Can optimism influence events in your life? Does fate smile upon those who see the glass as half full? The science writer Sumit Paul-Choudhury believes so. The Bright Side: Why Optimists Have the Power to Change the World is his hymn to positivity, though fear not: it’s not a self-help book and there is more to it than platitudes about manifesting and living your best life.
The author realised he was a natural optimist following the premature death of his wife from cancer. In the aftermath, he made an active decision “not to spend any more time in limbo than I already had” and “cultivated the idea that the future would be bright”. Optimism is, he says, “central to the human psyche”. It fosters social progress and encourages individuals to be resilient and withstand stress, to be more successful at work and create stronger bonds with friends and family. Among the models for optimism offered here are Ernest Shackleton who, along with his crew, survived being stranded in the Antarctic, and Helen Keller, who lost her hearing and sight after a childhood illness and later, in her 1903 essay Optimism, wrote about discovering hope and joy.
Paul-Choudhury is our upbeat, but never Pollyanna-ish, narrator. His reading, like his writing, is thoughtful and pragmatic. Could optimism – the kind that leads people to assume they won’t get cancer, or lose their livelihood – be the result of naivety or delusion? Perhaps, but that isn’t an argument for relentless realism. To consciously see brightness and opportunity rather than misery and calamity, Paul-Choudhury asserts, is to ultimately invest in one’s future and bring about change.
Available from Canongate, 8hr 45min
Further listening
Audition
Katie Kitamura, Penguin Audio, 4hr 46min
Traci Kato-Kiriyama reads this enigmatic Booker-shortlisted novel about a nameless actor preparing for a new role who meets a younger man at a restaurant. As the book’s narrator, she deconstructs her life, her performances and the social roles we all play.
Wintering
Katherine May, Penguin Audio, 6hr 54min
This meditative book about the dark winter months extols the virtues of fallow periods, which can be healing, restorative and pave the way for a new lease of life. Read by Rebecca Lee.
