"The Geography of Bliss: One Grump's Search for the Happiest Places in the World," by Eric Weiner

This was an interesting read. I'm quite guilty myself of thinking in terms of "If I just lived in _______ I'd be happier," so I was pretty excited to discover that this book more or less endorses the idea that the society you live in can indeed make you either happy or miserable. So now that I've given the gist of his findings away, let me backtrack...

Weiner spent years as an NPR foreign correspondent, and had already traveled to some of the most miserable, war-torn and disease-ravaged areas on the planet. So he quickly clarifies that his new investigation will eliminate places under such obvious duress that happiness would not really be possible. If a country has been decimated by civil war for the past 20 years, it's pretty safe to say that the people of that country are going to score pretty low on the "rate your happiness from one to ten" test. So he focuses on countries that are not currently fighting wars on their own soil, and which are not facing devastating droughts, famine or disease.

Weiner looks at the stats, creates his list, and prepares to spend one year traveling the world to visit the happiest places (Iceland, The Netherlands, and Bhutan) and unhappiest places (Moldova and Qatar) on the planet. Before he dives into his official trip, however, he visits Rotterdam's World Database of Happiness, hoping to get some better idea of how to measure happiness. He talks to researchers who have spent years trying to determine the nature of happiness, the value of happiness, and how a largely undefinable abstract can be quantified in any meaningful way. They turn out to be surprisingly incapable of shedding any light on the subject, and he leaves feeling rather unsure of how this experiment might turn out.

In the course of his travels, Weiner spends time meditating at an Indian ashram, smoking hash in Amsterdam, and interviews wise men and women in Europe, Asia, and the good ole US of A, and he shares some eye-opening discoveries with his readers, such as:

*In order to have a happy society you don't necessarily need wealth or
democracy. They have neither in Bhutan, which rates highly in happiness terms,
but they have both in Qatar, where people seem relatively miserable.

*In all happy societies, trust in one's fellow citizens and government, and a
reverence for the society's culture are hugely important.

Along the way we learn about Weiner's own struggles with depression and pessimism and ultimately he weaves an interesting tale that's not so deep that it turns into an existential exercise, nor so shallow that it can be easily skimmed. If you've ever wondered what makes a place, a mere location, happy or miserable (or if you've ever wondered if happiness can be created or transplanted), this is a worthwhile and satisfying read.