It has been a week for news, right? Feels as though we would all welcome the more positive perspective that is explored in a couple of new non-fiction texts.

THE BRIGHT SIDE by Sumit Paul-Choudhury is subtitled "How Optimists Change the World, and How You Can Be One." Paul-Choudhury is a former Editor-in-Chief of New Scientist, with training as an astrophysicist and work experience as a financial journalist. The Guardian described this book as "An engaging, if slightly disjointed romp through the science and psychology of optimism." As I read, I found myself thinking of Ted Lasso and his BELIEVE sign. Paul-Choudhury breaks the book into three sections, plus a somewhat theoretical Epilogue, a Bibliography, and an Index. He begins with talking about his wife's untimely death and emphasizes that "Optimism, far from leading us to passively await our fates, can help us to actively explore our limitations -- and transcend them." Indeed, there is a definite bias towards action; The Wall Street Journal review features this quote: "If we want the world to be better tomorrow than it is today," Mr. Paul-Choudhury writes, "we first have to expect that it will be. Then we have to imagine the ways in which it could be. And then we have to ensure that it will be."

Readers might try pairing this book with Hope for Cynics; by Jamil Zaki who argues that hopeful skepticism is a valuable and precise way of understanding others and that it can rebalance our view of human nature, thereby helping us build the world we truly want. An interview with the author, a professor of psychology at Stanford University and the director of the Stanford Social Neuroscience Lab, is available here on PBS NewsHour: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrp4jWFhz1A

The Bright Side is an excellent call for optimism, aka the bright side, to maximize and sustain our health and well-being. Driven by an excellent summary of the relevant research, The Bright Side is precisely what we need right now as we doom scroll and fret about our future. It's not easy, and at times, it isn't our knee-jerk impulse, but expecting and looking for the bright side can make life far more meaningful and fun.

For a book that’s supposed to be about optimism, this book is really dark and depressing. It’s full of negativity and violence. DNF.

Trigger warnings needed for suicide and SA.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC.

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