Meik Wiking

Essentially, this is a spiced-up coffee table book. The concept of hygge is as hip and easy to understand as fengshui and still made more mysterious. It is all very obvious what makes people feel good.

The author refers to herself as a "happiness researcher" and the book is all about well-being and what makes people feel comfortable. The concept is linked to warmth and cosiness, and clearly pronounces that oysters are not hygge.

One does get the feeling that the author was uder some stress to make the book thicker, as the concept is approached from different angles, such as throughout the seasons. In such sections many things are repeated, as in tables and other statistics.

Recipes for meals and drinks also seem to be fillers.… (mais)

Less science, more self help. This book shares some great, though sometimes obvious, tips for making, preserving and recalling memories. If you want an event to be memorable, try serving an interesting food or filling the room with a scent that will always take guests back to that day. Want to remember happy moments more often? Prepare for them, take your time and pay attention when they do happen. Want to create happy memories? Travel, do new things and occasionally leave your element. Remember to talk about your day at night, then later in the week, then later again -- recalling the stories helps preserve the memories (even if the story is completely made up, as evidenced by false memories). To get the whole family in on your memory adventure, ask a loved one to tell you about a memory they have, take a "memory walk," or recreate old memories with your children (if applicable). Finally, take pictures and print them out so they don't get lost in the cloud, never to be viewed again.

Can you remember all of that?… (mais)