"Version 2.0 with a new afterword"--Cover.

Psychologists have long been aware that most people maintain an irrationally positive outlook on life—but why? Turns out, we might be hardwired that way. In this absorbing exploration, Tali Sharot—one of the most innovative neuroscientists at work today—demonstrates that optimism may be crucial to human existence. The Optimism Bias explores how the brain generates hope and what happens when it fails; how the brains of optimists and pessimists differ; why we are terrible at predicting what will make us happy; how emotions strengthen our ability to recollect; how anticipation and dread affect us; how our optimistic illusions affect our financial, professional, and emotional decisions; and more. Drawing on cutting-edge science, The Optimism Bias provides us with startling new insight into the workings of the brain and the major role that optimism plays in determining how we live our lives.

The world isn’t coming to an end, contrary to what you may have heard. But the media’s near-exclusive focus on conflict and disaster means that the progress and everyday acts of brilliance taking place across the globe go unnoticed. Jurriaan Kamp shows that optimism—intelligent optimism, not a rose-colored-glasses brand of wishful thinking—is good for not only your mind but your body too. He details a whole host of health problems that can actually be linked to pessimism. Moreover, there is good reason for optimism: Kamp proves that on the whole we’re living longer, becoming smarter, working less, and growing richer. Not only that, democracy is on the rise, and violence is declining. This book will help you tune out the media’s focus on sensationalism and negativity and turn on your natural optimism so you’ll drop into a “real world” that’s richer than you ever imagined.

In her book Wildly Optimistic, Al Carraway offers new methods and perspectives for life's inevitable challenges. With her trademark honesty, optimism, and love for the Lord, she addresses how to stay close to God even when He is silent, how to keep going when too much time passes, and how to be hopeful when it's not what we wanted, when things don't work out, and when we want to give up.

'In any given moment, there are two options; to step forward into growth or to step back into safety...'- Abraham Maslow''It was true. I knew it. I felt it growing louder everyday. First a murmur. Then a hum. As I made the commute to the office, everyday, it got louder still. Then everyday my mind shouted at me - 'There has to be more than this!'I realised then, that I simply couldn't live the same year 60 times in a row, and call it 'my life.''Gylisa is bored of the life she is expected to lead, and craves change. Stuck in a rut, working to pay the bills and missing out on everything in between, she realises that monotony isn't safe at all. It's a life sentence. When her boyfriend, Ryan offers a solution, albeit a risky one. She knows she has to take it. It's now, or never.With just a duvet, some clothes and their car, they leave their old lives behind without a second glance, pulling back the arrow and shooting it with no real target in sight. Freedom, it turns out, can be found living in a tiny car on a business estate. 200 miles from 'home', with no money, it's not quite the adventure they had in mind. But with nothing left to do but count down the days until 'Real Life' begins, they learn how to survive, and grow - on the way.This is her memoir based on the diary she kept during this time.

The Diary of Malcolm X is a transcended document. The editors, in their deliberations, careful annotations and commentary, have given us oxygen in the actual language of our brother and leader. The only question left is---- will we accept his daunting challenge.

A colourful and central figure in Australian politics for two decades—described by Bob Hawke as having ‘the most acute mind’ of any of his ministers—Gareth Evans has also been applauded worldwide for his contributions, both as Foreign Minister and in later international roles, to conflict resolution, genocide prevention and curbing weapons of mass destruction. In this sometimes moving, often entertaining, and always lucid memoir Evans looks back over the highs and lows of his public life as a student activist, civil libertarian, law reformer, industry minister, international policymaker, educator and politician. He explains why it is that, despite multiple disappointments, he continues to believe that a safer, saner and more decent world is achievable, and why, for all its frustrations, politics remains an indispensable profession not only for megalomaniacs but idealists.