Felix, a thirty-five year old biologist, has been living deep in the Amazon jungle doing research on medicinal plants for a pharmaceutical company. For two years he has made his home among the Umeni, a small tribe, observing and making notes on the tribe's key values.

On hearing of the death of his father, Felix is forced to return to the city where his father ran two different bookstores, Captain Flint and John Silver. Captain Flint is a large bookstore but almost empty of customers. Its staff is apathetic and disinterested in their work. The second store, John Silver, is small and apparently disorganised, but livelier. His father's company as a whole is undergoing serious losses and Felix is advised to close the stores down. But he decides to take on the challenge of reform.

Felix uses the thinking and a series of binary questions he learned from the Umeni and applies them to reforming the two bookstores. He asks what works optimally and what doesn't. Where he sees room for improvement, he brings in a series of creative measures based on eleven key principles for creating a happy workplace.

By reinforcing what works and making innovative changes in what doesn't, the stores' new manager not only brings an obsolete business back to life. His ultimate aim is to make it "the happiest company in the world" – a place where workers will willingly contribute to their own collective well being, and one which will make a positive contribution to society.

We see him changing the roles of its workers to allow people to contribute with what they are best at; asking the staff to contribute to a list of company values so that their own values are acknowledged and adhered to, and to actively think about how they could contribute to making the company a happier place. Workers at the company see their feelings and well-being taken into consideration, to the extent that they are asked to make decisions when recruiting new members of staff, or given a rest when sales fall so that they can come up with new ideas.

Felix's improvements and the work of the staff eventually bring the results they want. Sales go up by 50%, and the two stores are ranked "Best Bookstores" in a leading index. As their names indicate, they become the "Treasure Island" Felix's late father dreamed of bequeathing him.

Written in an accessible style for all readers, The Happiest Company in the World is an enjoyable story as well as a handbook of innovative and insightful company values designed to create wealth out of well-being.