Fortified with Eeyoreish fatalism—I'm already unhappy. I have nothing to lose—Weiner set out on a yearlong quest to find the world's unheralded happy places. Having worked for years as an NPR foreign correspondent, he'd gone to many obscure spots, but usually to report bad news or terrible tragedies. With science as his compass, he spent a year visiting the world's most and least happy places, and the result is a charming, funny and illuminating travelogue. amazon