The Pleasures of Pessimism

by Natasha Moore

Re:CONSIDERING invites you to look at what’s familiar from an unfamiliar angle. To consider how we consider things – and how to do it better.

Pandemic, supervolcano, late capitalism, transhumanism, populism, cancel culture, the post-antibiotic age, the gig economy, the surveillance state, the cascading effects of climate change …
Whatever the specifics, do you ever feel like things are going off the rails - or are just about to?
If you’ve read the news, watched a zombie movie, or gotten into an argument on Twitter lately, the answer is probably yes.
And you’re not alone.
What makes us such apocaholics?
What’s so appealing about Armageddon? What are the pleasures - and also the perils of our pessimism?

Genres: Christian, Nonfiction

74 pages, Paperback

Published August 14, 2020

Reviews

[Benjamin Razey · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Pleasures of Pessimism is a nice cultural analysis by Natasha Moore. I felt Moore had a number of helpful and intriguing points that emphasised that she has her fingers on the pulse of the modern western culture we live in. However I personally didn’t relate significantly to a number of the points Moore made, and I felt her book was more of a broad cultural analysis than, as her conclusion would lead you to believe, an encouragement to “have the pessimism to look steadily and unflinchingly at the problems, and the optimism to pursue the opportunities hiding behind them.” Maybe this was due to its brevity, however I think the book would have benefited greatly through a more concrete analysis of how this concluding encouragement could play out.

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

completion note: Short and sweet, but... Okay, I don't know what happened at the printers, but how does a Christian publisher forget to censor the word "f***" within a quote from The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life, only to backpedal and slap a censorship sticker over it before shipping it to stores? In what world does that happen??

★★★½☆ | 3.50 stars | RTC