(no subject)
so, i'm reading this book called "the geography of bliss". i picked it up in the travel literature section of indigo; a section a frequently find myself pulled toward by an invisible force every time i enter the store. i very much enjoy reading about different places around the world, especially places that i have been to. there's a chapter on the netherlands and great britain and, albeit i've never been there (but really, really want to go) iceland. so, i bought it.
i figured that, being in the travel literature section, it would be a collection of short travel essays composed by the author, reveling in his past adventures. to a degree, it is. however, the main focus of the book is happiness and the different views and priorities that certain cultures have toward it. it cites psychologists and scientists from many countries and centuries and their opinions on the matter. it questions the relationship between people and happiness, trying to find the source of it: money, career, relationships with other people, your surroundings/culture of the society you live in, government, personal achievements and success, etc.
now, i've not finished the book yet, but i came across a statement that was posed early on in it's chapters: according to the 'world database of happiness' (a scientific research group that is devoted to collecting information about people around the world and what makes them happy vs. what doesn't and compiles this data for statistics) that most people are happy. for me, this is hard to believe, but that's just me. the author of the book finds this hard to believe as well. on his journeys, he asks everyone who he encounters:
on a scale of one to ten, how happy are you and why?
i figured that, being in the travel literature section, it would be a collection of short travel essays composed by the author, reveling in his past adventures. to a degree, it is. however, the main focus of the book is happiness and the different views and priorities that certain cultures have toward it. it cites psychologists and scientists from many countries and centuries and their opinions on the matter. it questions the relationship between people and happiness, trying to find the source of it: money, career, relationships with other people, your surroundings/culture of the society you live in, government, personal achievements and success, etc.
now, i've not finished the book yet, but i came across a statement that was posed early on in it's chapters: according to the 'world database of happiness' (a scientific research group that is devoted to collecting information about people around the world and what makes them happy vs. what doesn't and compiles this data for statistics) that most people are happy. for me, this is hard to believe, but that's just me. the author of the book finds this hard to believe as well. on his journeys, he asks everyone who he encounters:
on a scale of one to ten, how happy are you and why?