Several years back, I visited Iceland in the dead of winter. I was researching a book on global happiness, and the small Nordic nation intrigued me. What was this country, adrift in the freezing North Atlantic, doing ＿＿（41）＿＿ atop the world's happiness rankings? In pursuit of answers, I buttonholed anyone willing to talk, dined on rotten shark, drank excessively, and, of course, ＿＿（42）＿＿ a dip in the Blue Lagoon, the otherworldly geothermal waters that have become synonymous with Icelandic bliss. Shortly after I left, Iceland's largest banks ＿＿（43）＿＿ belly up and the nation's economy teetered on the verge of 1701 collapse, collateral damage from the global financial meltdown of 2008. The unemployment rate spiked eightfold. Trust in institutions, like the banks and parliament, plummeted. I assumed that the nation's happiness also nosedived. I was wrong. "The economic crisis had a ＿＿（44）＿＿ effect on happiness," according to health scientist Dora Gudmundsdottir, author of an exhaustive study published in the Social Indicators Research Journal. Not only did the nation's overall happiness dip only slightly during the crisis, but 25% of Icelanders reported greater happiness. What was going on? I emailed Karl Blöndal, a newspaper editor I had met in Reykjavik. “A lot of individuals have been hit hard, pensioners lost their savings. But one thing about living in a small community is that everyone you know is ＿＿（45）＿＿ reach,” he explained. “Those who lose their jobs are not isolated, the risk of estrangement is not the same as it would be in bigger societies.”