Welcome to Litsy!

I've always hated America's almost religious devotion to optimism, so this book had me before I had even cracked the cover. Ehrenreich traces "positive thinking's" course from 19th-century healers through Norman Vincent Peale, prosperity gospel preachers, and pseudo-self-help tomes like 'The Secret'. Makes a compelling case that our refusal to deal with reality and even consider negative outcomes is responsible for many of our current problems.

Barbara Ehrenreich argues, rightly, that we could all do with being more of a #MardyBum #AyUpAugust @squirrelbrain @Cinfhen

#AlwaysLookOnTheBrightSideOfLife #MusicalNewYear @Cinfhen @vivastory

#7favesin7days 5/11

Post a book you love each day for 7 days, without review or comment, with the hashtag #7favesin7days in your post so we can keep it going!

I enjoyed this contrarian book, an exploration of our national obsession with positive thinking. Diagnosed with breast cancer, Ehrenreich rejects the idea that staying positive affects the outcome of her illness; she is angry, and understandably so.With this book, she deconstructs the culture that believes in The Secret, requires laid-off workers to smile and embrace change (even for the worse), and fails to fully examine the roots of depression.

Although this was published nearly 10 years ago, some parts still seem relevant today, particularly those talking about the belief that individual success or failure is the sole reason for one's situation in life (no thought to societal or systemic issues). With inequality deepening, this is an even more important read than before.

RAAAAAAGE at lack of parallelism! Barbara Ehrenreich gets me 😄

This is my current read and it‘s quite interesting. #giveawayrealtalk

A fast and fascinating read about positive thinking and the damage it can do. Perhaps dated as it was published after the 2008 collapse, but I think it's still pertinent information. I'm glad @arlenefinnigan posted about it and that my library had it!

Crap day. What I thought would be an easy activity was like pulling teeth. Huge flop. I work in a magnet school and the kids have to maintain a certain grade in 5 of their 7 classes to stay. My class (Spanish) is not one of them, so if I dare to do anything they don't deem "fun" then they barely bother. I'm feeling like a failure tonight. No positive thinking in this house tonight.

#BlackBooks #riotgrams
I believe the title of this was subsequently changed. I prefer the original.
@bookriot

I can't wait to check this book out and read all about how ableist and abusive and destructive "positive psychology" is. It'll definitely be in my next library haul.

Virulently ableist, multiply bigoted "positive psychology" enthusiasts will be blocked if they follow me on here. If you're reading this and you're one too, you ought to read the tagged book, and you can also eat my entire ass.

#SameBookDifferentCover #AprilBookShowers
Different title, in fact. They changed it to 'Bright sided'. Guess they thought Smile Or Die was a bit aggressive. 😂
@RealLifeReading

I survived the epic slump, a banned book that was a rough read, and a long detailed biography. My strategy was picking a few short books to get my reading back on track. Looking forward to December reads!

I am not enamored with positive thinking, especially of the obligatory kind, so I love this book so far.
#nonfiction #nonfictionlove #psychology

If you don't always feel relentless optimism and have had friends tell you to "snap out of it," you might like this book. If you loved or hated The Secret, this book might offer you a new perspective. I found it especially meaningful during the last days of the 2016 election cycle.

I listened to it on audio and found it easy to absorb. Highly recommend.

Longer review at https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1242767397

#nonfictionnovember

Next up for #nonfictionnovember is this gem. I'm about 20% in and definitely appreciating her approach. #nonfictnov

... critical thinking is inherently skeptical. The best students -- and in good colleges, also the most successful -- are the ones who raise sharp questions, even at the risk of making a professor momentarily uncomfortable. Whether the subject is literature or engineering, graduates should be capable of challenging authority figures, going against the views of their classmates, and defending novel points of view.

Here's my rainbow of ebooks for#septphotochallenge. I have a LOT of ebooks to choose from. #bookrainbow #ROYGBIV #somethingforsept

Everything is perfect here, or as perfect as you want to make it. Dreams go out and fulfill themselves; wishes need only to be articulated. It's just a god-awful lonely place.

I hope everyone can read this. I almost died laughing and I'm at the Nissan dealership getting an oil change, everyone is looking at me crazy.

My new nonfiction read. My boyfriend is a big believer in positive thinking and I am not. So I plan to antagonize him with this book (just kidding you guys). I'm just interested this part of our culture.

'A friend of mine...once engaged a "life coach" to improve his finances and was told to overcome his negative feelings about wealth and to always carry a twenty dollar bill I his wallet "to attract more money."' I laughed out loud at the ridiculous advice.

Although a little simplistic and repetitive in parts, this was a great short read about what positive thinking really means and how it can be a dangerous influence on people's lives. The chapters about cancer and the financial crisis were particularly good.

Starting to catalogue all my books with this bookcase - it's the first of four! Wish me luck...