I just finished reading a travel memoir called "The Geography of Bliss: One Grump's search for the Happiest Places in the World", that was both humorous and introspective. Eric Weiner deserves points for devising a new way to address the question of what makes peaple happy and why. To this end he goes off to nine unusual locales including Bhutan, Iceland and Qatar. His final stop is United States, which "is not as happy as it is wealthy". With engaging wit and some suprising insights, the author ( a self-professed grump) offers travelers some interesting new ideas for sunnier destinations and dispositions.

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