The Power of Optimism [Paperback]

Alan Loy McGinnis (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1990

Optimists have been shown to be healthier, involved in happier marriages, more affluent, and even to live longer. McGinnis illuminates the power of optimism with the life experiences of "tough-minded" optimists and provides mental techniques for maintaining a cheerful disposition, increasing physical vigor, and creating an aptitude for success and rich, warm relationships.

Product Details

• Paperback: 171 pages
• Publisher: Harpercollins (June 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0062506188
• ISBN-13: 978-0062506184
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.7 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,277,197 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful...!, August 24, 2001

By 

Rose (Indianapolis, IN USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Power of Optimism: Your Action Plan To Bring Out The Best In Yourself (Audio Cassette)

... I have found this book is such an amazing one. Doctor McGinnis is such a wonderful psychiatrist. Listenning to his audiobooks made me feel delighted, more positive about my life and everything around me. I just wanted to say "Thanks" to him. I have learned much from it. Everything that he mentioned and taught was not only for depressed individuals but for the optimistic persons as well. I hope he could continue to write books and have more audiobooks available for all of us.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Classic book on optimism, November 5, 2010

By 

Rachel Brandon (Visalia, CA United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Power of Optimism (Mass Market Paperback)

This book was recommended as an optional text to a college course of the same name. this isn't just the "power of positive thinking", but discusses the power that optimists have to change their lives for the better, that pessimists won't even try.
It also asserts that you don't have to be born an optimist, it is a skill that can be learned.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who has been overwhelmed by tragic life events, and would like to regain their optimism, or to be able to reflect back on those events with a healthy perspective.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Material, September 8, 2003

By 

Dr. W. G. Covington, Jr. (Edinboro, Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Power of Optimism (Hardcover)

Accomplishing goals, living a worthwhile life, and getting along with other people are all part of McGinnis' stragetgy for living abundantly. Optimism is an intangible force that has practical consequences. McGinnis describes it as a "can-do" philosophy. A quote he takes from William James brings the theme of individual control out even more when he writes "The greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind." McGinnis argues that this mind-set can result in people being elevated to the top of their fields. In part this is because activity results when people are optimistic. Without action entropy causes a system to break down. It is through active involvement that entropy is successfully overcome. Activity is stimulated as optimists create and maintain synergy with like minded associates. Reading is another form of stiumlation found among this group. Even more important than relationship maintainence and good reading, McGinnis stresses the importance of prayer. Optimistic achievers are perpetually young regardless of their chronological years he points out because "regardless of their age, they have a stubborn belief that their personal best is yet to be." More good news is reported in that optimism can be leaded. He says he read almost a thousand biographies and analyzed the lives of many successful people before drawing the conclusions he makes in this wonderful book. I highly recommend it.