I'm glad this book wasn't longer. The word is hard to hear, and eventually it began to lose meaning. These things are Hygge. These things aren't. I like the things that are Hygge. I learned some stuff about Denmark. Otherwise it was a pretty uninteresting read.
This book is about Hygge, which is a rough anglicization of a Danish term describe a specific type of happiness. Much of the first chapter of the book was dedicated to how hard it is to define. Denmark is consistently rated as one of the happiest places in the world. The author of the book works at "The Happiness Institute" in Denmark.
Denmark is consistently rated the happiest country in Europe. The author ascribes a large portion of that due to a strong social welfare system. Danes pay higher taxes than anywhere else in Europe, because they "invest in the happiness of their citizens", and want people to avoid being extremely unhappy.
Danes love candles. Danish people burn 6+ kilos of candle wax each year. Not for the scent, most Danes don't use scented candles, but for the ambiance.
Lamps too, are very important. The cooler the lamp, the better. He measured it in kelvin.
The danish winter is long. It rains more days than it doesn't. Hence lamps and candles are a big deal.
Small distributed zones of light are usually better than one big central light.
Hygge is a noun, adjective, and verb. It's uniquely Danish and 30% of Danes say it can't even be translated into other languages. It's talked about. A lot.
It's a bit like "coziness". But more.