Lisa Napoli was in the grip of a crisis, dissatisfied with her life and
her work as a radio journalist. When a chance encounter with a handsome
stranger presented her with an opportunity to move halfway around the
world, Lisa left behind cosmopolitan Los Angeles for a new adventure in
the ancient Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan--said to be one of the happiest
places on earth.
Long isolated from industrialization and just beginning to open its
doors to the modern world, Bhutan is a deeply spiritual place, devoted
to environmental conservation and committed to the happiness of its
people--in fact, Bhutan measures its success in Gross National Happiness
rather than in GNP. In a country without a single traffic light, its
citizens are believed to be among the most content in the world. To
Lisa, it seemed to be a place that offered the opposite of her
fast-paced life in the United States, where the noisy din of sound-bite
news and cell phones dominate our days, and meaningful conversation is a
rare commodity; where everyone is plugged in digitally, yet rarely
connects with the people around them.
Thousands of miles away from everything and everyone she knows, Lisa
creates a new community for herself. As she helps to start Bhutan's
first youth-oriented radio station, Kuzoo FM, she must come to terms
with her conflicting feelings about the impact of the medium on a
country that had been shielded from its effects. Immersing herself in
Bhutan's rapidly changing culture, Lisa realizes that her own
perspective on life is changing as well--and that she is discovering the
sense of purpose and joy that she has been yearning for.
In this smart, heartfelt, and beautifully written book, sure to please
fans of transporting travel narratives and personal memoirs alike, Lisa
Napoli discovers that the world is a beautiful and complicated
place--and comes to appreciate her life for the adventure it is.
