 | The Geography of Bliss: One Grump's Search for the Happiest Places in the WorldWritten by Eric WeinerNon-Fiction Weiner, a foreign correspondent for NPR, has traveled extensively, mostly to troubled spots around the world. Where in this world, he wonders, would happiness exist, and he takes a year to find if happiness can exist in a geographic location. Weiner writes in a fury, his mind jumps around about as much as his travel, but once on the cadence, I enjoyed this armchair travel to Amsterdam, Bhutan, India, Switzerland, Thailand, Qatar, Great Britain, Moldova (happiness is somewhere else), and Iceland. Weiner has a natural charisma and a journalistic flare for drawing people in and writing their stories. He also shares his rather neurotic, chaotic and well-read self. As Weiner points out, “Our happiness is completely and utterly intertwined with other people…happiness is not a noun or a verb. It’s a conjunction. Connective tissue." Recommended by Carol |