of Ancient Roman Tourists, and The Sinner's Grand Tour A Journey Through the Historical Underbelly of Europe fall into that category. THE GEOGRAPHY OF BLISS is similarly satisfying.
I'm a perpetually happy person. I also love data and research. So this book seemed like it would be an easy read. And it was. But in slow bites. I wanted to savor each country, ponder the quotes from people all around the world who think (or don't think) about happiness.

The writing style made this especially enjoyable. Travel the world with Eric and find out what happiness means to you.
O M G did not have that good a laugh in reading for a long time. What a wonderful sense of humor ! Don't understand the negative reviews, except for the fact that people maybe take themselves a little too seriously (or are just too grumpy)? And I'm glad I don't know 'Bryson' either ! I try to ration myself to a chapter / country a day. Would definitely read thru on an intercontinental flight. Combine an unorthodox approach to a search for what make people happy (clarification; not necessarily the author himself !!), with a knack for humor to immediately disarm the potential seriousness and possible pretense of the search, and you go page by page, from observation to observation, stopping at a thought, pretty much like the tasting of a good wine, but a different one all the time. He happens to visit a country I'm well familiar with because of my being born and growing up there, and I can tell you, Eric Weiner totally cracks me up, and if you read between the lines, gets it right at the same time, somehow ! Trying to define what 'Happiness' might mean in each case, and by adding the various perspectives up, allows the reader to explore the subject with him, at every step along the way. Scepticism is immediately balanced with relativity and humor, and the realization that he needs to keep himself 'open' and 'floating' in his search. I could go on and on, but will not; see for yourself; this book is so hilariously well-written, that it can induce the very state it is trying to define, in the reader ! Enjoy !
I really liked this book but buyer beware I’d give it 4 stars if you want a book only about what makes people happy. However, I gave it 5 stars for an overall great read that is part travel guide as well as being a study of happiness. If you like to travel you will love this book, Eric does a fantastic job combining the science you can read about with the human experience you can only get from being there.
I never expected to love this book, but I do! It is well-written and provocative. I led the discussion at my book club, and everyone there had a different opinion about what should be the "happiest place in the world". Weiner's sense of humor is dry and right on. There were a number of other readers who, like me, did not expect to like the book, and did! He describes places beautifully - you are there. His years of writing for NPR have surely paid off. He zeroes in on what is important, even though it seems he is a very casual tourist. He is not. He has a laser-like focus on the sense of place. I'll probably read more of his books now.s
I guess this book made me insane cause I smiled and laughed a lot while I read it. I was also amused while reading some of the negative reviews. People actually read this book thinking it would answer the age old question of what is happiness. That's not what you'll find. However the author's vast knowledge of both centuries old and modern day literature, art, and science on the subject is impressive.

It's a good, light read, intelligent and witty. It's critics seem to be those that expected him to explore every aspect of every culture he visited and come to profound conclusions. Instead he engages the reader with a breadth of knowledge on the studies of happiness, while making humorous cultural observations, and interviewing a wide scope of humans to get their observations on happiness.