Book description
Are optimists just reckless dreamers? Are pessimists miserable
doom-mongers or just erring on the side of caution? Is the glass half
empty or half full?
Brilliantly compiled and beautifully written, this is a rich
anthology of evidence from both sides of any argument. Covering
everything from Beauty to Happiness, Patriotism to Walking, it is the
perfect tool for squabbling families, a counterbalance for arguing
couples and a mine of detail for the quarrelsome.
The Optimist on the Afterlife: My heaven will be filled with
wonderful young men and dukes. (Dame Barbara Cartland)
And the Pessimist: 'That's what Hell will be like, small chat to the
babbling of Lethe about the good old days when we wished we were dead.
(Samuel Beckett)
Niall Edworthy is is the author of The Curious Gardener's
Almanac and eighteen previous books under a variety of guises
and noms de plume, covering military history, biography, sport,
general humour and gardening. He lives in West Sussex with his wife
and two children.
Petra Cramsie worked as an editor for puzzle magazines, then
as a writer/researcher making documentaries for TV, and then as an
editor at Allison and Busby. After leaving London, she studied for
degrees in Human Ecology (which taught her to be pessimistic), and
Philosophy (which taught her how to be, if not optimistic, then at
least philosophical). She lives in Herefordshire with her family.
