This is a cute book that deals with words that have to do with being happy. They are words that don't translate to other languages well. It was a cute book, especially for those that enjoy language.

Hello, I'm really sorry to be unable to review this title. I had the misfortune of the file expiring before I decided to read it.: I had forgotten that downloadable files expire unlike send-to-kindle titles. I'm completely at fault: I managed to only swipe theough a few pages before it closed off, hence I'm unable to leave a review.

While hygge is the best known of the words in the global lexicon of happiness, Hayes expands to include 49 more. Very interesting to see different cultural and linguistic approaches to the universal pull towards a state of contentment - or, happiness - or, kefi.
While not quite a coffee-table book in the traditional sense, it's easy to just pick up and read about a word or two. (I imagine it would be a lovely addition to a bedside table in a guest room!)

I enjoyed reading this book. The author takes you on an around the world tour of Happiness. Some of the words were familiar but others were new to me. The book is organized by theme. The illustrations enhance the text. Enjoy reading the book over and over again for inspiration.

I love the idea behind this book, sharing different words and happiness philosophies from around the world. The art throughout the book is gorgeous and depicts the various cultures and places that are discussed in the book. I felt that this was very well researched, but would have been better for readers if it was formatted with just one word, or several from the same culture in each section. Many section jumped between five different cultures and their words, and I felt like I wasn't digesting the information very well. Unfortunately, this book was only offered for Adobe Reader, so it expired before I was able to finish it. However, I read enough to feel confident in my review.

Fasten your seat belts! We are on a world tour exploring happiness with the help of this joyful book!

It is based on a unique concept. The author, Megan Hayes, is taking us on a world tour where she explores fifty different words that countries use to evoke feelings of happiness. It is based on a lot of research on how different cultures use specific words to promote feelings of contentment and wellbeing.
One word that you probably all know is the famous hygge (the practice of creating cozy and congenial environments that promote emotional well-being). The author has even included two words from my own country, Greece! The words are: meraki (to do something with soul or from the heart) and kefi (high spirits, merriment, love of life).
The illustrations of the book are absolutely beautiful by the talented Yelena Bryksenkova and the book is structured in 5 chapters: Home and Environment, Community and Relationships, Character and Soul, Joy and Spirituality, Balance and Calm.
One of my favourite words was the Swedish Gokotta which means to rise at dawn in order to go outside and hear the first birdsong. Doesn’t it bring you feelings of contentment just by thinking about it?
This book would be perfect for your coffee table and it would make a wonderful gift for you or a friend.

The Happiness Passport is a unique book. The author travels the world of dictation exposes readers to the words of happiness from other countries and languages.. Megan Hayes shares the different kinds of happiness of the world helping expanded our vision of happiness as US English speakers. While, I won't be adding these words to my vocabulary, it was fun to learn these new words and new concepts.

If you love travelling, discovering new cultures and languages, this book is for you. It highlights and points out words in many different languages, that often can't be translated, about happiness, well-being and being at peace with our environment. It is beautifully illustrated and a charming read. I learnt a lot and was inspired to discover some cultures I had not thought of before.

Charmingly illustrated, this book is like a warm hug. We've all become aware of the recent buzzwords Hygge and Lagom, which to Nordic people mean a lifestyle of cosy, calm living. This book expands on that idea, with similar words from many languages, divided into five themed chapters. As a language teacher I found it particularly fascinating. The illustrations are gorgeous, and this would make a great gift for those who are stressed and overworked. In fact I don't know anyone who wouldn't benefit from it! The only niggle for me was a couple of grammatical errors which should have been edited out.
Many thanks to the publisher for a review copy.

Thank you Quatro Publishing and Netgalley for an ARC of this book in return for my honest opinion.

I loved this book. It follows on from all the recent books on Hygge, Lagon, Ikagai by going a step further and finding words that relate to happiness. Wellbeing, community, belonging and more from all around the world. The book is really well researched and introduced me to many many beautiful words that I will use to inspire the year ahead.

I appreciated the reference pages at the back of the book, leading to more in-depth reading of the words that interested me the most.
This is the perfect gift or a gorgeous book to treat yourself to and take daily inspiration from.

I am fascinated with languages and trying to learn as many as I can. Learning languages is like getting a new life, with a completely new world of meanings and feelings opening up in the front of your eyes and mind. As a translator myself, I know that there are so many words hard to translate and finding locals equivalents is rather an approximation of the meaning than a reproduction of the word.

Therefore, I approached The Happiness Passport by Megan C. Hayes with a lot of curiosity, but also keen to learn new words. Although it makes the world tour in just 50 words, there are enough new insights into languages to win you more than a life. The words chosen are mostly words of yearning, expressing familiarity, intimacy and happiness. Words deeply rooted into the culture telling in just a few letters unique ancient stories full of hidden meanings to the non-native speaker. Take, for instance the Russian prostor which means yearning for wide plains. Or the Innuit unikkaagatigunniq, which reflects 'the power of storytelling and the role of stories in the communal ways of being'. I've also learned on this occasion two English words: petrichor - 'a noun that describes the pleasantly earthy smell of rain after a long period of dry, warm weather' and psithurism - 'the sound of wind whispering through the trees'. And I was reminded of an old Hungarian expression: 'Ugy szép az élet, hazajlik', meaning approximatively: 'Life is beautiful if it is happening'.

Of course there are many more than 50 words to catch the spirit of the world, as the number of spoken languages and dialects in the world is impressively high, but this small level approach open up your eyes to search in your own native language(s) about those words that are impossible to substitute.

The illustrations, the work of Yelena Bryksenova are nostalgic, romantic pastels that inspire to meditate about life, worlds and its making in words.

Take a surprisingly delightful trip through words of the world. Gift a painless & subtle encouragement for opening minds & hearts to inclusion. Learn a new word or better understand a popular phrase you may already be using. Lovely art & topic combos. Perfect gift.

The Happiness Passport by Megan Hayes a phenomenal journey through Happiness illustrated by global languages. Each language has it own work or concept of happiness. It is wondrous how each cultural has their own concept of happiness and how it evolves around the world. The artwork in this book is absolutely beautiful.

Hmmm… This was a perfectly reasonable book, but one I don't think actually bears that much of a place on the shelves. Bear with me. I certainly started this with the idea of buying it for someone I know as a gift – both a linguist and a Buddhist, she would love the definitions of elusive exotic words and how they could inspire meditative connection to the world, or the search for pleasure, or define one of those mindful pauses the world needs. But I soon dissuaded myself of the idea – she gets pleasure because she is a linguist, amongst other things, and this book then, in feeding the inquisitive with the results of the author's inquisitiveness, is just preaching to the converted. Surely happiness goes hand in hand with curiosity, and as she easily demonstrated one, why would I doubt she had the other?

At the same time, I could see the definite merits in this book. The format is fine; fifty concepts get full-page definitions and discussion, and a full artwork each, and all of those look wonderful. We also get a few box-outs of different relevant topics. It would work as an ideal gift book, then, for the worldly wise, and those seeking a bit of calm and advice, but for the simple reason that the search for pleasure is a pleasure itself. The readers of this book will be intelligent, knowing, globally astute, ergo they'll be happy. The miserable and inward won't care a monkeys what the Tagalog language has to say about that.

Those people who perhaps are happiest with these pages may well be sociologists. I'm sure dissertations have already been published regarding the global spread of 'hygge', but this book also reminds me of the decades when we scoffed at the Spanish for their siesta-heavy, 'manana' attitude. And boy haven't we changed our judgement about that?! This then can raise academic debate (or a 'sobremesa', at least), and is perfectly pleasant, but I think many of those who are on board with it won't actually need it.

'The Happiness Passport' by Megan Hayes is an international exploration of what happiness means to various cultures around the world. Like most people, I have been guilty of being fascinated with foreign cultures and their seemingly relaxed and pleasurable ways of life. If you have ever wondered how to accomplish this, then this book is a must read. Megan takes the reader on a journey to every corner of the world and delves into what happiness means to each culture. Readers will be surprised to learn that the Danish 'Hygge' that has become somewhat of a mainstream fad, is only one small example of what different countries consider to be their idea of happiness. This book is more of a encyclopedia for happiness seekers, because Megan introduces the reader to a new vocabulary full of beautiful words to describe the state we are all seeking. I was moved reading this book because I learned that some cultures were able to articulate my own idea of happiness that I myself could never find the words for. This book was broken down into chapters regarding happiness that is found at Home, in the Community, in the Soul, Spirituality, and Calm of the everyday lives of the various cultures featured. This drove home the message that everyone has their own idea of what happiness looks and feels like to them. I would recommend that you keep a pen and paper close by when reading this book because there will be so many new words that will be added to your lexicon once you’re finished. Words are powerful because they are elements of language, and what better way to learn the language of happiness than through beautiful descriptive words from all over the world.

I love the concept of how happiness changes around the world. An interesting little gem of a book.


Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author. All opinions are my own.

When I was in college, I took an Anthropology course. The professor spoke about how different cultures have words for the things that they need; an example of this was the many words for snow that those who lived in very Northern climates traditionally had and the number of words for cars in the U.S. I thought about this as I began to read through The Happiness Passport. The connections between words and culture are every where in this lovely book.

The Happiness Passport is organized into sections. They include chapters on the following:

Home and Environment

Community and Relationships

Joy and Spirituality

Balance and Calm

As I began to read, I was bookmarking and underlining so I could share with you. I was starting to have no un-bookmarked pages so that had to stop! Instead I will say that many countries and cultures are represented in the book. Some terms will be familiar to you like "hygge." Others you will not have heard of. I can tell you that each word and write up will make you think about your life and what you value.

This book is enhanced by what I found to be very calm and lovely muted color illustrations. I recommend that you take a look at this one. It is a perfect antidote to the frenetic holiday season.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Quarto for this one.

We need more books like this! I loved learning about how different cultures demonstrate kindness. In a world that has so much negativity right now, this book was a much needed reality check showing that there is so much more good than bad out there and people still do care and look out for each other. I highly recommend this!

I have a distinct joy in reading books that discuss concepts from around the world that relate to happiness, plenty, and coziness.  I don't really know anyone else in my friend circles who does.  I have read so many books on hygge, fika, lagom, and ikigai that I feel like I should have gotten the concept by now. Luckily I have; these are ideas that I try to work into my everyday life.  Being an American who is living in Mexico, I had to very quickly adjust to a different pace of life and set of priorities. The Happiness Passport: A World Tour of Joyful Living in 50 Words by Megan Hayes, seemed like a book right up my alley.  As soon as I saw it, I was attracted to it and requested to review it on NetGalley.  I was approved and started reading it as soon as I got it.  Also, I should note that the cover illustrations are so darn cute!  

Especially, this book is divided into five sections--home & environment, community & relationships, character & soul, joy & spirituality, and balance & calm-- that discuss 10 words each from other languages and cultures that relate to those topics.  Each word discussion is about a page long and gives the origin and meaning of the word, as well as a brief discussion of the concept that it illustrates.  I will be honest, I found myself starting a journal entry to collect words and ideas that I could see myself either researching more or working into my life and ways of thinking.  I really liked reading it and I devoured it in two sittings.  The text is easy to read and the whimsy illustrations are perhaps my favorite.  They are so darn cute and each illustration fits the word it accompanies.  I think that this is a book that I will definitely buy in hardcover at some point just to have, if I ever need it again.

While this book isn't a gripping story or intense drama, it is still important to read books like this as they are entryways to thinking and living differently.  I haven't read all the hygge books I have because I just enjoy the writing form or being told how to decorate and make things cozy, but rather,  I have read those books and The Happiness Passport, as ways to further my personal growth and to reinforce concepts that I want to work into my life.  For me, reading is and should be a pleasurable experience, but it should also teach you something.  Am I saying to read a non-fiction or educational book everytime you read, NO WAY!  But I am saying that learning is an important aspect of life and growth.  You may learn by reading books on mechanical engineering or books about concepts of coziness and happiness.  Or you may learn by reading mysteries or gory horror novels.  Whatever it is, you do you! 

This book has stirred in me an internal conversation about happiness and how that is so drastically different between people.  As this book illustrations through both its collection of 50 words from around the world, but also its planned breakdown through categories, that happiness isn't just an emotion or feeling.  It is a collection of circumstances, feelings, people, environments, objects, and time that varies so drastically.  For me, the grand takeaway is that happiness is a universal idea that we are all striving for, no matter our culture or history.  Our skin color or the language we speak changes this move towards happiness in our lives.  We are all looking for our eucatastrophe (I learned this word from the book)!

Phenomenal!

This book is beautiful. Unfortunately, the arc was a digital copy. The artwork is beautiful, there literally is no other word (haha) to describe it. I wanted to bottle up the illustrations and keep them with me forever.

The words were well chosen and the explanations were good. My favorite word from the book is Duyên Phận which is Vietnamese for 'fate in love', a concept similar to soulmates (not just the romantic kind)

Special mention to the Swedish word Lagom which means 'just the right amount'. Yes, yes, yes. My life is lived in either an excess or a lack. I want to lagom the sh*t out of my life. This is my one word answer for 'the middle path'.

Honestly, I can't move over the illustrations. Can I please, pretty please, keep them with me forever? I definitely want to go ahead and buy a hardcover.

I received a free digital copy of the book from NetGalley.