Particularly suited for those times when despair strikes and people fall victim to the "forces of forlornness," Reasons to Be Hopeful by the School of Life offers gentle yet extraordinarily impactful intellectual tools and practical strategies to help readers step back from the ledge. The School of Life--a global organization on a mission to bring about healing, growth, and self-understanding--was founded by Alain de Botton (The Art of Travel), one of the finest philosophers of our time. By considering artists such as Mark Rothko and Albrecht Dürer, the 30 essays in Reasons to Be Hopeful pair powerful anecdotes with visual references to reveal surprising truths about sadness, the advantages of "blessedly poor memories," and the restorative power of good escapism. The essay "This too shall pass" invites a comparison between human lives and that of a firefly, an insect that accepts its destiny with dignity and joy. Just like the mesmerizing firefly, people have brief lifespans, lives that are "but a short, merry dance," and are tiny in the darkness of the universe. Instead of despairing at the smallness of their stature and inevitability of their decline, people can submit to their fleeting lives with wonder and poise, putting on the best light show they can.
Critically, Reasons to Be Hopeful offers tools to gain self-perspective by situating woes in a larger context of time and place. Its revelations will inspire the sort of philosophical conversations that are in themselves a salve for existentially troubled souls. --Shahina Piyarali, reviewer