The Optimist
One Man's Search for the Brighter Side of Life
Published on 7. January 2010
Book
Paperback/Softback
336 pages
978-1-84767-128-8 (ISBN)
Description
Collapsing stock markets, melting ice caps, floods, tornadoes, terrorism . . . When it comes to bad news, we've never had it so good.
Perhaps it is time to be a little more optimistic? That's what Laurence Shorter decided. And that's why he set himself the challenge of meeting the world's most cheerful people. Surely with the help of Desmond Tutu, Richard Branson and Bill Clinton, Laurence can find the secret to inner happiness.
But first things first - how on Earth is he going to get to meet them?
Perhaps it is time to be a little more optimistic? That's what Laurence Shorter decided. And that's why he set himself the challenge of meeting the world's most cheerful people. Surely with the help of Desmond Tutu, Richard Branson and Bill Clinton, Laurence can find the secret to inner happiness.
But first things first - how on Earth is he going to get to meet them?
Reviews / Votes
If you're feeling pessimistic about the year ahead, this book does cheer you up. * * Sunday Times * * Witty writer . . . restore[s] a little faith in humanity's future. * * Financial Times * * Shorter is a snappy writer - fast, compelling, sympathetic and seemingly honest. * * Observer * * Deliciously quirky and enormously funny, it brims over with the sort of joie de vivre that would brighten the darkest day. * * Good Book Guide * * Amusing and intriguing. * * Mail On Sunday * * Learning how Richard Branson remains eternally cheerful or how a Buddhist monk became known as 'the happiest man in the world' is pretty inspiring. * * Metro * * [An] anti-misery memoir. * * Evening Standard * * Funny and inspiring . . . a book that's a reason to be cheerful in itself. * * Waterstone's Books Quarterly * * Shorter is a snappy writer - fast, compelling, sympathetic and . . . honest. * * Observer * * After depressing himself listening to the news, Laurence Shorter resolves to save the world and his sanity by reinventing optimism. * * Sunday Herald * *More details
Edition
Main
Language
English
Place of publication
Edinburgh
United Kingdom
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 196 mm
Width: 128 mm
Thickness: 30 mm
Weight
240 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-84767-128-8 (9781847671288)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
01/2009
Canongate Books
€12.89
Available for download
Person
Laurence Shorter worked in the business world for a decade before making the move into writing and comedy in 2001. Since then he has done a one-man show at the Edinburgh Festival, written for the BBC, Channel 4, the Independent, Observer and opendemocracy.net, and toured some of the capital's finest pubs as a comedy dancer. With his focus on the world of therapy and spiritual development he is taken seriously by a growing number of cultural commentators, including his father, his father's girlfriend and their brain-damaged cat. Laurence was born in New York and raised in Edinburgh. Today he lives in South London, though he was recently seen trying to escape on a small bicycle.