A Tour of the irrationally positive brain
‘A pessimist will see the difficulty in every opportunity, an optimist will see the opportunity in every difficulty.’ Citing Winston Churchill, Dr Tali Sharot argues that optimism is a tool for survival and even happiness; it is what gets us through hard times such as the current phase of economic recession.
In The Optimism Bias, Dr Tali Sharot uncovers myths about optimism and illuminates the multitudinous ways it can affect our lives. Dr Sharot uses science and historical and contemporary figures as well as people’s everyday experiences to examine the way in which optimism is necessary for us to function. She also illustrates how the human brain is extremely adept at turning lead into gold, at enabling us to face the most difficult of situations. The Optimism Bias, as an exploration of the human mind and its capability, has the unusual quality of being both an informative and very enjoyable read.