Interesting, but a bit cumbersome at time. Still, I LOVE Barbara Ehrenreich. ( )

I’ll just go ahead and say it: my love for Barbara Ehrenreich knows no bounds. In Bright-Sided, Ehrenreich, in her typically no-nonsense voice of reason, attacks the “relentless promotion of positive thinking,” arguing that our refusal to acknowledge potential negative outcomes is a contributing cause of social and economic crises, as it devalues critical thinking skills in favor of positivity in the face of even the direst circumstances.

Ehrenreich criticizes the corporate mindset that insists on viewing every failure as an “opportunity” and expects workers to suppress their doubts and express optimism even when asking questions and considering negatives could benefit the company in the long run. She also calls out pastors like Joel Osteen and Joyce Meyer for essentially confusing Jesus with Santa Claus and encouraging their congregations to believe that God will give them everything they want if they can just exhibit the right amount of faith, as if He doesn’t have anything better to do than help you get a good parking place at the mall (something Osteen once gave Him credit for).

And before you go assuming Ehrenreich is out to get the Christians (she’s not!), let me tell you that she also goes after motivational speakers, law of attraction enthusiasts, and those who profess that The Secret really did change their lives. If all you have to do to get what you want is want it badly enough, then it becomes YOUR FAULT when you don’t get it (and YOUR FAULT when bad things happen to you because, hello, you must have manifested them through your thoughts), and it ignores the fact that there are often many people wanting the same thing.

The bottom line here isn’t that optimism is bad; it’s that the insistence on positivity to the exclusion of critical thinking is dangerous on many levels. As usual, Ehrenreich’s latest book is engaging, witty, well-argued, and an all-around great read. ( )

Interesting topic - some chapters were very engaging, others felt less well-researched, but overall an interesting bit of food for thought.

My only major complaint is one I've had about Ehrenreich's work before, which is that she sometimes allows her personal politics to enter into her writing. At one point, she spends 2-3 pages criticizing conservatives for their enthusiasm for positive thinking, while sparing a mere sentence to acknowledge liberal Oprah's one-woman positive thinki...more Interesting topic - some chapters were very engaging, others felt less well-researched, but overall an interesting bit of food for thought.

My only major complaint is one I've had about Ehrenreich's work before, which is that she sometimes allows her personal politics to enter into her writing. At one point, she spends 2-3 pages criticizing conservatives for their enthusiasm for positive thinking, while sparing a mere sentence to acknowledge liberal Oprah's one-woman positive thinking marketing machine. My personal feeling is that well-done journalism will be even-handed. If a writer wishes to let politics come into play, then the topic should be examined from a particular political point of view, and shelved in the "Political Science" section of the bookstore. Not being very much oriented with one major political party or the other, I find it very distracting when anyone tries very hard to assert a stereotypical political view from either side in any discussion. ( )

 In books I’ve read on multicultural manners and information for international students, there is a truism repeated for readers: Americans act happy, but really aren’t; they act friendly even when they are not your friends; they share lots of information with strangers and expect it in return. While I am grossly oversimplifying this notion, it does appear to be true. Ehrenreich asks why we are this way, if it’s good for us, and offers solutions to irrational positivism. She traces the history of the “positive thinking” movement through America’s early history, from Calvinism and the Protestant work ethic through to “The Secret” laws of attraction. Positivism starts as a religion, becomes a business, is fostered by science, and turns back into a religion. She taps into her various experiences (cancer, biology background, youth) to write and research this book, so it could just as easily be seen as a memoir as it could be seen as a social science investigation of the role of positive thinking in psychology, medicine, history, religion, finance, business, and politics.
Lest readers think that she is hopelessly pessimistic, she reminds us that “the alternative to positive thinking is not, however, despair.” She goes on to discuss the importance of realism in all that positive thinking, emphasizing that realism is not the same as pessimism or depression. In this chapter, I wish she had researched and presented information about groups that have been doing this, namely those who make preparedness a part of their lives. Urban homesteaders, people living off the grid, and Mormons all make looking to the future and the present with a positive but realistic attitude of “plan for the worst, hope for the best,” which seems to be what she wants from us.
This book is well researched and cited. Though she often jumps to overly-quick conclusions, she provides lots of well-marked citations that allow her readers to go straight to her sources and draw their own conclusions, a courtesy missing from many social science or pop psychology books. ( )

Sometimes the personal really is political: Ehrenreich's brush with breast cancer abruptly put her in the world of America's cult of positive thinking. This book is an exploration of this particular flavor of magical thinking, and how it affects our lives. ( )