The Geography of Bliss - Eric Weiner

I often stop and ask myself if I am happy - or I remind myself that I should be happy. I am, in general, the type of person that tends to dwell on the unhappy - so the premise of this book appealed to me (the secondary title is, after all, One Grump's Search for the Happiest Place in the World). The author, a journalist, does his research and chapter by chapter visits and analyzes the happiest and least happiest countries in the world, in an effort to understand what it is that makes people happy. The result is part travel memoir and part psychological generalizations. What seemed to emerge from the various opinions and thoughts about happiness (from the happy countries of Iceland and Thailand to the unhappy country of Moldova), is that Americans are probably more occupied with this elusive quest than most others. The book started out strong with Weiner's hypotheses about what he would find in these various places. But, as the book dragged on, I found I was no longer interested in his assessment of different cultures and practices. While it is clear that Weiner did do research while in these countries - presenting his conversations with different people, from laymen to professors studying happiness - in many ways it just came across as a distorted version of reality - one grump's opinion of what he wanted to see in each of the places he visited. I still like the idea of this book - I think finding a way to just be happy is a good thing - and thinking about how other people accomplish this is probably a fine first step in that direction. But, ultimately, I did not feel as if Weiner actually wanted to find the answer. Instead, I think he was more preoccupied with debunking the reasons people gave for their happiness and finding ways to validate his negative outlook on life.