Picks and Pans Review: 'The Geography of Bliss'

by Eric Weiner |

REVIEWED BY JONATHAN DURBIN

MEMOIR

Weiner is a self-confessed grump who took a break from covering grim news for NPR to seek out “unheralded happy places.” Visiting high-scorers in the World Database of Happiness (winners include Thailand and Switzerland), he made some fascinating discoveries. The emptiness he felt in a luxury Qatar hotel, for instance, serves as an excellent warning against visiting wealthy countries. In the end, he learns that money can’t buy happiness, but it can buy you a ticket out of Moldova, the grim former Soviet republic. And sometimes that’s just enough.

Updated by CASSIDY STOCKWELL