Happier Than a Billionaire: Quitting My Job, Moving to Costa Rica, and Living the Zero Hour Work Week

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, especially since we were thinking of moving to Costa Rica. Anyway it made me laugh little a few times.

Put simply, please get this book. You can either download it or get the print edition from Amazon.com. Choose which way you want it, but get it. Buy it or ask for it at your public library, but please: Just get it."Why's that?" you may ask. Because in these times in particular, we need some good laughs. And in Nadine Pisani's excellent first book we get them by the bucketful. There's hardly a page in this slender, soft cover book that doesn't have something that causes one at least a smile or a chuckle ranging up to "Hah!" and sometimes...blowing-milk-through-our-noses type laughter.As a newspaper man for more than 50 years, I've been around the horn a couple of times and usually can spot hyperbole pretty well. And I have to admit that even I, an old skeptic with frayed cuffs, shiny-seated pants and scuffed shoes, may have been a little too enthusiastic a time or two and have let words of praise in a column or editorial run away with me.But not this time. This is not hyperbole on my part. I read a lot. And I can tell you this little book as a first-person account has impressed me far more than many of the more weighty tomes of which I have read.This story is one of adventure, and bravery, but not the fantasy type. This is a brave adventure in change and growth in which we could easily find ourselves sometime, if daring enough. That makes it personal for the reader. The book is of little vignettes about pulling up stakes in the States, giving up a successful, duel medical practice and many comforts of which we are accustomed, to move to a foreign land, the beautiful Costa Rica. And it gives us various glimpses of problems and joys this married professional couple experienced in doing so.To some readers it will be a fantasy they can live by Dr. Pisani's immersion of one into the couple's experiences. For that's how real and how personal are her narratives. She writes as though she and you are best friends just talking and laughing over cups of coffee. Good Costa Rican coffee at that.To readers it also will be useful as a guidebook. Although not written in a boring diary style, it is written chronologically, so it acts as a manual to help one be aware of and, perhaps, avoid certain bureaucratic pitfalls - if not the many and serious potholes in various roads. And finally it describes a country of great beauty where life is eased of enormous pressures and where the people and landscapes are both delightfully picturesque.Pisani uses vivid descriptions, and excellent (and funny) analogies so we always know her references. There is a lot of humor told at the expense of either one or both of them, and successes are spoken of with humble self-deprecation. Through their attempts, missteps and victories, we get to know both Nadine and her husband Rob well enough to think of them as friends. Because, unless you have had a great deal more experience in resettlement, they are who we would be in the same situations. And probably not do as well.They sometimes feel somewhat like strangers in a strange land as gringos who don't speak but a few words of Spanish. And they encounter almost as many bumps in their acclimation to this new life as there are in the muddy roads of the area in which they initially settle. Well, admittedly - from her descriptions - there are considerably more bumps and potholes in the roads. But if you are like me, as you read through the book you come to like them. In fact I liked them from the very beginning and my admiration only grew.One knows from the title that there will be a happy ending, but you will find yourself pulling for them along the way as though you didn't know that. That's because each chapter is another adventure that sweeps you up in their latest episode and deposits you at the end with smiles or laughter.

I read "Happier than a Billionaire" on the bus on the way home from San Jose, Costa Rica. After 2 and a half years of paperwork, I finally obtained my cedula! Why obtaining a small pink piece of plastic saying I am an official resident of Costa Rica should make me happy is a very long story. Certainly, getting my first US social security card or EIN number did not have a similar effect. I suppose that the joy of getting this cedula is that it took so long, it was so damn hard. Nadine Pisani's sidesplittingly funny description of life in Costa Rica is really a must read for anybody considering the move. She manages to capture the Kafka-esque nature of the situation while maintaining her good humor and a sense of growth through trauma. Hats off to her!I had just previously read three dystopian novels, Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell, and the first two volumes of post-apocalyptic vampire horror, Justin Cronin's The Passage and The Twelve. I will admit that Ms. Pisani's book was a welcome respite, and a great way to shake off the horrors of waiting at Immigration in San Jose for paperwork that is contradictory, confusing, and silly. However, I did come away from San Jose feeling that to some degree, the dystopian future is Now, at least in parts of Costa Rica. Endless miles of houses covered in ironwork, shielded by razor wire. Small children in the highway selling lottery tickets and bread. Starving dogs, cats and horses, some tied by string around their throats in the blazing sun with no water and no shade. I was especially shaken by the hollow looks on the faces of people at immigration, probably a thousand people of all ages, surrounded by men with large guns, inside a chain link fence topped with razor wire. I could see their fear and desperation as I felt my own.I don't know if it is true that surviving trauma makes people stronger. As a psychiatrist, it seems to me that most of the time, surviving trauma makes people traumatized, at least acutely (acute stress disorders) or long term (PTSD). One could argue that there is good trauma, like Nadine's experience of driving over a shakey wooden bridge into Panama, or bad trauma, like the fate of the thousands of children here who are victims of sexual abuse and trafficking.Costa Rica is confusing, that is for sure. At times Pura Vida, life is good! At times, Dura Vida - life is really hard! It certainly is a change from the monotony of suburban USA. I salute Nadine and her husband for making a good effort and for keeping a grand sense of humor. I hope we meet someday. I think we may be neighbors. I hope their happiness continues without the insidious injection of cynicism that I feel. Best wishes! Happier than a Billionaire is a really sweet book.

About two years ago my husband & I visited Costa Rica (we have a Tico friend who showed us this beautiful land). We were both OVER IT living in Los Angeles, and in the U.S. in general, and while looking around we both thought out loud, "we could really LIVE here." I started looking at books and immediately found this gem. We took turns reading a chapter in bed before sleep and often laughed so hard our eyes started sweating.;)We made a 5-year plan while reading about Nadine & Rob's adventure. I work remotely and my hubby was nearing retirement.When COVID hit, our world was upended. The U.S. became a trainwreck, and even worse in Los Angeles where crime has skyrocketed and the gangs are taking back over. So I did the math and, in the same amount of time living in Costa Rica, we actually are able to save as much money with his taking an early retirement and my continuing to work remotely because Los Angeles was so freaking expensive.Anyway, long story short, we moved here two weeks ago and we really are now happier than billionaires. Even despite the fact that I still work a U.S.-based job. Where there's a will there's a way.If you have a sense of humor, and especially if you are the kinda person who doesn't take yourself too seriously, read this book. It's a fun read that you will love and not want to put down. Nadine's other books are also really good.

I really enjoyed this book which had plenty of laugh out loud moments and kept your attention throughout. Hard to put down so best to find somewhere comfy to sprawl out, pour yourself a lurid drink with an umbrella in it, pop your flip flops on and forget it's raining outside.The pursuit of happiness wasn't the smoothest of rides and this is what made it the more enjoyable as you bumble along with Nadine and Rob though the first months of feeling their way through their new life in Costa Rica.If there is a sequel - I'll definitely be buying and devouring it.

Having just returned from Costa Rica, I was interested in life out there and couldn't believe when I found this book! Unfortunately, I couldn't finish it. It is incredibly badly written and is so disjointed, I found it hard to concentrate. The author comes across extremely narcissistic and actually quite annoying! Such a shame this book was self published and not checked by someone who knows about writing books!

Hi, I know I should wait until I finish reading the book before I send in my review, but I'm the type who won't read beyond page 50 if I'm not yet hooked by page 10, so I know already that I will enjoy this one immensely till the last page. Nadine's writing is witty, has perfect comic timing and each page reads like butter, it can almost be turned into an enjoyable film. Of course, it's also the story and not just her style that keeps me reading. I can't wait!

I read... a lot. Mostly travel books, be in fiction or fact and this is my all time favourite. I laughed so hard my husband kept asking me what the hell was so funny. People gave me strange sideways looks on the underground. The authors' style is that of a friend telling you a hilarious story over a few beers or cocktails. The book flows beautifully giving you an insight into an ex pats trials and tribulations setting up home in a country so opposite to what they are accustomed to. It is not only funny but also paints a beautiful picture of one of the most beautiful and special countries in the world. I cannot wait to read the sequel.

I saw this book by chance and decided to buy it. So glad that I did. Very funny book. Nadine has an excellent way of writing - I am from Costa Rica and she took me back to places that I enjoy visiting; she is able to capture the nuances of the culture and Costa Rican psychology with great accuracy, but not in a manner that diminishes or patronises. I highly recommend it.