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1-Page Summary of The Geography Of Bliss

Overall Summary

Eric Weiner travels the world in search of happiness. He visits a man named Ruut Veenhofen who studies what makes people happy. The author then creates an atlas of happy places to visit and smokes hashish while in the Netherlands.

In Switzerland, Weiner travels by train. The clean country has happy residents who don’t have much to be unhappy about. However, they’re limited in their range of emotions and can only feel a few things at once. He spends some time eating chocolate, which is better than any other food he’s had before. Next he flies to Bhutan, an isolated Buddhist country with different customs from the rest of the world. There are healers and temples there that make him feel more peaceful than anywhere else in the world.

Weiner then travels to Qatar. The recently-wealthy Muslim country has a tribe ruled by an emir. Members of the tribe receive large amounts of money, instead of paying taxes. Foreigners do the work. Despite the money, Qataris do not seem very happy because they are not allowed to drink alcohol or go out in public without wearing their traditional clothing (the men wear white robes and headgear). Some people say that Muslim faith produces happiness; others disagree with this view.

Weiner goes to Iceland after Qatar. The country is cold, but the people are happy because they trust each other and share a common culture. This produces happiness rather than wealth.

In Moldova, the people are unhappy. They don’t have any money, but they still aren’t happy. Weiner then goes to Thailand where people seem happier than in America. A coup takes place while he’s there and he leaves for England where a television show attempts to increase happiness among residents of Slough (a town known for being miserable). He interviews some of those residents about their experiences on the show.

In India, Weiner explored an ashram and interviewed many people. He found sadness as well as happiness in the country of contradictions.

Weiner moved to Miami. However, he didn’t like the city and many of his friends left as well.

Introduction

In the beginning, Weiner talks about how he and his friend tried to travel as 5-year-olds. He then goes on to say that after college, he became a journalist in order to travel. He also says that he visited many countries while working for National Public Radio (NPR), which was partly why he decided to become a journalist.

In the beginning of his book, he says that most people have been unhappy throughout history. However, in recent times there has been an expectation of happiness among people.

Weiner argues that happiness comes from within, but it’s also affected by the environment. He says we should not think of happiness as a place to go, but rather as a state of mind or an attitude to have.

Since the beginning of time, people have dreamed about a perfect place. The author studies happiness and prepares for his trip by reading travel guides. He travels to many places, but doesn’t really expect to find happiness anywhere.

Chapter 1: “The Netherlands—Happiness Is a Number”

Weiner’s article explains that people like to watch other people having fun. As such, they enjoy going to cafes and watching pornography. He visits a café in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. It is a contrast of strict anti-Muslim policies and tolerance for sex and drugs.

Weiner meets a Dutch researcher who studies happiness. He runs the World Database of Happiness, which includes locations and things that make people happy. The database was started in the 1960s by Veenhofen, who instead of aspiring for an ideal social system as his friends did, tried to study positive results. Today there are numerous researchers like him studying positive social sciences.