The Blue Zones of Happiness: Lessons From the World's Happiest People

A National Geographic cover story hooked me into this book, and happiness is my beat anyway, so there really was no avoiding this one. The central idea: if you set up a framework for a more satisfying life, you’re more likely to have one.Pleasure, purpose, pride: these are the three intertwining strands constituting the robust rope of happiness. The Danes, perennially at the top of world happiness surveys, have a lot of their basic needs met by their generous government services. Danes also have a strong community ethos, so they join lots of clubs and engage in purposeful activities. Costa Ricans, who may have an even stronger community ethos, have lives full of pleasurable moments or “positive affect”: walking to work, joking with friends, playing with their kids. Singaporeans work 60hr weeks to get the 5 C’s: car, condominium, cash, credit card, and club membership. They take pride in their accomplishments, and that supposedly makes them happy. Although the description of their harried, materialistic, cramped lives seemed the antipodes of happiness, I'll take Buettner's word for it.What I really appreciate about Buettner’s work is his thoroughness. He goes into the field with a bunch of scientists, gathers the data, crunches the numbers, and presents us with the best practices. That’s why this book led me to his first Blue Zones book, on longevity, which I consider definitive. He’s also clear-eyed on the benefits of positive psychology: “They may work in the short run, but they almost always fail over time. They’re quick fixes that may evaporate before you know it.” To be happy in the long run, structure a happy life.I read this book in a day and highlighted 240 passages. It’s fantastic, and should be required reading for all bipeds. As a bonus, the appendix has a collection of Top 10 happiness practices from top experts for individuals and countries.-- Ali Binazir, M.D., M.Phil., Happiness Engineer and author of  The Tao of Dating: The Smart Woman's Guide to Being Absolutely Irresistible , the highest-rated dating book on Amazon for 4 years, and  Should I Go to Medical School?: An Irreverent Guide to the Pros and Cons of a Career in Medicine

Turns out the 180 degree fixes to your life don't stick and, therefore, aren't any kind of answer. Dan Buettner, from Blue Zones, shows us the science behind what does work (nudges), why it works (because you'll stick to them), and how we can bring these answers to our own lives and make ourselves a bit happier.There' real in value in learning about 1) the different types of happiness (the difference between the joy in a bar of chocolate and helping out a friend) and; 2) how different cultures excel at the different types. For example, it's one thing to say enjoy pleasure, but it's another thing altogether to do it - guilt free. These are not one-size-fits-all solutions but, rather, lessons from people who know how to do what they do best.This book makes me quite a bit smarter and one happier.

Excellent to be Purposed, Pleasured, and Proud.

I’m not a fan of touchy feely books and once I started to read this I regretted buying it-thinking this was going to be one and on top of that it discusses countries like Cota Rica, Denmark and Singapore being so happy. What does have to do with Americans and Main Street-we not ever going to be like those countries. But eventually I got the point, change your environment, change your life. Get a small aspect of these countries and nudge yourself to duplicate it. Join a tribe as to say surrounded yourself with Good positive people and families like Costa Rica. Find the 3 P’s-pleasure, purpose and pride. Optimize your environment to increase the odds of being happy mindful that genetically some people likes being depressed. There is a lot that you will learn to increase the odds of acquiring happiness.

A very informative and forward looking book. It is well written and easy to read. I would highly recommend it as an important read especially in today's difficult times. I have ordered The Blue Book Challenge and can't wait to read it. Gail Egan, Quakertown PA

I like all of this authors books. They are well researched and documented. It is an easy and enjoyable read. I purchased it to help me prepare a presentation on the topic: The Science of Happiness. It was one of the best resources I found, filling in the blanks with excellent information.

Bought this also for friends. We can learn a lot from others about being happy.

Mostly read it for school. Not bad.

An interesting book for those who love politics, understanding better how a country can make better political decision to make its people happier - yet not much of the book content can be applied. A good book to earn knowledge.

Loved it , ideas for my environment and myself , most valuable lesson : always thought happiness was all inside but seeing how much our surroundings nudge ya into happiness has made me want to impulse that change!

Oh, how I wish I had read this (and the prior books on Blue Zones) a few months earlier. I was struggling to help a friend achieve even a small bit of happiness. Having read the book, it now seems completely obvious what I should have told her, and how I could have helped her. So many answers in the book. So many actions that a person can take.

I looooove it .It’s literally my new bible 2020

Interessant geschrieben. Die Infos brachten mich zum Nachdenken. Habe es mit Genuss gelesen.