The ‘Geography of Bliss’ helps readers find joy

By Becka Turner

The subtitle of Eric Weiner’s book “The Geography of Bliss” sums up the gist of it, proclaiming that the book is about “one grump’s search for the happiest places in the world.”

Society today has created its members into beings thriving on enjoyment and constantly seeking after things that bring pleasure. But does pleasure equate happiness? Or is happiness found in a humble living with meager assets, where friends and family serve as entertainment? Maybe it’s a combination of both ideologies. What exactly is happiness and where can it be found? This is Weiner’s quest with Henry Miller’s words in mind that “One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.”

Weiner’s story begins in the Netherlands, where the study of happiness itself began. He seeks out Ruut Veenhoven, whom Weiner insists is a Dutch version of Robin Williams, professor of happiness studies. Veenhoven had created a World Happiness Database, accounting for many different aspects of happiness – what it is, what affects it, who has it most and where is it? Weiner gives the results of some studies, including optimists being happier than pessimists, religious people happier than nonreligious, Republicans happier than Democrats and so on.

In the Netherlands, he begins to contemplate what makes the Dutch people happy and surmises that it is their tolerance, their lack of rigid rules, in the Netherlands, many drugs are legal, and their laid-back, no-need-to-be-anywhere way of life.

Weiner proceeds to travel to many places throughout the world, those that his reliable World Happiness Database claims to be happy. He takes a jot down to Switzerland where happiness entails boredom, order and cleanliness, the polar opposite of the Netherlands, where happiness is drug-enhanced experiences and raucousness.

His journeyings follow Bhutan, where happiness is found in poverty and service; Qatar, where happiness is found in the finer things in life; Iceland, where happiness is found in community and enjoying the journey; Moldova, where happiness, as Weiner said, “is somewhere else,” to India, Thailand, Great Britain and eventually to explore how his own native country, the United States, compares.

Weiner worked for many years as a journalist and international correspondent for National Public Radio. His experience with writing makes him a qualified writer of a book that provokes thought out of its readers, thought not only on happiness, what it is and how it can be attained, but on issues that are impacting the world, right down to the individual. In his book, Weiner discovers that happiness can be found almost anywhere, as easily as misery, however some places facilitate the attitude of happiness more than others.

As a journalist, Weiner breaks the self-proclaimed first cardinal rule of journalism, to “never reveal too much about yourself.” In “The Geography of Bliss,” the author reveals a lot about many mysterious places of the world as well as himself. Writing with dry wit, subtle humor and rich, textured prose, Weiner portrays life with clarity and truth, taking his readers with him on his eternal search for happiness. Applying Miller’s words as well as his own for this journey finding that “We want to achieve our happiness, not just experience it.”

“The Geography of Bliss” may not be an atlas in the search for happiness but is sure to bring the reader joy.

–beck.turner@aggiemail.usu.edu