Welcome to my website. I'm glad you found your way here, no matter how circuitous your routing might have been. I'm a long-time correspondent for National Public Radio (NPR) and author of a new book: The Geography of Bliss: One Grump's Search for the Happiest Places in the World.

Is this a travel book? Yes, but not a typical one. While I do log thousands of miles in researching the book, The Geography of Bliss is really a travelogue of ideas. I roam the world in search of answers to the pressing questions of our time: What are the essential ingredients for the good life? Why are some places happier than others? How are we shaped by our surroundings? Why can't airlines serve a decent meal?

Is this a work of journalism? Not really. It is, in a way, journalism turned on its head. Typically, foreign correspondents like myself travel to the world's least happy countries (think Iraq, Afghanistan, etc.) and seek out the least happy people there (refugees, war orphans). On one level, this is rewarding work. It can also be a real bummer. So for this book, I seek out the world's unheralded happy places. Countries that, in their own way, are busy pursuing that most American of pursuits: happiness.

Is this a self-help book? Perhaps, but not like any you've read before. I offer no simple bromides here. No chicken soup. You will find no easy answers in these pages. You will, however, find much to chew on and, perhaps, some unexpected inspiration. We Americans, it turns out, have no monopoly on the pursuit of happiness. There is wisdom to be found in the least likely of places.

Place. That is what The Geography of Bliss is about. How place—in every aspect of the word—shapes us, defines us. Change your place, I believe, and you can change your life.

I encourage you to begin the journey on this website, where you will learn more about me and how this admittedly harebrained project came about. You can view an audio slide show from Bhutan, a Himalayan kingdom with an official policy of Gross National Happiness. You can read an interview with me, see a schedule of upcoming appearances and browse some of my other writing. You can also let me know which places make you happy.

So, secure your seatbelt, observe the smoking sign, and please join me on my voyage. The ride may be bumpy at times, the food inedible, but the view is spectacular and the journey, I guarantee, worthwhile.

Cheers,