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The Geography of Bliss
- One Grump's Search for the Happiest Places in the World
- Narrated by: Eric Weiner
- Length: 11 hrs and 4 mins
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Publisher's summary
Part travel memoir, part humor, and part twisted self-help guide, The Geography of Bliss takes the listener across the globe to investigate not what happiness is, but WHERE it is. Are people in Switzerland happier because it is the most democratic country in the world? Do citizens of Qatar, awash in petrodollars, find joy in all that cash? Is the King of Bhutan a visionary for his initiative to calculate Gross National Happiness? Why is Asheville, North Carolina so damn happy?
In a unique mix of travel, psychology, science and humor, Eric Weiner answers those questions and many others, offering travelers of all moods some interesting new ideas for sunnier destinations and dispositions.
Critic reviews
"In the end, Weiner's travel tales - eating rotten shark meat in Iceland, smoking hashish in Rotterdam, trying to meditate at an Indian ashram - provide great happiness for his readers." (Publishers Weekly)
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Story
In our increasingly frantic daily lives, many people are genuinely fearful of the prospect of solitude, but time alone can be both rich and restorative, especially when travelling. Through on-the-ground reporting and recounting the experiences of artists, writers, and innovators who cherished solitude, Stephanie Rosenbloom considers how being alone as a traveler - and even in one's own city - is conducive to becoming acutely aware of the sensual details of the world - patterns, textures, colors, tastes, sounds - in ways that are difficult to do in the company of others.
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Good story
- By MC on 01-02-19
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The Sex Lives of Cannibals
- Adrift in the Equatorial Pacific
- By: J. Maarten Troost
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 8 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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At age 26, Maarten Troost decided to pack up his flip-flops and move to a remote South Pacific island. The idea of dropping everything and moving to the ends of the earth was irresistibly romantic. But he should have known better.
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HILARIOUS
- By Elizabeth on 08-17-08
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The Great Railway Bazaar
- By: Paul Theroux
- Narrated by: Frank Muller
- Length: 10 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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The Great Railway Bazaar is Paul Theroux's account of his epic journey by rail through Asia. Filled with evocative names of legendary train routes - the Direct-Orient Express, the Khyber Pass Local, the Delhi Mail from Jaipur, the Golden Arrow to Kuala Lumpur, the Hikari Super Express to Kyoto, and the Trans-Siberian Express - it describes the many places, cultures, sights and sounds he experienced and the fascinating people he met.
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Just about as good as it gets...
- By david d. on 03-27-11
By: Paul Theroux
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Vagabonding
- An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel
- By: Rolf Potts
- Narrated by: Rolf Potts
- Length: 4 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Vagabonding is about taking time off from your normal life - from six weeks to four months to two years - to discover and experience the world on your own terms. Veteran shoestring traveler Rolf Potts shows how anyone armed with an independent spirit can achieve the dream of extended overseas travel.
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I wanted to love this book...
- By Scott Shepherd on 10-10-16
By: Rolf Potts
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Hector and the Search for Happiness
- By: François Lelord
- Narrated by: James Clamp
- Length: 3 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Hector is very good at treating patients in need of his help. But he can’t do much for those who are simply dissatisfied with life, and that is beginning to depress him. When a patient tells him he looks in need of a vacation, Hector takes a trip around the world to learn what makes people happy—and sad. As he travels from Paris to China to Africa to the United States, he lists his observations about the people he meets. Is there a secret to happiness, and will Hector find it? Hector’s journey ventures around the globe and into the human soul.
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Wonderful, uplifting, full of wisdom ;-)
- By Birta Flokadottir on 05-04-15
By: François Lelord
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The Catch Me If You Can
- One Woman's Journey to Every Country in the World
- By: Jessica Nabongo
- Narrated by: Jessica Nabongo
- Length: 12 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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In this inspiring travelogue, celebrated traveler and photographer Jessica Nabongo—the first Black woman on record to visit all 195 countries in the world—shares her journey around the globe with fascinating stories of adventure, culture, travel musts, and human connections.
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Mixed Bag of Vapid and Deep Reflection
- By John Leonard on 01-02-23
By: Jessica Nabongo
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Eat, Pray, Love
- One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India, and Indonesia
- By: Elizabeth Gilbert
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Gilbert
- Length: 12 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Around the time Elizabeth Gilbert turned 30, she went through an early-onslaught midlife crisis. She went through a divorce, a crushing depression, another failed love, and the eradication of everything she ever thought she was supposed to be. To recover from all this, Gilbert took a radical step. She got rid of her belongings, quit her job, and undertook a yearlong journey around the world, all alone. This is the absorbing chronicle of that year.
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An Inner Journey within an External One
- By YoginiZora on 07-20-06
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Work
- A Deep History, from the Stone Age to the Age of Robots
- By: James Suzman
- Narrated by: Nicholas Guy Smith
- Length: 13 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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Work defines who we are. It determines our status and dictates how, where, and with whom we spend most of our time. It mediates our self-worth and molds our values. But are we hardwired to work as hard as we do? Did our Stone Age ancestors also live to work and work to live? And what might a world where work plays a far less important role look like? To answer these questions, James Suzman charts a grand history of "work" from the origins of life on Earth to our ever more automated present, challenging some of our deepest assumptions about who we are.
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if you like Jared Diamond's work, you'll like this
- By Mark on 04-09-22
By: James Suzman
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Wild
- From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail
- By: Cheryl Strayed
- Narrated by: Bernadette Dunne
- Length: 13 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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At 22, Cheryl Strayed thought she had lost everything. In the wake of her mother's death, her family scattered and her own marriage was soon destroyed. Four years later, with nothing more to lose, she made the most impulsive decision of her life: to hike the Pacific Crest Trail from the Mojave Desert through California and Oregon to Washington State - and to do it alone. She had no experience as a long-distance hiker, and the trail was little more than “an idea, vague and outlandish and full of promise.” But it was a promise of piecing back together a life that had come undone.
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Glad I Took the Trip
- By FanB14 on 04-08-13
By: Cheryl Strayed
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The Happiness Project
- By: Gretchen Rubin
- Narrated by: Gretchen Rubin
- Length: 10 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Gretchen Rubin had an epiphany one rainy afternoon in the unlikeliest of places: a city bus. "The days are long, but the years are short," she realized. "Time is passing, and I'm not focusing enough on the things that really matter." In that moment, she decided to dedicate a year to her happiness project.
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Disappointed
- By Brian on 03-14-11
By: Gretchen Rubin
What listeners say about The Geography of Bliss
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- J. L. Tucker
- 06-26-16
as a fellow Grump I'm a fan of this book.
I've listened to this book multiple times and seem to get something new out of it each time. I really appreciate the author's performance of his own work. Highly recommended.
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2 people found this helpful
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- David Pyle
- 04-01-21
Wonderful listen, but...
Minor frustration: chapters in audiobook don't match chapters being read
Otherwise, I loved listening to this snapshot of how many other cultures define and pursue happiness. Both gave insight to other countries views and my own countries influence on my happiness
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- Carrie Me
- 08-23-23
Such a fun listen
I loved this listen. I’m so glad the author narrates his own book bc he sounds just as I pictured he would in my mind. This is a delightful listen, while also being interesting and absolutely full of cultural insights.
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Overall
- Heizenberg
- 11-20-10
Fantastic
What a great read. The Geography of Bliss is a really fun book covering several exciting travel destinations. Eric is a great narrator and provides some interesting and often amusing insights to different cultures around the world. Lots of ideas for future travel plans!
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4 people found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 04-26-16
Excellent and Insightful
I can't imagine anything you could read that would shed more insight on what constitutes happiness or the search for it. Author Weiner has done his global homework here. From New Delhi to North Carolina, Weiner searches to find commonalities about what makes us happy. What he finds could possibly make us all, well, happier.
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2 people found this helpful
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- E
- 09-11-18
Happiness is socially constructed
I thoroughly enjoyed this book which was written in NPR Story Corp fashion. The audio narration by the author created the sense that I was in each of the countries he visited.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Lee Horton
- 09-12-15
amusing geography
and amusing but insightful introduction to countries that I had little knowledge of. Weiner is able to grasp the significance in the insignificant aspects of life.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Jeffrey Lyons
- 04-04-18
Nothing preachy in this book. Awesome!
The author isn't trying to convince you of anything. Just reporting the facts. Well done
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1 person found this helpful
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- Kem
- 09-04-17
Write Don't Read
The story would have held my interest more if the reader had been better. His voice was whiny and boring. Too many times I turned it off because I could not stand another moment of his voice. Tell Eric to stick to writing and let someone else do the reading!
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- Chris Bushnell
- 07-31-16
it was enjoyable read... nice before sleep book
it says right in the title... a grumpy guide. while I did not mind the husband enjoyed it less then i. he likes things upbeat and nice, so if you are strong in your beliefs enjoy the world and different points of view and how the rest of the world lives you should enjoy this read.
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1 person found this helpful