Frommer's Thailand

Is Thailand Safe?

Thai Black Book fills a need. No other Thailand guide so thoroughly prepares you for the dangers that await you in Thailand.

Thailand is both safe and unsafe, primarily depending on you and how well you understand Thai culture and behavior. This guide is filled with intel to help you have the safest and most enjoyable time during your vacation or long-term stay.

Get the book.

• Frommer's Hong Kong is completely updated, and features gorgeous color photos of the sights and experiences that await you.
• Our author, a longtime Hong Kong expert, offers an insider's look at the city, from Causeway Bay to Kowloon. She's checked out all the best markets, hotels and restaurants in person, and offers authoritative, candid reviews that will help you find the choices that suit your tastes and budget. Whether you're interested in Hong Kong's vibrant mix of cultures, ancient Chinese temples, or cutting-edge architecture, there's something here for everyone.
• You'll also get up-to-the-minute coverage of Hong Kong's world-famous shopping and nightlife; detailed walking tours; accurate neighborhood maps; advice on planning a successful family vacation; and side trips to Macau, Taipa, and Coloane.
• Frommer's Hong Kong also includes a color fold-out map.

Gretchen Rubin had an epiphany one rainy afternoon in the unlikeliest of places: a city bus. "The days are long, but the years are short," she realized. "Time is passing, and I'm not focusing enough on the things that really matter." In that moment, she decided to dedicate a year to her happiness project.

In this lively and compelling account of that year, Rubin carves out her place alongside the authors of bestselling memoirs such as Julie and Julia, The Year of Living Biblically, and Eat, Pray, Love. With humor and insight, she chronicles her adventures during the twelve months she spent test-driving the wisdom of the ages, current scientific research, and lessons from popular culture about how to be happier.

Rubin didn't have the option to uproot herself, nor did she really want to; instead she focused on improving her life as it was. Each month she tackled a new set of resolutions: give proofs of love, ask for help, find more fun, keep a gratitude notebook, forget about results. She immersed herself in principles set forth by all manner of experts, from Epicurus to Thoreau to Oprah to Martin Seligman to the Dalai Lama to see what worked for her-and what didn't.

Her conclusions are sometimes surprising-she finds that money can buy happiness, when spent wisely; that novelty and challenge are powerful sources of happiness; that "treating" yourself can make you feel worse; that venting bad feelings doesn't relieve them; that the very smallest of changes can make the biggest difference-and they range from the practical to the profound.

Written with charm and wit, The Happiness Project is illuminating yet entertaining, thought-provoking yet compulsively readable. Gretchen Rubin's passion for her subject jumps off the page, and reading just a few chapters of this book will inspire you to start your own happiness project.