The Little Book Of Lykke by Meik Wiking | A small book of happiness

After reading The Little Book of Hygge, I dove straight into this one with high expectations. I wanted more of that beautiful little book, so I was very glad to have this one at hand to jump into right away!

Let’s dive right in!

(Found on Goodreads)

From the author of the international bestseller The Little Book of Hygge

Lykke (Luu-kah) (n): Happiness

It’s easy to see why Denmark is often called the world’s happiest country. Not only do they have equal parental leave for men and women, free higher education and trains that run on time, but they burn more candles per household than anywhere else.

So nobody knows more about happiness – what the Danes call lykke – than Meik Wiking, CEO of the Happiness Research Institute in Copenhagen and author of the bestselling sensation The Little Book of Hygge . But he believes that, whilst we can certainly learn a lot from the Danes about finding fulfilment, the keys to happiness are actually buried all around the globe.

In this captivating book, he takes us on a treasure hunt to unlock the doors to inner fulfilment. From how we spend our precious time, to how we relate to our neighbours and cook dinner, he gathers evidence, stories and tips from the very happiest corners of the planet. This is the ultimate guide to how we can all find a little more lykke in our lives.

Meik Wiking is the CEO of The Happiness Research Institute in Copenhagen and is one of the world’s leading experts in happiness. Committed to understanding happiness, subjective well-being and quality of life, Meik works with countries across the world to discover and explore global trends of life satisfaction. Only someone absolutely dedicated to happiness sits in coffee shops across the world counting peoples’ smiles!

His first book, The Little Book of Hygge, became an international bestseller and will soon be published in 31 countries.

*Thank you to the publisher for sending me a copy of this book. This in no way affects my opinion of the book.

Oh what a lovely little book.

Just like Meik Wiking’s other book – The Little Book of Hygge – this book is just so beautifully made. From the content itself to the design of each page, this is one of those books I can imagine myself coming back to many a time, if only to flick through the pages. Like I said with Hygge, it could be given as a gift, and just owning it is a joy.

Granted, I didn’t quite enjoy this as much as I did The Little Book of Hygge. Since this one was specifically about happiness, some of the devices used throughout the book just seemed to come across as a bit of a “self-help” book instead. If you said “tips on how to gain maximum levels of cosiness” vs “tips on how to be happy”…well, I think you can tell which one sounds like a self help book. Which seemed to throw me off a bit for some reason. I think because talking about cosiness can really bring about that overall atmosphere and comforting feeling, whereas talking about happiness didn’t quite bring about as strong a reaction from me. Think of that what you will.

That, paired with my sheer inability to relate to most of the examples given, would probably count for why I didn’t adore this one as much. A lot of the time this book talks about being a parent or having a busy working 9-5 life, neither of which I have.

That being said, it was still really interesting to read. I found the facts and random scatterings of anecdotes a nice way to section everything off, while providing a wider insight into the topic overall. While not all of the “tips” seemed achievable in my everyday life, I loved seeing the small stories of how they had worked for other people and the active changes people made throughout their lives. Just a small glimpse into another culture was enough to keep me interested throughout.

So while it didn’t quite wow me as much as The Little Book of Hygge, I would still highly recommend to those of you who have any bague interest in it whatsoever. It’s a stunning book to flip through, and you never know – you might find something new along the way too!

Rated 4/5 stars

Book Depository

Share your thoughts!

Have you read either of Meik Wiking’s books? What did you think?

Are there any books similar to this that you’d recommend?

Let me know in the comments!

Until next time…

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