my take: I love to travel and the lure of potential great places to visit motivated me to buy & read this. I like his style … it’s “one grump’s search for the happiest places in the world.” He’s a bit of a reluctant traveler and a great story teller.

I was surprised by the places he visited … I thought for sure Costa Rica would be among the happiest places … he chose his places for varied reasons and includes his visit to the least happy country.

Interspersed in his travel stories are studies and thoughts on happiness. It’s a subject in which I’m interested (see also The Happiness Project), so I liked the book a lot. It wasn’t very helpful for travel planning, but very useful for information on happiness to use in my life skills class and my life.

my source: my mother

my verdict: good non-fiction read