Riassunto esame Lingua e letteratura inglese, prof. Weekes, libro consigliato The geography of bliss, Weiner

THE NETHERLANDS

Eric Weiner, the author of this book, decides to go in search of the happiest and blissful places in the world. The first place that he visits is The Netherlands. Here he rents an apartment in Rotterdam, the city where he starts his research and where there is the "godfather of happiness researches", the professor Ruut Veenhoven (the first scientist who deals with the pursuit of happiness and of happy places all over the world). Our author goes to WDH (World Database of Happiness) for meeting and interviewing Veenhoven. He starts the interview in a normal and calm way, asking the professor how did he became interested in happiness studies. Veenhoven is a sociologist who started to work in this topic thanks to Jeremy Bentham and his utilitarian theory of happiness, but also thanks to other famous and oldest philosopher such as Aristotle, Plato, Kant, Schopenhauer and many others.

Other study areas that allow research on happiness are: religion and data. Religion is important because instructs people who believe in the way of bliss, while data are equally essential as they "give credibility" to the topic. After an introduction to his education, he starts analyzing the different way in which happiness can express itself and where people can be more happy. Veenhoven tells to Weiner that the world "happiness" and also how is it used change from country to country. We aren't able to know how and why a country is happier than another, we only know that there are some places where people are happier than others who live in different countries.

After interviewing Veenhoven, the author dedicates the rest of his stay in Rotterdam analyzing data about poor and rich countries, democracies and dictatorships etc...

At the end of the chapter Weiner argues that Ditches are happy because they are tolerant. Tolerance makes you happy and the three aspects that differentiate Dutch from others are: cycling, drugs and prostitution.

The author decides to try one of these aspects and be finally happy like Dutch people: he wants to try drugs in coffee shop, but he finds out that is only a pleasure and "there's more to life than pleasure".

The first chapter ends with the awareness (presa di coscienza) of the author about happiness. The Netherlands is the starting point of his research, that doesn't stop with data/statistics and spreadsheets, but it continues in another country of his "bliss atlas": Switzerland!

THE NETHERLANDS (CAP.1)

Eric Weiner, the author of this book, decides to go in search of the happiest and blissful places in the world. The first place that he visits is The Netherlands. Here he rents an apartment in Rotterdam, the city where he starts his research and where there is the "godfather of happiness researches", the professor Ruut Veenhoven (the first scientist who deals with the pursuit of happiness and of happy places all over the world). Our author goes to WDH (World Database of Happiness) for meeting and interviewing Veenhoven. He starts the interview in a normal and calm way, asking the professor how did he became interested in happiness studies. Veenhoven is a sociologist who started to work in this topic thanks to Jeremy Bentham and his utilitarian theory of happiness, but also thanks to other famous and oldest philosophers such as Aristotle, Plato, Kant, Schopenhauer and many others.

Other study areas that allow research on happiness are: religion and data. Religion is important because instructs people who believe in the way of bliss, while data are equally essential as they "give credibility" to the topic. After an introduction to his education, he starts analyzing the different way in which happiness can express itself and where people can be more happy. Veenhoven tells to Weiner that the world "happiness" and also how it is used change from country to country. We aren't able to know how and why a country is happier than another, we only know that there are some places where people are happier than others who live in different countries.

After interviewing Veenhoven, the author dedicates the rest of his stay in Rotterdam analyzing data about poor and rich countries, democracies and dictatorships etc... At the end of the chapter Weiner argues that Ditches are happy because they are tolerant. Tolerance makes you happy and the three aspects that differentiate Dutch from others are: cycling, drugs and prostitution.

The author decides to try one of these aspects and be finally happy like Dutch people: he wants to try drugs in coffee shop, but he finds out that is only a pleasure and "there's more to life than pleasure".

The first chapter ends with the awareness (presa di coscienza) of the author about happiness. The Netherlands is the starting point of his research, that doesn't stop with data/statistics and spreadsheets, but it continues in another country of his "bliss atlas": Switzerland!

SWITZERLAND (CAP. 2)

The second country visited by the author is Switzerland. He immediately realizes that the stereotypes about Switzerland are true: everything is efficient, functional, clean; trains are extremely punctual; chocolate is