by I will have more to say later about One Simple Idea, I only just started reading it, but I went to a reading last night and it was PACKED. These pictures don’t really capture it. It was standing room only and people filled the aisles. The first picture is only a small piece of the left side of The Corner Bookstore.
The subtitle of the book is, How Positive Thinking Reshaped Modern Life. I am the perfect audience for this book. For all my grousing I have always embraced the positive view (every day I write down three things that made me happy, no matter how small my pleasures might be on any one day, ie, “my plants are still alive.”). But I can’t stand when positive thinking glosses over the horrible, or offers aphorisms like, “Everything happens for a reason.” God, I hate that phrase.
In the beginning of the book Horowitz promises to frankly assess the movement. He will criticize what needs to be criticized, and offer a vision for the future of positive thinking. I’m there. The first two chapters made me feel good and I don’t think that was even the point.
A look back into the bookstore, as I was leaving. It was a nice audience. Mitch Horowitz has lovely friends and associates. Oh, and the back room was filled with their children, who were quietly reading books grabbed from the shelves.
