Bright-sided

Bright-sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America by Barbara Ehrenreich

Finally. A true challenge to The Secret! That woman and all her millionaire associates are laughing all the way to the bank, and that stupid book is still selling like hotcakes. Ehrenreich sets off to disprove the new wave of positive thinking psychology and the business surrounding it. Her qualifications are good, as well, as she is a breast cancer survivor. Although her views are never kept a secret within the pages, she offers valid points and food for thought for optimists, pessimists, and realists alike. She makes an excelletn point on page 172: "Why advocate for better jobs and schools, safer neighborhoods, universal health insurance, or any other liberal desideratum if these measures will do little to make people happy? Social reformers, political activists, and change-oriented elected officials can all take a much-needed rest."

I mean, honestly. You visualize yourself as a millionaire and it happens? Look at what happened to Wall Street when they got to "positive" and lofty in their goals! Ehrenreich is simply realistic. She doesn't pretend any earth-shattering research and certainly no news that hasn't widely been reported in the media, but she offers an interesting view of the facts.

Ehrenreich wrote, "Happiness is not, of course, guaranteed even to those who are affluent, successful, and well loved. But that happiness is not the inevitable outcome of happy circumstances does not mean we can find it by journeying inward to revise our thoughts and feelings. The threats we face are real and can be vanquished only by shaking off self-absorption and taking action in the world. Build up the levees, get food to the hungry, find the cure, strengthen the 'first responders'! We will not succeed at all these things, certainly not all at once, but we can have a good trying."