Half Empty - David Rakoff

We've adopted this idea that we have to think positive to be successful, that thinking happy thoughts can lead to actual happiness. It runs contrary to what most of us actually think, and that's part of the challenge - change your thoughts, change your life.

David Rakoff takes the opposite view. He interviewed Julie Norem, a psychology professor that wrote a book about 'defensive pessimism' which is the idea that a certain type of negative thinking, of preparing for the negative by assessing the possible outcomes, is actually a more positive approach.  The essays in this collection follow this idea of defensive pessimism, finishing with the darkest one about the author learning that the cancer he had in his youth had returned.  Very dark and very funny.