Tuesday, October 5, 2010

HALF EMPTY by David Rakoff

2nd\NW Quadrant: The Approval Matrix

From Amazon

"Dry, sardonic wit"--The Daily Beast

"A collection of humorous—albeit pessimistic—essays on humankind’s incalculable foibles......Throughout the book, the author hones in on this disconnect, debunking the myth of the power of positive thinking while arguing that 'the bleak' (not the meek) will most likely inherit the earth. Rakoff manages to make pessimism sexy, whittling optimism into little more than an irresponsible fad, a modern opiate of the masses. .....The author regularly employs non-sequiturs as a literary technique, casting his arguments to the fringes of possibility before reeling them back in. His droll humor proves an asset when describing humankind’s failures, allowing readers to roll their eyes while empathizing with the argument.....While Rakoff seems to revel in his role as a modern-day Thomas Hobbes, it’s evident that he remains responsible in his critique, never trouncing a subject without provocation while simultaneously opening the reader’s eyes to everyday lunacy. An unsentimental comic depiction of our inability to recognize our own short-sided logic."--Kirkus Reviews

I'm going to read it!
-N

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