Download or read book The Pessimists written by Bethany Ball and published by Grove Press. This book was released on 2021-10-12 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From Center for Fiction First Novel Prize finalist Bethany Ball comes a biting and darkly funny new novel that follows a set of privileged, jaded Connecticut suburbanites whose cozy, seemingly picture-perfect, lives begin to unravel amid shocking turns of fate and revelations of long-held secrets. Welcome to small-town Connecticut, a place whose inhabitants seem to have it all — the status, the homes, the money, and the ennui. There’s Tripp and Virginia, beloved hosts whom the community idolizes, whose basement hides among other things a secret stash of guns and a drastic plan to survive the end times. There’s Gunter and Rachel, recent transplants who left New York City to raise their children, only to feel both imprisoned by the banality of suburbia. And Richard and Margot, community veterans whose extramarital affairs and battles with mental health are disguised by their enviably polished veneers and perfect children. At the center of it all is the Petra School, the most coveted of all the private schools in the state, a supposed utopia of mindfulness and creativity, with a history as murky and suspect as our character’s inner worlds. With deep wit and delicious incisiveness, in The Pessimists, Bethany Ball peels back the veneer of upper-class white suburbia to expose the destructive consequences of unchecked privilege and moral apathy in a world that is rapidly evolving without them. This is a superbly drawn portrait of a community, and its couples, torn apart by unmet desires, duplicity, hypocrisy, and dangerous levels of discontent.
Download or read book I Hate This Place written by Jimmy Fallon and published by Grand Central Publishing. This book was released on 2008-12-14 with total page 36 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the Grammy-nominated star of Saturday Night Live and his equally talented sister comes a delightfully cynical look at life through a half-full glass. I HATE THIS PLACE is the book for anyone who’s ever tired of crossing to the sunny side of the street, looking for that elusive pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, or reading self-help books that are meant to bring peace and prosperity. Guaranteed to shatter illusions, extinguish all hope, and keep the jaded and the disgruntled laughing all the way, it is filled with such daily “affirmations” as “If you don’t have anything nice to say, welcome to the club,” and advice like “Knock, and the door shall be slammed in your face.” Rife with the wit and wisdom of Jimmy Fallon and his sister Gloria, this book promises to tickle the funny bone of the pessimist in everyone.
Download or read book Pessimism written by Joshua Foa Dienstag and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2009-02-17 with total page 313 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Pessimism claims an impressive following--from Rousseau, Schopenhauer, and Nietzsche, to Freud, Camus, and Foucault. Yet "pessimist" remains a term of abuse--an accusation of a bad attitude--or the diagnosis of an unhappy psychological state. Pessimism is thought of as an exclusively negative stance that inevitably leads to resignation or despair. Even when pessimism looks like utter truth, we are told that it makes the worst of a bad situation. Bad for the individual, worse for the species--who would actually counsel pessimism? Joshua Foa Dienstag does. In Pessimism, he challenges the received wisdom about pessimism, arguing that there is an unrecognized yet coherent and vibrant pessimistic philosophical tradition. More than that, he argues that pessimistic thought may provide a critically needed alternative to the increasingly untenable progressivist ideas that have dominated thinking about politics throughout the modern period. Laying out powerful grounds for pessimism's claim that progress is not an enduring feature of human history, Dienstag argues that political theory must begin from this predicament. He persuasively shows that pessimism has been--and can again be--an energizing and even liberating philosophy, an ethic of radical possibility and not just a criticism of faith. The goal--of both the pessimistic spirit and of this fascinating account of pessimism--is not to depress us, but to edify us about our condition and to fortify us for life in a disordered and disenchanted universe.
Download or read book The Optimist s Pessimist s Handbook written by Niall Edworthy and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2009-11-10 with total page 137 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The mere sense of living is joy enough. Emily Dickinson, 1830-1886, American poet Humanity's story is one long testimony to the truth that life is as rewarding and beautiful as you make it. As pioneers, inventors, and dreamers have always known, you can do anything if only you persevere. Ever since we hauled ourselves out of the swamp, our history has been one of extraordinary cultural and technological progress, of mind-boggling discoveries and remarkable achievements, often against the odds. It's no coincidence that you see no statues of pessimists in city squares. Still, cynical and doubting voices are heard all too loudly and frequently in public discourse. A potent antidote to their gloom and doom, The Optimist's Handbook is a joyful explosion of wit and wisdom from our past and present that celebrates the art of greeting life with the excitement it deserves. This handbook will inspire, enchant, and entertain you as you go forward into all your wonderful tomorrows. Even if, after reading it, you are not moved to feats of glory for the greater good, the fact is that optimists are healthier, happier, and richer than their gloomy counterparts. Hear that, killjoys? The world is a grindstone and life is your nose. Fred Allen, 1894-1956, American humorist Why beat around the bush? The truth is that life is a never-ending cycle of toil and pain with nothing but death to reward all our suffering. Furthermore, what solace is there in blind optimism or fanciful daydreaming when it is perfectly clear that the world is heading toward a complete meltdown whether we live in it or not? Resigning yourself to life's grim treadmill, and thereby avoiding more disappointments, is the best way to trudge forward. The Pessimist's Handbook is an indispensable companion on your journey through this vale of tears. A clear-sighted, realistic look at life's obstacles, this guidebook is stocked with the pearls of wisdom you need to counter the irritating voices of those who trumpet futile positivity and inane confidence in a brighter future. Feel reassured that scores of people share your sense of impending doom...and have done so for centuries. After all, misery loves company, but not when it's a horde of perky utopians.
Download or read book Cosmic Pessimism written by Eugene Thacker and published by U of Minnesota Press. This book was released on 2016-03-01 with total page 44 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “We’re doomed.” So begins the work of the philosopher whose unabashed and aphoristic indictments of the human condition have been cropping up recently in popular culture. Today we find ourselves in an increasingly inhospitable world that is, at the same time, starkly indifferent to our species-specific hopes, desires, and disappointments. In the Anthropocene, pessimism is felt everywhere but rarely given its proper place. Though pessimism may be, as Eugene Thacker says, the lowest form of philosophy, it may also contain an enigma central to understanding the horizon of the human. Written in a series of fragments, aphorisms, and prose poems, Thacker’s Cosmic Pessimism explores the varieties of pessimism and its often-conflicted relation to philosophy. “Crying, laughing, sleeping—what other responses are adequate to a life that is so indifferent?”
Download or read book The Pessimist s Handbook written by Arthur Schopenhauer and published by Lincoln, University of Nebreaska Press. This book was released on 1964 with total page 856 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Believing Cassandra written by Alan AtKisson and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2012-07-26 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A bestseller on Amazon.com within months of its first release, Alan AtKisson's debut book quickly became a modern classic of sustainability literature. Global companies, grassroots groups, university courses, government agencies, and even the US Army ordered it by the box. Now fully revised and updated, Believing Cassandra: How to be an Optimist in a Pessimist's World is even more relevant, fresh, and motivating than when it first appeared in 1999. In a style that's refreshingly candid and vivid, with unforgettable personal anecdotes, AtKisson provides us with a bridge over the sea of despair, and shows us how to catch the wave to an enticing, sustainable future. He empowers the reader to join the pioneers who created the ideas, techniques and practices of sustainable living - the people who prove Cassandra's warnings wrong, by believing in them, and taking strategic action.
Download or read book How Not to Kill Yourself written by Set Sytes and published by Microcosm Publishing. This book was released on 2018-03-13 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A highly imaginative and relatable guide for anyone who needs the reassurance that suicide is NEVER worth it. Are you inclined to escape the crumminess of everyday life into fantasy worlds? Are you smart and imaginative in a way that isn't really suited to your surroundings? Are you definitely misunderstood, likely angry, and almost certainly depressed? Set Sytes, hailing from the UK, would prefer you stay alive and sort things out rather than the alternative, thanks. He figures there are better opportunities for you out there and lays it all out in a way that's compelling, funny, sharp, and useful. This zine turned book (please don't call it a self-help guide, asks the author) is ultimately about how to be a person in the world. It can be done non-miserably, we promise.
Download or read book Optimism Pessimism written by Edward Chin-Ho Chang and published by Amer Psychological Assn. This book was released on 2001-01-01 with total page 395 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Through the examination of cultural, biological and psychological factors, this volume illustrates a dynamic interplay between optimism and pessimism and enables readers to recognize the importance of balance in understanding their relative powers.
Download or read book Believing Cassandra written by Alan AtKisson and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2011 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First Published in 2010. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.
Download or read book Rainy Brain Sunny Brain written by Elaine Fox and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 2012-06-05 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Are you optimistic or pessimistic? Glass half-full or half-empty? Do you look on the bright side or turn towards the dark? These are easy questions for most of us to answer, because our personality types are hard-wired into our brains. As pioneering psychologist and neuroscientist Elaine Fox has discovered, our outlook on life reflects our primal inclination to seek pleasure or avoid danger -- inclinations that, in many people, are healthily balanced. But when our "fear brain" or "pleasure brain" is too strong, the results can be disastrous, as those of us suffering from debilitating shyness, addiction, depression, or anxiety know all too well. Luckily, anyone suffering from these afflictions has reason to hope. Stunning breakthroughs in neuroscience show that our brains are more malleable than we ever imagined. In Rainy Brain, Sunny Brain, Fox describes a range of techniques -- from traditional cognitive behavioral therapy to innovative cognitive-retraining exercises -- that can actually alter our brains' circuitry, strengthening specific thought processes by exercising the neural systems that control them. The implications are enormous: lifelong pessimists can train themselves to think positively and find happiness, while pleasure-seekers inclined toward risky or destructive behavior can take control of their lives. Drawing on her own cutting-edge research, Fox shows how we can retrain our brains to brighten our lives and learn to flourish. With keen insights into how genes, life experiences and cognitive processes interleave together to make us who we are, Rainy Brain, SunnyBrain revolutionizes our basic concept of individuality. We learn that we can influence our own personalities, and that our lives are only as "sunny" or as "rainy" as we allow them to be.
Download or read book Affirmations for Pessimists written by Chris Reccardi and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2013-03-06 with total page 72 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Do you like ugly, silly drawings? Ever get annoyed by lame socially-acceptable sayings such as "...Don't take it personally" or "...You need to practice self-acceptance?" Ever feel guilty that you're just too lousy a person for real affirmations of love and kindness and prefer to just say something uncomfortably appropriate?With "Affirmations for Pessimists", you get all of the above, with award-winning cartoonist/fine artist Chris Reccardi's illustrated book of hideous drawings paired with delightful quotes that offer cynical (but true) alternatives to today's popular wisdom.Whether it's a cheerful outing to the DMV (without an appointment), being cornered at a "work" party or passenger in economy class, dealing with sub-standard friends, or just simply being fed up with faux 'niceness', there's bound to be a delightfully wretched verbal and pictorial truism somewhere in these pages just for you!
Download or read book The Psychology of Pessimism written by Daniel X. Choi and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 86 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Optimism and pessimism are complementary, but opposing, dispositions. In general, optimists consistently expect good outcomes and pessimists consistently expect bad outcomes. These variations in human behaviour have profound mental and physical implications. The aim of the present work is to provide an overview of the psychology of pessimism. It is composed of four sections - I: How are optimism and pessimism measured?, II: What is the relationship between optimism and pessimism?, III: What is the relationship between optimism-pessimism and health?, and IV: What are the biology and chemistry of optimism-pessimism? For various reasons, rigorous analysis of pessimism has been difficult. Nonetheless, recent advances, including the development of numerous psychological batteries, have allowed for structured, scientific investigation. Indeed, several studies have examined the medical implications and biological and chemical bases of pessimism. Nonetheless, the psychology of pessimism is imperfect and further study is needed.
Download or read book What to Do About the Solomons written by Bethany Ball and published by Open Road + Grove/Atlantic. This book was released on 2017-04-04 with total page 206 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A “funny, sexy, and smart” multigenerational saga following the secret lives of an (over) extended Jewish family—from Israel to America (Judy Blume). More than oceans divide the Solomons. And now, it’s a scandal. Prodigal son Marc Solomon, an Israeli ex-Navy commando living in Los Angeles, is falsely accused of money laundering through his California investment firm. As his home is raided, Marc’s wife, Carolyn ―concealing her own dicey past―makes hopeless attempts to hold their family of five together. Not surprisingly, news of Marc’s disgrace makes its way from Santa Monica to a kibbutz on the Jordan River Valley, and the rest of the mortified Solomon clan: Marc’s self-absorbed wannabe movie star sister, Shira; his rich, powerful and fed-up construction magnet father, Yakov; his childhood sweetheart, Maya; and his brother-in-law Guy, a local ranger turned “mad artist.” As the secrets of the community are revealed through various memories and tales, we witness the tenuous bonds that can keep the Solomons together, and the truths and rumors that could ultimately tear them apart. Elegant, witty, and provocative, What to Do About the Solomons weaves contemporary Jewish history through a distinctly modern and very savvy tale of family life. “I ended [it] absolutely swimming with affection, not just for the characters but for the multiple worlds that created them . . . there’s something profoundly lovely―and loving―about the Solomons” (New York Times Book Review).
Download or read book Pessimism in International Relations written by Tim Stevens and published by Springer. This book was released on 2019-06-29 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume explores the past, present and future of pessimism in International Relations. It seeks to differentiate pessimism from cynicism and fatalism and assess its possibilities as a respectable perspective on national and international politics. The book traces the origins of pessimism in political thought from antiquity through to the present day, illuminating its role in key schools of International Relations and in the work of important international political theorists. The authors analyse the resurgence of pessimism in contemporary politics, such as in the new populism, attitudes to migration, indigenous politics, and the Anthropocene. This edited volume provides the first collection of scholarly work on pessimism in International Relations theory and practice and offers fresh perspectives on an intellectual position often considered as disreputable as it is venerable.
Download or read book The Art of Optimism written by Jim Stovall and published by Sound Wisdom. This book was released on 2018-05-15 with total page 126 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Optimism is your secret weapon in business and in life. It is custom-designed specifically for you, and it is capable of bringing you everything you want. Optimism can overcome financial problems, physical disabilities, and personal challenges. In Jim Stovall’s latest book, The Art of Optimism, he uses stories, studies, and personal experience to illustrate how adopting an attitude of optimism can change your life. Read this book and learn: How to fuel optimism How to find opportunity through optimism How to overcome negative circumstances How to maintain optimism in business and in life How optimism is your most important asset And much more! “A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” -Winston Churchill
Download or read book Learned Optimism written by Martin E.P. Seligman and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2011-08-10 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: National Bestseller The father of the new science of positive psychology and author of Authentic Happiness draws on more than twenty years of clinical research to demonstrate how optimism enchances the quality of life, and how anyone can learn to practice it. Offering many simple techniques, Dr. Seligman explains how to break an “I—give-up” habit, develop a more constructive explanatory style for interpreting your behavior, and experience the benefits of a more positive interior dialogue. These skills can help break up depression, boost your immune system, better develop your potential, and make you happier.. With generous additional advice on how to encourage optimistic behavior at school, at work and in children, Learned Optimism is both profound and practical–and valuable for every phase of life. "Vaulted me out of my funk.... So, fellow moderate pessimists, go buy this book." —Marian Sandmaier, The New York Times Book Review
