Who is the author of The Geography of Bliss?

The author of The Geography of Bliss is Eric Weiner.

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The Geography of Bliss Book Summary - The Geography of Bliss Book explained in key points

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The Geography of Bliss summary

Name: The Geography of Bliss
Rating: 4.2 (42 reviews)
Author: Eric Weiner

Eric Weiner

One Grump’s Search for the Happiest Places in the World

4.2 (42 ratings)

23 mins

Brief summary

The Geography of Bliss by Eric Weiner is a humorous and insightful exploration of what makes people happy around the world. Through personal anecdotes and research, the author uncovers cultural differences and similarities in the search for happiness.

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Table of Contents

The Geography of Bliss
Summary of 10 key ideas

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Key idea 1 of 10

What’s in it for me? Take a happy trip around the world in just ten blinks!

For the founding fathers of the United States, the freedom to pursue happiness was written into the country’s Declaration of Independence. But according to the latest data in happiness research, there are many other countries who are doing a far better job at keeping their citizens joyful and content with their lives.

But what can a country do to make its people happy? Should it make education and health care free, or perhaps eliminate taxes?

These are just some of the tactics we’ll look at in the blinks ahead, while also finding out the kinds of conditions that affect the lives of people who rank lowest on the happiness scale.

In these blinks, you’ll learn

which country keeps track of its Gross National Happiness;
that a good artistic and cultural scene is more important than wealth;
which Eastern European country ranks dead last in happiness.

The Netherlands is the headquarters of happiness research and one of the world’s happiest nations.

The idea of happiness research may strike you as strange. Is it even possible to scientifically measure happiness? Or is it a subjective and elusive quality?

Well, if you’re looking for the latest research on happiness, the best place to start is the Netherlands, where annual happiness conferences are held for researchers to compare their notes and methodologies.

Recently, the Netherlands has become something of a Mecca for happiness, and the Dutch professor Ruut Veenhoven has become its prophet. Veenhoven’s Journal of Happiness Studies is a highly influential publication and his World Database of Happiness is a vital resource for many of his peers, including the author himself.

The Database is a collection of statistics and results from research conducted around the world, and by bringing this information together, a great deal of insight can be obtained.

For example, the database makes it quite clear that married people are happier than singles, Democrats are less happy than Republicans, the rich are happier than the poor and women are just as happy as men.

But not all of the data is quite so clear-cut. In fact, some of it is contradictory: in many of the world’s happiest countries, for instance, suicide rates are higher than average. And while religious people are generally happier than the nonreligious, it’s the secular countries that are ranked the happiest.

It’s no surprise that the database is kept in the Netherlands, since many studies and articles in it show the Dutch to be among the happiest people in the world.

The question then becomes, why? Which conditions contribute the most to happiness? For the Netherlands, relevant factors could include being a democratic and wealthy European nation with a functioning welfare system. Tolerance is another potential reason for their happiness; the Dutch are famed for their tolerant attitude toward prostitution, drugs and immigration.

But how does one measure happiness anyway?

Well, there are many methods, some of which are highly dubious – to put it nicely. While counting smiles might get you mixed results, asking people to rank their own happiness is a surprisingly accurate way to go.

Swiss happiness is the result of precision, avoiding class conflicts and enjoying nature.

Another country consistently scoring high on the happiness charts is Switzerland.

You might think of Switzerland as being a rather sleepy place, and the legacy of “Swiss precision” is one of the only reputations that can make the punctual Germans look lazy.

In Bhutan, happiness shapes the national policy, while spirituality and Buddhism contribute.

The next stop on our tour of the world’s happiest places is Bhutan.

If you’re not familiar with Bhutan, it’s a small and remote Himalayan country located between its big neighbors, India and China. If you’ve ever dreamed of living like a monk and spending your days devoted to the peace and quiet of meditation, Bhutan is the place for you.

Qatar is rich, but due to a lack of culture and an unforgiving environment, there’s very little happiness.

Our next stop is a detour on the happiness tour, to a country that stands in great contrast to the penniless Bhutanese. It’s Qatar, an example of the old lesson that happiness can’t be bought.

Until the relatively recent oil boom of the 1980s, Qatar was just a deserted stretch of land, with one road and a few houses. While it has since been discovered that it is home to some of the world’s greatest reserves of oil and natural gas, the country is still 98 percent desert, an environment generally associated with unhappiness.

Icelanders have a vibrant culture and a beautiful landscape to fuel their happiness.

When you close your eyes and think of happiness, what kind of landscape comes to mind? Is it sunny blue skies with a grassy meadow or sandy beach?

These typical happy images are far from the daily life of Icelanders, yet their country is often near the top of the list when it comes to happiness.

Many factors lead to Moldova being the least happy place on Earth.

If Iceland such a happy place, it would be common sense to think a hot and oppressive country might be the world’s unhappiest place. Perhaps somewhere in Africa? Alas, no. According to Veenhoven’s World Database of Happiness, the world’s true hub of misery is a small strip of Eastern European land located between Romania and the Ukraine, known as Moldova.

There are a number of factors making Moldovans so unhappy, but at the top is economics.

Thais have found happiness in not taking life too seriously.

No exploration of the world’s happiest countries would be complete without a look at Thailand, known to some as the Land of Smiles.

You may know the saying about the Inuit people of the Arctic having multiple words for snow. Well, the Thais have a similar variety, but in this case it’s for different kinds of smiles. There’s “yim cheun chom,” the smile that expresses admiration; there’s “yim thak thaan,” the smile that says “I dislike your idea but go ahead;” and let’s not forget “yim sao,” the sad smile.

Britain has conducted some experiments on happiness, but it’s not considered as important as other qualities.

There’s a good chance you’ve experienced contagious laughter. But what about contagious happiness? Can a happy person enter an unhappy place and spread joy?

A group of TV producers in England were curious about these kinds of questions and applied them to the town of Slough, located just outside London and widely considered the dreariest place in the United Kingdom.

In India, happiness is big business, but there’s still some genuine wisdom to be found in it.

India is famous for its gurus, miracles and spirituality, and these characteristics attract thousands of Western tourists every year. Many of these travellers are people who are chasing bliss and feel the need to leave their comfortable environment for more exotic and happier lands of India.

When the author went to India, he went to hear the guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar speak to an audience about eternal bliss, but found that his words rang hollow.

The United States has been getting less happy as it has grown wealthier.

The United States ranks high on most lists dealing with economics and spending. But happiness isn’t a currency, and there are a lot of researchers who place the United States relatively low on the joy scale.

Adrian White is one such researcher. He works at the University of Leicester in England and he ranks the United States as twenty-third happiest in the world, below considerably less affluent countries as Costa Rica, Malta and Malaysia.

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What is The Geography of Bliss about?

The Geography of Bliss (2008) asks which nations are the happiest on Earth, and what it is about these countries that makes their citizens so joyful. The answers to these questions reveal some fundamental truths about our many cultural differences, as well as the many similarities and contradictions we share.

The Geography of Bliss Review

The Geography of Bliss (2008) takes readers on a journey around the world to explore what makes people happy and why some societies are happier than others. Here's why this book is worth reading:

It offers a fascinating exploration of happiness, revealing surprising cultural insights and challenging conventional wisdom.
Author Eric Weiner combines humor and wit with thoughtful observations, making the book an enjoyable and thought-provoking read.
The book's global perspective allows readers to gain a deeper understanding of happiness and provides valuable lessons for living a more fulfilling life.

Best quote from The Geography of Bliss

Americans buy self-help books as if their lives depend on them.

—Eric Weiner

Who should read The Geography of Bliss?

Everyone in search of bliss
Those with either a glass-half-full or glass-half-empty philosophy
Happiness researchers and people interested in the world’s different cultures of happiness

About the Author

Eric Weiner was a long-time foreign correspondent for National Public Radio, having been stationed in New Delhi, Jerusalem and Tokyo. His work covering Islamic news in Asia won him the Angel Award for outstanding journalism. His writing has appeared in the Los Angeles Times and the Washington Post, and his other best-selling books include The Geography of Genius.

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