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Jun 26, 2011

Katie rated it:

Boy is it nice to see someone exposing Positive fucking Psychology, The Secret, the "prosperity gospel," and all the rest of the American happytalk crap. I get so sick of it. I get so fucking sick of it. God, I got so sick of it at the Health NonProfit Call Center I worked at--all the smileys and balloons and cheery emails with little animated cartoons ("Join me on the coverage train!") and the required-attendance pep rallies and the color-coded performance scales with lit More...

14 comments like (27 people liked it)

Aug 24, 2010

David rated it:

I always feel slightly guilty about my reaction to Barbara Ehrenreich's writing. I do admire her - she is ideologically committed, writes with passion, is on what I consider the "correct" side of the various social issues that concern her. And yet ... somehow I always end up with these niggling reservations that prevent me from endorsing her books wholeheartedly.

In the case of "Nickel and Dimed", probably her best-known work, the niggling reservation was the arti More...

12 comments like (39 people liked it)

May 31, 2011

Eric_W rated it:

Read the reviews by Trevor (http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/797...) and Lena (http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/751...) They are better, but I couldn’t resist a few comments.

I didn’t expect to like this book. I wasn’t wildly enthusiastic about Nickle and Dimed, but this title was chosen for our reading club, so I gave it a whirl.

Ehrenreich uses her personal experience with breast cancer as a jumping off point.which led to her loathing for the pink-ribbon-cancer-is More...

13 comments like (15 people liked it)

Dec 01, 2009

Lena rated it:

Barbara Ehrenreich was first exposed to the dark side of the positive thinking movement when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Early into her cancer journey, she discovered that normal emotions such as anger and fear were being aggressively denied by those who believed that a positive attitude was crucial to survival. Cultural skeptic that she is, Ehernreich poured through the literature on the subject and found that, not only did science fail to support the hypothesis that a positive atti More...

25 comments like (51 people liked it)

Jun 17, 2010

Trevor rated it:

There is little point writing a review of a book once Lena has written one - http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/751... - not, of course, that that will stop me.

This is a wonderful book. The main idea behind it is that we have developed a religious (quite literally) fervour for positive thinking. The best bits of this book are when she talks about the Evangelical Churches in the US and how they have moved away from negative images (like Jesus on the cross) towards Jesus in a three More...

12 comments like (19 people liked it)

Dec 14, 2010

Judie rated it:

Ehrenreich is the Richard Dawkins of positive thinking. While I like to think that I broadly agree with her, I'm sometimes put off by the way she says things and the spin she likes to put on certain people. Sarcasm should not be such a major weapon of an obviously intelligent and otherwise convincing author.

In some chapters, along with some very reasoned and potent argument, she attacks people for the way they dress or for their hairstyle (mullets and bulletheads). Do I have to d More...

1 comment like (6 people liked it)

Nov 28, 2010

Jafar rated it:

I remember reading this line in Paul Coelho’s The Alchemist: "When you really want something to happen, the whole universe conspires so that your wish comes true." I didn’t think about it too much. The book was full of such ridiculous but touchy-feely-warm-and-fluffy pronouncements. But then I kept seeing this quote everywhere. And Coelho is not the only one going around saying such vacuous platitudes. The reason why so many people find such patently-false absurdities charming or even More...

0 comments like (9 people liked it)

Mar 27, 2011

Jennifer rated it:

Excellent wake-up call! Her criticisms of the positive thinking movement are well-grounded and insightful. She makes a critical distinction between positive delusions and true happiness, which allows for one's genuine emotions whether they be grief, anger, etc... She addresses our lack of empathy for others when we shut them out or blame them for becoming I'll because of their "negativity" whether they have cancer and are dying. She also makes the point that positive thinking that is d More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Aug 17, 2010

Laurel rated it:

Cynics Unite!!! This is perhaps one of the most thought provoking books I've read in a long time. Ehrenreich discusses how the positive thinking movement has duped Americans into buying into a culture of consumerism and blind faith. Here is a good quote because I'm too lazy to summarize in my own words:

"But always, in a hissed undertone, there is the darker message that if you don't have all that you want, if you feel sick, discouraged, or defeated, you have only yourself to bla More...

2 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jul 30, 2011

Alan rated it:

Bright-Sided has a terrific introduction about the history and influence of positive thinking in our culture. Ehrenreich's writing is always clear, well-supported and interesting but I was surprised how engaged I got in her argument that positive thinking is too often a mindless, childish whitewash over the reality of nature and our culture. She cites measures of happiness that place Americans way down the list although we work so hard at the happiness business. She wrote a terrific chapter ab More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Nov 28, 2010

Al rated it:

This is a superb examination of a current cultural malaise which has taken over and dominated western thinking: Positive Thinking. So prevalent is this malaise that we automatically accept its premise: be positive. Nobody wants to be negative!

But 'being negative' is not what this book is about. It is concerned to reveal to the reader that there are deep and ugly realities that masquerade under the big smiley face we see everywhere; and it can and does do real harm. This is to be fo More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jun 11, 2010

Ellen rated it:

I found this book disappointing. I agree with Ehrenreich that the "positive thinking" movement is a load of malarky, and I found her arguments about the harm that positive thinking does in business world and in the prosperity gospel movement to be convincing. But the section on breast cancer patients really turned me off. I think it's true that patients should be allowed to deal with cancer in their own ways and not be shunned or ostracized for being angry or upset about their disea More...

4 comments like (9 people liked it)

Feb 11, 2010

Kellen rated it:

In "Bright-Sided", Barbara Ehrenreich provides a timely and provocative portrayal of positive thinking as a pestilent cultural phenomenon. For me, this book was reminiscent of reading "The Culture of Fear" (Glassner) shortly after 9/11, and experiencing the fear-lockdown that gripped the US and much the world. Like fear, positive thinking--in health care, religion, and business/finance--is another manifestation of American culture at odds with reality. According to Ehrenreich More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Apr 09, 2010

Bill rated it:

It was bad enough that Barbara Ehrenreich suffered from breast cancer: what made it even worse was that so many people--medical professionals as well as friends and acquaintances--insisted that she be upbeat and positive about her affliction. Now, in addition to feeling angry and scared, she had to feel guilty about not looking on "the bright side." This experience led Ms. Ehrenreich to examine the origins of Positive Thinking in America (Dr. Quimby's New Thought, Mary Baker Eddy) a More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Nov 28, 2010

Vicky rated it:

Here is the book that deserves more than 5 stars. I see it as a very important read for many people and I highly recommend it. The concept of "positive thinking" had infiltrated everything around us and many people work so hard to stop the thoughts from being negative. At the same time regardless how hard we try to reprogram ourselves we still prone to negative emotions. In a very clever and entertaining way the book proves that it is impossible to apply positive thinking all the time More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Mar 09, 2010

"Terrence" rated it:

Here Ehrenreich offers a fascinating debunking of the cults of happiness, positive thinking, and optimism which have such a strange grip on American culture. From cancer therapy, church life, consumerism, to Wall St. and more, she shows how the dogma of American optimism has long worked as a form of social control, a way institutions effectively block criticism and distort reality. She delves into the strong Christian contribution to this peculiar brand of dysfunctional optimism. Quite an eye op More...

1 comment like

Feb 10, 2012

Patricia rated it:

I read this after reading Martin Seligman's Flourish because I wanted to hear from someone on the other end of the spectrum. Seligman thinks that the common treatment for depression, antidepressants with a dose of analytical therapy for why things go wrong, should be replaced with positive psychology. He concentrates on "perma" that is positive emotions, engagement, relationships, meaning and accomplishment.

Ehrenreich's book takes on Seligman the man more than his thesis More...

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Nov 22, 2011

Jonathan rated it:

I just finished this excellent book! No it is not a screed against bubbly people or an advocate of pessimism. It is a studiously researched book on the history of the "positive thinking" movement. It traces the origins of the positive thinking movement as a reaction against Calvinism in America with the birth of the Christian Science movement through to its modern day mega-billion dollar incarnations as the self help industry, corporate motivational speakers, name it and claim it Chris More...

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Jul 30, 2011

Paul rated it:

This book was an interesting one for me to read, as I've spent a good part of my life trying to change my outlook from one of always being a pessimistic bastard to something a bit more... light-hearted, not so damned serious, able to laugh at myself and at things.

To start, the one thing that I appreciated about this book was how the author proceeded to approach this subject by dismantling a sacred cow right off the bat - breast cancer. She proceeds to detail the "pink ribbon cul More...

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Jul 27, 2011

John added it

A sometimes hilarious and sometimes tragic study of the idea that "positive thinking" can change the world. The book starts with Ehrenreich's own breast cancer diagnosis and the culture of cancer 'survivors' into which she found herself tumbled, where optimism must be fostered because "a positive attitude boosts the immune system". She then takes us through the history of 19th-century "New Thought", Christian Science, business "motivational" seminars, pr More...

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Jul 25, 2011

Anne rated it:

Hope for the best but prepare for the worst. A great quote that people don't live by anymore--after all, to prepare for the worst is to allow negative feelings to enter the brain. (GASP!) As a self-proclaimed realist who has been accused by many of being "negative" or a pessimist, I say, "Yeah, and proud of it."

It drives me crazy when associates and friends boast that they don't watch the news or read newspapers--"It's too upsetting." It's supposed to More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 24, 2011

James rated it:

So I come from a home that mildly bought into the 'positive thinking' movement. My dad would have dismissed many of the banal 'believe it, become it' approaches of the self-help movement, but he did have Robert Schuller on his shelf and listened to business motivational tapes in the car. I remember one such tape talking about successful sales where a salesman said that before he went to make a sale he would repeat to himself, "I'm the best salesman in the world" and low and behold he w More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 31, 2011

Nick rated it:

The premise of this book -- a critique of positive thinking -- is fantastic. And precisely why I recommended it to my (equally fantastic) book club. And Ehrenreich is funny and pithy and amusing throughout. I just think some chapters are better than others; it's uneven. I thought the first substantive chapter -- on positive thinking and breast cancer -- was great. Turns out that absolutely no science supports the idea that being positive will cure you of cancer. Shocker! And that emphasiz More...

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Apr 09, 2011

Edward rated it:

So what's wrong with positive thinking and looking on the bright side of things? Isn't that the purpose of life, to improve our lives and feel good in the process of accomplishing that? Especially in America, that shining city on the hill which shines as a beacon of hope to the rest of the world?
Ehrenreich, author of NICKEL AND DIMED, condemns this attitude which she considers to have done much damage to our society - in all kinds of ways found in medicine, education, religio More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 03, 2011

John rated it:

I learned a new (old) word the other day. Infatuity, the state of being fatuous.

This book is a polemic against the infatuity of 'Positive Thinking' from the group thinking blaming cancer on 'bad attitudes' through CEOs putting up cutesy pictures while firing 25% of their employees through the marketing of Prosperity Christianity to the refusal of Big Business or Government to make contingency plans. Some of the things she had talked about I had already known, some I had never put to More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 02, 2011

Christine rated it:

This was a really thought-provoking book. I'm glad I read it. Ehrenriech fearlessly takes on the culture of positive-thinking and suggests that this "belief-system" is oppressing us, Americans in particular. She starts out her book relaying her experiences of having breast cancer and how she was exhorted to think positively and not let cancer "get her down". She reports that within "cancer culture" there is the understanding that those who release negative thoug More...

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Mar 05, 2011

Sarah rated it:

Alerted to this book by a friend on Goodreads. As an optimist I couldn't help but want to see what it was about. My husband, the pessimist, thought I was strange for wanting to read it. I couldn't help but hear his voice throughout the book. I once read and was moved by "The Secret." This book bashes it, along with other motivational books and speakers I've admired. It gave me reason to really think about the pros and cons of positive thinking. In the end (she did a good job of More...

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Jan 06, 2011

Brian rated it:

THis book really resonated with me for a couple of reasons. A few years back I opened a small business, believeing that through hard work and a good attitude it would be a success. Alas, we went out of business after a year (like many other small businesses). More recently, I went back to grad school as a mid-life career shift, hopeful that a master's degree in my new field would make me more than qualified to get a position. Alas, I graduated a year and a half ago and I' mstill unemployed and b More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 18, 2010

Eric rated it:

An often humorously derisive take on positive thinking, finding in it the seeds of egotistic delusion and showing that sickness constellated within the business and religious spheres. It does seem to take a little too much delight in bashing optimism in all its forms, to the point of claiming in one memorable sentence that the universe unfolds according to algorithms that do not take our feelings into account. Since our feelings are part of the algorithm, I do not see how that is possible. Sh More...

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Nov 29, 2010

Margot rated it:

Ehrenreich puts forth the claim that our boundless American optimism has a dark side, a side that can be detrimental and actually...negative! She takes a critical look at the "survivor" mentality in the breast cancer community (and rips apart the claim that patients can thinks themselves healthy), she skewers the "positive psychology" movement with undisguised vehemence, lambasts the "prosperity gospel" of mega-churches, shows us the cynical side of the motivation i More...

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