Researching the Book

The Geography of Bliss is, of course, a travel book, so naturally I logged many miles researching it. But my journey began in a library. Specifically, the University of Miami's Richter Library. The world may or may not be a happy place, but the study of happiness is definitely a growth industry.

I started from the beginning, diving into what the classic thinkers—Aristotle, Plato and the like—had to say about happiness. Quite a lot, it turns out. Much of it remains remarkably relevant today.

Next, I scoured the latest research generated by the emerging "science of happiness." For a century, psychologists and sociologists more or less ignored the subject of happiness. Now, they are catching up with a vengeance. There is an academic journal—the Journal of Happiness Studies—dozens of books published each year and enough research papers to fill a small stadium. I read much, though certainly not all, of this literature.

Researching a book on a subject as vast and multi-faceted as happiness requires not only diligence but also a degree of luck. One of my more fortunate discoveries was the work of geographer Yi-Fu Tuan. He has published many books but is not widely known beyond academic circles. That's a shame. His insights into how we humans shape—and are shaped by—our surroundings are fascinating and provided much for me to chew on.

And then I hit the road. I spent months at a time overseas, interspersed with trips back home to see my wife and daughter (and return to the library). It was grueling, my search for the world's happiest places, but rewarding as well, as I hope you agree.

Many people asked me how I went about doing the on-the-ground research. Did I roam the streets of London or Reykjavik or Doha asking people if they were happy? Not exactly. I dipped into my foreign correspondent's bag-of-tricks and used old contacts to find new contacts in the countries I visited. Again, luck played a big role, and I marveled at how I always managed to meet the right people in the right places and at the right time.

It wasn't always so easy, though, to get these people to talk about happiness. To be honest, it's not something most of the world (outside the U.S.) thinks about very often. Perhaps, I wondered, that is one of the secrets to happiness: not thinking about it.

Unlike my days as a foreign correspondent, my schedule on the road was dictated by local rhythms, not the demands of the news cycle. I made a point to linger in each place I visited, never hurrying through a conversation or a meal, as so often I was forced to do when on assignment. This was a real joy—one of many—in researching The Geography of Bliss.