I've told you about the book called "Secrets of the SuperOptimist" that Nat Whitten and Walter Morton wrote, right? But here's the part of this whole story that is so damn cool. So, they had an offer for the book from a publisher early on. Took the advance and signed the deal. Then, as the process moved forward there was this concensus that the publisher clearly wasn't "getting" it at all. A bunch of evidence of this in their dealings, plus there's other things like this clause of working on the cover together not being honored. So, they give back the advance, and basically spend their own money to produce the book into its first print run as good as they know it can be; great production value, cool cover, the right title, etc. No small feat in itself. But THEN, the book gets reviewed in Publisher's Weekly. And Hufffington Post. And Rolling Stone's website. All of it is, if you ask me, really cool and exciting. I would keep an eye on Vitally Important, by the way, because they're doing this the right way.
So all of that to remind you of Superoptimist and all of its wonder and humor and day-to-day rewards. Or maybe I should shut up and let these folks say it:
“This volume could become the self-help of choice for people who don't read self-help. A quirky, unique primer, it provides more than 100 points of advice for achieving SuperOptimism, defined as "the mental discipline to reframe any situation into a favorable outcome." The book also includes exercises and appendixes, as well as a handy, all-purpose slogan for 2007: "I can handle it." Whether or not one can, in fact, handle it, Morton and Whitten provide plenty of fresh perspective from way out in left field.”
- Publisher's Weekly
“While the Masons offer secret handshakes and the Shriners offer the secret of how to drive a really tiny car, there is now a single volume that unveils a broad array of secrets we can actually use. This collection tells it like it is, providing - in a highly amusing and easily digestible form - a wide variety of rules for being more optimistic than you were 10 minutes ago. Give a copy to a petulant teenager, give a copy to an old curmudgeon, give a copy to your depressed roommate, stick one in the bathroom and leave a copy in a motel on top of the Gideon Bible.”
- The Huffington Post
“One of our numerous resolutions is to be more optimistic, so when we got a copy of this hysterical book, we knew we were on the right track.”
- Rolling Stone.com
