optimism

Explains what optimism is and why it is important.

Brief profiles of six individuals who exhibited the character trait of optimism in the face of illness, physical and mental limitations, hard times, racism, and other factors, including actor Michael J. Fox, football player Daniel Ruettiger, musician Jewel, civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., jockey Red Pollard, and founder of the miracle project, Elaine Hall.

Collection of inspirational quotations and proverbs.

A collection of stories includes the tales of a student who is entangled in her professor's shadowy past, a dinner party that marks the end of multiple marriages, and a matchmaker who is hired to find a partner for her soulmate.

Though the villagers do not understand his attitude, an old carpet weaver is not upset when bad things happen to him nor is he elated when he has good fortune.

Presents the eighteenth-century social satire of a gentle and kind man who is thrashed by fate and his fellow man an despite enormous evidence to the contrary, attempts to believe that he lives in "the best of all possible worlds; presented in French with English definitions of 700 French words.

Mountain man Washburn insists on looking on the bright side of things, even as disaster after disaster befalls him.

Explores the downsides of the positive thinking mentality that is found in the business community, megachurches, and even in the medical profession, maintaining that this type of thinking only leads to frustration, guilt, and denial.