The Geography of Happiness

Eric Weiner's bestselling book is about his experiences in the world's happiest places. Bhutan, and surprisingly Iceland, come in first followed by Thailand, India and Switzerland. His main premise is that the places that were the most content were not the wealthiest or most prosperous nations, but ones in which social relationships and inter-connectedness of communities played a dominant role. Qatar, for example, which has sky high per capita icnome and no taxes, actually did pretty poorly on the happiness scale.

The "science of happiness" has tried to outline a formula on what makes people happy. But the one theme that sociologists echo over and over again is that the relationships in your life are what contribute most to the happiness quotient in your life. The U.S. has a culture where families are fragmented by distance and workaholic lifestyles, and neighbors are okay with not knowing each other- what does that say about the level of happiness in the world's wealthiest country? The increasing opportunity for remaining remote offered by the internet and the information age only makes matter worse (True that email and messaging makes communication easier, but also makes avoiding seeing people in person easier!)

The cliche that man is a social animal remains true even in this technologically sophsticated age. Making a difference or being valued by others remains the most satisying of impetuses, proabably just as much as it used to be in the last century. In the words of J.K. Rowling, love is what matters in the end! Why then, is our entire outside environment geared towards making us more successful, more wealthy and more powerful but not necessarily more loved? Humankind- a mystery as always!