I like to think I keep it pretty real on this blog. Whenever I share a product, or talk about a restaurant, everything I write in every post is my own personal, & genuine, opinion. Baubles & Bliss is a space where I share things that I love & that inspire me & honesty is always the best policy. So without further ado, here is my review of “The Geography of Bliss”.

I wasn’t the biggest fan & I didn’t finish it.

Yeah, okay it’s probably not fair that I didn’t finish it, but I really tried to. I really enjoyed the first 100 pages, but as I got deeper & deeper into the book, reading became more like work. You see, when I read, I want to get lost in the book…I want to be hungry for the next page. I think I started carrying purses around when I was younger so I could more easily transport my books. No matter where I was going, I would always have the current book I was reading in case there was a spare 5 minutes here or there to sneak in another chapter.

Unfortunately, this book felt more like work & I didn’t haul it around. But, after a lot of thought, I think I know why.

Any passages about traveling, or the cities themselves, captivated me. I love learning about how other people live & about different cultures, & I think that’s what I really wanted from this book. However, instead of talking to the people or observing their practices, Eric Weiner took a different approach & went straight to the experts. In between all the traveling were long conversations with scientists in the business of studying happiness.

Now, I’m really not convinced there is a secret formula or a perfect universal equation for happiness. Are there things that make us happy as humans? Sure. I don’t think there’s ever been a piece of chocolate that hasn’t made me a little bit happier. However, I honestly believe to each his own & to each his own pursuit of happiness.

In short, I think what I wanted was a narrative about the way the people in these statistically “happy” places lived their lives & what practices, policies & values put them at the top of the happiness charts. Instead, there were a lot more conversations with experts & the relaying of scientific studies. Ultimately, I didn’t feel like I was getting anything from it & other things were bringing me greater happiness, so for now it’s going back on the shelf.

Wow, I gave my first semi-harsh review. Now I feel like a real reviewer.

Don’t be scared Alan Bradley, cause next up is your book “The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie”! Someone gave me this one a while back, but I never got around to reading it. I found it last week while I was reorganizing my room, so I took it as a sign & now it’s the next book on the list.

I will be back with another honest review!