The Optimist: One Man's Search for the Brighter Side of Life

By Laurence Shorter

Book Overview

'The Optimist' charts Laurence's quest for inner happiness, providing a life-affirming stand against the grind of everyday strife. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0385664524
• ISBN13: 9780385664523
• Release Date: January 2009
• Publisher: Doubleday Canada
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 1.02 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.6" x 1.1" x 5.8"

Customer Reviews

Excellent

What else can I say - excellent book. Really funny as well as insightful.

Interesting look at optimism and happiness

I liked reading about Laurence Shorter's journey towards an improved definition of optimism and how to achieve it. His down-to-earth approach is very relatable and no detail is left unexplored. I also really appreciated his inclusion of his personal life, along with its share of ups and downs because it allows for the reader to feel more connected to him and his plight. Although there is the common theme of optimism throughout the novel, the chapters can almost be short stories on their own, revealing a different aspect or lesson learned. I enjoyed some of the chapters more than others, with my favorite being the one about former President Bill Clinton because it marked the culmination of all that Shorter worked for and it felt very satisfying and certainly inspired optimism out of me! Though there were many parts in the book that I found funny, I don't think the book can necessarily be categorized as "humor". I do believe that Shorter set out on this quest whole-heartedly in the search for answers and not simply as a joke. While I can usually appreciate British sense of humour, there were some points when I wasn't sure if he was trying to be funny or not. Nonetheless, The Optimist is an interesting and at times thought-provoking read that both amused and aroused my curiosity. Being a psychology major, I did know a lot about the psychological aspects of optimism and happiness already, particularly Martin Seligman's theories, but told through Shorter's perspective, I still learned something new. [...]