I really did want to like this book. The entire subject of resiliency in crisis fascinates me, and I was hopeful that Dr. Ubel, being both a physician and a psychologist, would explain how and why people react so differently under extreme stess. Instead, this book is a collection of creaky old cliches, hackneyed "feel good" mumbo jumbo and pop psychology of the most eye-rolling, snicker-inducing type.
I'll save you all the trouble - here, in the final chapter is his entire wisdom. "People with illness or disability, or any kind of adversity, should embrace positive events from earlier in their lives, rather than bemoan such events for being part of their previous lives..Or if that doesn't work, try to remember some bad things that used to happen in a previous stage of your life. Or focus on good things happening in your current life that hadn't happened in a previous stage."
And if that doesn't work, I'd suggest a big old glass of bourbon. Good heavens, folks, this stuff is useless tripe. Dr. Ubel's examples of the desperately ill are like some movie-land stereotype of the noble patient - always cheerful, wise-cracking, brave and wise. He ignores the real world where real people with devastating illness and disabilities are also overwhelmingly prone to severe depression. Holding up these too-good-to-be-true saints and saying "See, they can do it, so can you - just think happy thoughts" is hardly helpful. In fact, it is insulting to those struggling with severe illness to trivialize their very real grief and pain as just incorrect thinking.
This book goes in the trash can.
