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| The Geography of Bliss: One Grump's Search for the Happiest Places in the World | 
 enlarge | Author: Eric Weiner
Publisher: Twelve
Category: Book
List Price: $25.99
Buy New: $8.37
You Save: $17.62 (68%)
Buy New/Used/Collectible from $8.37
Avg. Customer Rating:  (87 reviews)
Sales Rank: 4906
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 329
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 9 x 6.1 x 1.4
ISBN: 0446580260
Dewey Decimal Number: 910.4
EAN: 9780446580267
ASIN: 0446580260
Publication Date: January 3, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 What a grump!! May 29, 2008
2 out of 7 found this review helpful
If you were expecting an enlightened review of the most blissful places on Earth, please save your money. The author (and I use this term loosely) only sees life from a "glass half empty" perspective. The first chapter enlightens one that you can find the best hash in the world in Amsterdam, which provides the author "bliss." I tried to start the second chapter, but when he starts out noting his hatred of the Swiss and deriding their timeliness and devotion to chocolate, I couldn't read any more.
What a sad, pathetic man! But would you expect anything less than this from a contributor to NPR? I will be donating this useless, waste-of-my-time drivel to my local library for a tax write-off!
 Only my second review May 29, 2008
This is only my second review because, while I enjoy many books, seldom does one evoke such enthusiasm (Oracle Bones was the other, by the way). More than and different from a typical "travel book," this is a philosophical exploration of unusual places, full of personal observations and concise but interesting tidbits of scientific research. Think Bill Bryson writing Eat, Pray, Love.
This is a book to underline and to savor.
Humor and Armchair Travel May 27, 2008
I bought this book for my husband (the lovable grump), but couldn't resist reading it. Weiner's book is a quick and enjoyable read. His humor is more sophisticated than Bill Bryson's (to whom he's been compared) and the places he covers are off the beaten path (Bhutan, Iceland, Moldova...). Read it if you enjoy a laugh, are curious about what makes people happy, or if you love to travel. It's a great book to give as a gift--I must have recommended it to more than a half dozen people since reading it a few weeks ago!
 Fun good read May 23, 2008
This book is humorous and thought inducing. Written in a style similar to Bill Bryson, I found it to be knowlegeable and inciteful. I would highly recomend it.
Happiness comes in the most unexpected ways May 22, 2008
I suppose for most of us the idea of reading a book about happiness seems, well, superfluous. We all have our little ways of getting happy, right? It might be settling down to a bowl of Ben and Jerry's ice cream, or hiking in the woods, or vegging on the sofa watching an old movie. But what Eric Weiner has done in this book is to transport us to the most unlikely of places and expose us to the most unlikely customs....eating rotten shark's meat in Iceland or having everything done in Qatar by immigrants so no one has to lift a finger. I found this a most interesting tour of the world's cultures by someone genuinely interested in trying to answer the question of what really makes us happy. In the end, it made me happy just reading about these places and these customs. A most enjoyable read. Good for myopic Americans to read - by the fire, with ice cream, or any old way.
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