At the launch of Farid Chehab's second book, "Of Happiness and Ideas" ("Du Bonheur et des Idées »), a roundtable discussion took place as part of the 2015 Book Fair. The event honoring the author gathered special guests: psychiatrist Chawki Azouri, globally rewarded creative Bechara Mouzannar, architect Bernard Khoury, filmmaker Nadin Labaki, journalist Fifi Abou Dib, and fashion designer Rabih Kayrouz.
Reading this book is very much like walking a path filled with rites of passage; it's a kind of autobiography, one that centers on the themes of Happiness and Creation. The author, an advertising executive and now the honorary President of the Leo Burnett MENA network, believes that happiness is closely linked to our constant ability to use the mind in the service of creativity.
This book was the result of a skiing accident, which temporarily plunged Chehab into a coma. As a man who has revolutionized communication in the Middle East, he made the decision to begin a sort of cathartic therapy, with writing acting as the medicine. Armed with an unwavering determination to persevere and to create beyond an endless stream of ideas, Farid Chehab returned to work and continued following his dreams in a country that he helped elevate to the status of a creative powerhouse.
Chehab, who has engraved a place for the Human at the heart of every advertising campaign, is first and foremost a fervent believer in the ability of human beings to wonder and to work as one in the service of unifying projects.
The book is therefore a manifesto, a tribute to the universal power of ideas and to the fragile balance between productivity and happiness.
As the first Lebanese citizen to have his name stamped on the Hall of Fame at the Golden Drum Festival, Farid Chehab is a fearless lover of technical communication and its inventive application, a guarantee of success for the coming times.
This book is only one of more to come as Farid Chehab hasn't had his final say.
This book will be issued soon in both English and Arabic.
