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The Optimist's Handbook by Nick Inman
  • The Optimist's Handbook

  • Facts, figures and arguments to silence cynics, doom-mongers and defeatists

  • by Nick Inman
In stock, usually dispatched within 24 hours

    • Product code: 131119
    • ISBN: 190564129x, ISBN13: 9781905641291, 280 pages, hardback
      Published by Harriman House on 2007 , 1st
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    Description of The Optimist's Handbook

    Miserable world. Miserable life. Switch on the telly and it is always doom and gloom... is there no encouraging news to be had?

    The bookshops are full of books about how bad things are, but is the situation really that bad?

    When you start looking, there is quite a lot going on that doesn’t make it into the news, onto advertising hoardings or onto the bookshelves. But should we even try to look on the bright side or are we only fooling ourselves?

    This book is not designed to be a slushy collection of inspiring thoughts that wishes away unpleasant realities. It is meant to be a hard-nosed look at whether we have got the balance right: is there more good news to share? And should we be taking a more positive view on the world today?

    In this brand new book Nick Inman pulls together a list of 100 non-sh*t things for us to feel glad about – a book to inspire the reader while they are slogging to work or taking a break from the ironing. There may not be a perfect world around the corner but there can at least be a little hope...(and something to smile about).

    Contents of The Optimist's Handbook

    Contents
    Introduction
    Altruism
    Anaesthetics
    Appropriate technology
    Architecture, ecological
    Awareness, environmental
    The best of all possible worlds
    Body, your
    Book, the survival of the
    Boredom, the end of
    Candide
    Capital punishment
    Capitalism, caring
    Childhood
    Clarke’s guide to the impossible
    Climate change (for believers)
    Climate change (for deniers)
    Colour
    Community
    Conspiracy theories
    Courage
    Death
    Democracy
    Dentists
    Diamond, John
    Disease, eradication of
    Economics, new thinking in
    Education
    Email
    Energy
    Europeans
    Evil
    Failure
    Films to make you feel good
    Flow
    Folly
    Food
    Freedom
    Futurology
    Gadgets
    Happiness
    Helen Keller
    Herd mentality
    Hope
    Human nature
    Humanity, the rest of
    Humour, a sense of
    Immigration
    Immortality
    India
    Intelligence
    Internet
    Invention
    Jobs
    Kennedy’s peace speech
    Knowledge
    Life expectancy
    Little free things in life
    Long Now
    Meaning of life
    Medicine
    Memory
    Men
    Micawber, Wilkins
    Millennium Development Goals
    Nature
    Nelson Mandela
    Networking
    News, good
    Nukes
    Old age
    Optimism bias
    Pandora’s puzzling present
    Paradigm shift
    Particularities
    Peacemakers
    Pessimism
    Philosophical consolations
    Plastic
    Politics, optimistic
    Pollyanna
    Population
    Positive thinking
    Poverty as history
    Prozac
    Radical hope
    Reading, bedtime
    Reality TV
    Religion
    Rights
    Robinson Crusoe assesses his situation
    Said/done/written/painted etc. before
    Scientists
    Someone always worse off than you
    Songs to put a spring in your step
    Taboos, the passing of
    Terrorism
    Therapy
    Things are at least as good as they were
    Thinking
    Transitions
    Violence
    Wonders of the world
    World government
    Worse, things could always be
    ... the end of the world
    Sources

    About Nick Inman

    Nick Inman was born in Yorkshire in 1956 and studied politics at the University of Bristol in the 1970s before becoming a travel writer specialising in Spain. He is married with two children and lives in southwest France.

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