The Optimist's/Pessimist's Handbook: A Companion to Hope and Despair [Hardcover]

Niall Edworthy (Author), Petra Cramsie (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 4, 2008

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.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

And now, just for fun comes this reversible little book, one side for optimists, the other for pessimists—full of quotations, proverbs, statistics, and diary extracts from well-known persons who look at the glass as either half-empty or half-full. Edworthy (The Curious Gardner's Almanac) and retired magazine publisher Cramsie cover topics from baldness and fashion to lawyers and wealth. In the optimism portion of the book, for example, Winston Churchill is quoted as saying, "If you are going through hell, keep going." Honore de Balzac, quoted in "pessimism," notes: "Believe everything you hear about the world; nothing is too impossibly bad." This enjoyable read will be appreciated by most patrons. Recommended to all public libraries.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About the Author

Niall Edworthy is an author and journalist. He is the author of The Curious Gardender’s Almanac and over a dozen other books under a variety of guises and noms de plume, covering military history, biography, sport, general humor, and gardening. He lives in West Sussex with his wife and two children.

The following are the author's biographical blurbs as they appear in The Optimist's/Pessimist's Handbook:

The Optimist's Handbook:

Niall Edworthy is the celebrated author of twenty books, making him a hero to many around the globe. Commentators say it is just a matter of time before he sweeps the board of literary awards, turns down a seat in the House of Lords and retires from his estate in the Home Counties to a tropical island, a robust, over-sexed, eight-figure-millionaire philanthropist.

The Pessimist's Handbook:

Over the past decade Niall Edworthy has made a poor to modest living as a jobbing hack. An ongoing disappointment to his dysfunctional family and both his friends, Niall spends his days in a cold garage in the middle of nowhere typing nonsense into an old computer with the one finger not yet afflicted by RSI. His magnum opus, Life Is a Bowl of Toenail Clippings, remains unfinished.

Petra Cramsie worked as an editor for puzzle magazines, then as a writer/researcher for a production company making television documentaries, and then as an editor at Allison and Busby. After leaving London, she studied for degrees in human ecology and philosophy. She lives in Herefordshire with her family.

The following are the author's biographical blurbs as they appear in The Optimist's/Pessimist's Handbook:

The Optimist's Handbook:

In her dazzling early career launching exhibitions, publishing magazines, editing books and writing for television, Petra Cramsie added considerably to the gaiety of nations. She now lives in a rural idyll above Herefordshire’s Golden Valley, secure in the knowledge that tomorrow will be even better than today. Blessed with children, Petra often reminds those citizens of a brighter future that a day without a smile is like a day without sunshine.

The Pessimist's Handbook:

After years spent toiling at various unrewarding employments, Petra Cramsie left London to face the vicissitudes of middle age. She and her dependants live in a godforsaken, wind-tormented spot opposite the Black Mountains. When she is not up to her eyeballs in relentless domestic drudgery, she spends her time contemplating the exact size, shape and texture of the hand-basket in which the world is going to hell.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Free Press (November 4, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1439101663
• ISBN-13: 978-1439101667
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,217,963 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Funny, Uplifting, Ironic, and Insightful, December 23, 2008

By 

Loyd E. Eskildson "Pragmatist" (Phoenix, AZ.) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Optimist's/Pessimist's Handbook: A Companion to Hope and Despair (Hardcover)

"The Optimist's Handbook" is really half of a clever printing that covers a number of topics (eg. Death, Fame, Life, Love, Science, Sex, etc.) from both the perspective of an optimist and a pessimist. Personally, I liked the pessimist side best because it quickly turns most frowns into grins.

Following are some examples:

Resigning yourself to life's grim treadmill, and thereby avoiding more disappointments, is the best way to trudge forward. Misery loves company, but not with a horde of perky Utopians.

Adventure is just bad planning. (Roald Amundsen)

My only solution for the problem of habitual accidents is to stay in bed all day. Even then, there is always the chance that you will fall out. (Robert Benchley)

The more books one reads, the more stupid one becomes. (Mao Tse-Tung)

Every civilization that has ever existed has ultimately collapsed. (Henry Kissinger)

The graveyards are full of indispensable men. (Charles De Gaulle)

A single death is a tragedy, a million deaths is a statistic. (Josef Stalin)

Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent; the world is full of educated derelicts. (Calvin Coolidge)

You teach a child to read, and he or her will be able to pass a literacy test. (George W. Bush)

Peter remained on friendly terms with Christ notwithstanding Christ's having healed his mother-in-law. (Samuel Butler)

Science is the record of dead religions. (Oscar Wilde)

In terms of allocation of time, religion is not very efficient. There is a lot more I could be doing on a Sunday morning. (Bill Gates)

There is too much point to the wisecrack that life is extinct on other planets because their scientists were more advanced than ours. (John F. Kennedy)

I think there is a world market for maybe five computers. (Thomas Watson)

This "telephone" has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. This device is inherently of no value to us. (Western Union internal memo)

The was in Vietnam is going well and will succeed. (Robert McNamera)

Why yes, a bullet-proof vest. (James Rodgers' last request in front of the firing squad.)

"One of the greatest gifts science has brought to the world is continuing elimination of the supernatural. We can live our lives without the constant fear that we have offended this or that deity, or that we are at the mercy of devils or the Fates. (James D. Watson)

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars happy fun......sad fun.., January 10, 2009

By 

happy reader "d/mil" (Harrison, AR USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Optimist's/Pessimist's Handbook: A Companion to Hope and Despair (Hardcover)

This is a real "fun" book. Keep it on the coffee table. The black cover is the pessmist half. Now turn it over . The white cover is the optimist part. Great to pick up...open anywhere.....read a page or two...