Optimisfits

The Furious Longing of Hope. Courson is a clearly well read guy who is clearly a gifted speaker and writer. The beginning and parts of the end of this book felt like they were being shouted through a megaphone, which was actually a cool experience. The overall tone of the book was reminiscent of WWE's Mojo Rawley - All Hype All The Time. And this tone interjected the book with a relentless pace that makes it a fairly quick read, even at its length. Ultimately I find myself dinging it a star due to overuse of cliche, “proof texting” - the practice of making a claim and citing a seemingly random Bible verse in support of it, and a lack of citations. I'm fine with making a claim like “scientists say blah” and moving on with your primary point, but give me the ability to go behind you and verify that they actually said blah. The message itself is great though, and many will find it needed and refreshing. Great book that just could have been better.

I wanted to give it more than one star, but there was too much religious fanaticism in the optimism half of the book. If you're a believer, go for it, might make you a bit more hopeful and maybe feel like you belong. For all the rest of us, it's just a reminder of some common truths that we might forget like: don't dwell in the past, stop ruminating, keep that sense of wonder you had as a kid, laugh more often and have hope that everything will turn out to be ok.