I have totally mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand, you have to really give some love to someone who writes a book about happiness. There seemed to be a lot of thought put into this book, genuine research with real scientists at UCLA who study what makes people happy, because it is somewhat of an art and skill that can be learned. So kudos to the author for writing a book that tries to share with us his the formula for happiness. And really, there are some good reminders in there for us. If you write down the list (that Hector keeps), which is a pretty simple list, you can pretty much keep remind yourself of when you are straying from thoughts and behaviors that keep you happy. Though some are intagible, like "Living in a country where the government treats you well." So, I compliment the author on his good intentions.
Ok, so why only three stars? I found the whimsical parable-like children's book style of writing to be completely inconsistent with the character's behavior. It seemed kind of charming and adorable at first, but then it got totally annoying. Especially since you'd be skimming along quite nicely, thinking it was a Universal tale with Universal themes (and thus the parable-like narration)and then next thing you know the author is sleeping with a prostitute. Of course, the character writes in such a naive tone that he didn't realize it was a prostitute - Oops! But I thought that was really jarring - especially since the main character, Hector, had a girlfriend at home when he did this. He went off and slept with another woman too, just because he could. I realize that he is a young French man, and that is what young boys can do in their quest for happiness, but it really didn't fit in with the tone of the book at all. The character didn't show any remorse or regret about cheating on his girlfriend at all. It was just part of his experiment. Mind you, this wouldn't annoy me in another book, with a more complicated character, but that is not what this book was trying to pull off. He would describe these one night stands as "we did what people do when they are in love". It was pretty annoying.
Another totally annoying aspect of the book (as another reviewer pointed out) is that he would say he was in China but would refer to his own country as "the country where Hector is from", and never said France. Why the mystery? He referred to America as "the Big Place with the most psychiatrists". He would say he was in Africa but not what part, and would describe in these childish phrases some countries but could name others. I saw no reason why the author and editors chose to keep the names of these places a secret. Additionally, they kept referring to him and his comrades as speaking English when that didn't make sense either. So many inconsistencies.
So, if you are expecting a mystical travel book with insights into different people in different countries, you are not going to find that here. If you are looking for a whimsical way to pass the time, and want something completely light that gives you a little bit to ponder about happiness perhaps you might give this a go.
