The Geography of Bliss – which I photographed here in Hong Kong’s airport – has attained lucky No #8 status on the NYT-bestseller list just before Chinese New Year!

Congrats to my friend Eric Weiner, a self-described mope and longtime foreign correspondent for National Public Radio based out of Asia (He was also based in Delhi and Jerusalem).

In his reports from more than thirty countries, Eric distinguished himself by not only covering wars and other major world events, but by zooming in to the burning issues we really want to know about: Japan’s high-tech toilets and Baghdad’s pet market.

Subtitled One Grump’s Search for the Happiest Places in the World Eric’s book investigates why some countries are happy, including:

• India Happiness and misery live side-by-side.

• Bhutan The king has made Gross National Happiness a national priority.

• Switzerland Residents believe envy is the great enemy of happiness.

• Iceland Despite being cold, remote, and full of failure, is among the world’s happiest places – and for good reason, the author finds.

Great book! I highly recommend it.

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