{"product_id":"optimist-s-pessimist-s-handbook-book-niall-edworthy-9780385614115","title":"The Optimist's\/Pessimist's Handbook","description":"'We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.' (Oscar Wilde) 'I tell you, we're in a blessed drain-pipe, and we've got to crawl along it till we die.' (H.G. Wells) 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 Africa to Beauty, Happiness to Patriotism to Walking, it is sop to any disposition; 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).","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49584694460689,"sku":"GOR001320579","price":10.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49778311692561,"sku":"GOR002489731","price":10.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/038561411X.jpg?v=1751196401","url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/products\/optimist-s-pessimist-s-handbook-book-niall-edworthy-9780385614115","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}