This seems like a hard book to sit down and read cover to cover. There is a lot of material here and it seems much better suited to reading over time or dipping in to whichever sections seem apt for the time. I will dip into it from time to time when I need some inspiration and encouragement.

(Review based on complimentary Advance Reader copy.) ( )

I received this book through the Early Readers Contest and as soon I got it in the mail, I could not wait to get into it.
I have always found inspiration, motivation, and great advice through peoples' stories of how they got to where they are in life from they were.
Contagious Optimism is a very well put together tribute to what can be achieved if you think positive, act positive, and have faith that although you may not be where you thought you'd be in life at a certain point , maybe you're just on a different route.
The stories, compiled from a wide variety of people, focus on many different times in life, such as dealing with having to find a new job, coping with the loss of a loved one, or a divorce.
The writers tell such inspiring stories that definitely show a optimism about their situation.
Throughout the book, there are also small pieces of advice on how to stay positive, keep optimistic, and there's also quotes from various people.
I throughly enjoyed this book and honestly I thought I'd sell this book to a used book store once I was done, but it will be staying in my bookshelf, if at some point, I need a uplifting piece of advice, or a story to show me that I can succeed. ( )

I was really looking forward to receiving this and it took a long time - much longer than a usual Early Review text - to get to my home. I wanted it to be worth the wait, but it wasn't.

The author notes that this book is a series of essays written by a team. As expected, some are much more successful than others -a few are really great - but overall I get the impression that this was not a team effort throughout and I wonder about the organization of the team. Who are these authors? Why were they selected? Beyond submitting an essay, how involved were they? The coauthor bios in the back were not helpful in answering this. To me, it reads like a call went out online for people to submit an essay and they were published in a book without much work being put into them.
I really appreciate the organization of the book and like the chapter themes. I like the cover and formatting.The content within the chapters is what left me disappointed. I didn't find the experiences of the authors to be all that diverse and as I look around my community I find many stories to be vastly more interesting. With different or better delivery, maybe the stories included would have been more appealing?

Perhaps it was the length or lack of development/follow-up from the editor? Each essay is only about 1-2 pages. I appreciate concision but a number of them don't feel developed enough to understand how exactly the authors were driven by positive forward thinking and used that to reach their goal. The essays are so short that I don't find many capable of much inspiration or motivation.
I actually have put down the book numerous times because I was left feeling anything but optimistic. Quick couple of examples are Adam Fishel's essay where majority of text was about negative emotions of envy and jealously with this line to transition to optimism: "Shortly after this horrible bout of jealousy and feeling sorry for myself I redirected my angst toward the future." Another 2 paragraphs follow but how was the angst redirected? How did optimism inspire him? Lee Shilo's essay about the bicycle was depressingly pessimistic when the message was that the bicycle was thrown away and never mentioned riding another bike again. Becoming a track & field athlete is great but how did the author come full circle with the negative feelings and move toward optimism? Had the author patented a new foldable bicycle, advocated for safer road conditions for bicyclists, or done something special for his mother who provided the bicycle, I would understand the essay's point or inclusion in the book. There were many others that I asked similar questions about. Overall, I go back to: what was the purpose in including them and could they have been worked out to be much more effective and clear in their purpose?

As I mention above, there were some great essays and motivational tips that I can employ. The foreword by Daniel Tully got me excited about the book and I hoped that this would be the contagious optimism that I was looking forward to when I received this from Early Reviewers. Tully made clear his experience, how optimism was a key to his successes, and offered enough information to possibly apply to my own experience. Optimism was central to his message and the message was a good one. Other essays made the point and didn't rely on the "contagious effect" box offered at the end of each essay to identify its purpose.

I can't think of someone in my own life or a group of readers that might especially enjoy this book. Instead, I would suggest that readers look elsewhere for an uplifting read and a text with more depth and rich content. Yet, I appreciate being given a copy and an opportunity to review this book. ( )

Wonderful book. There are eight major areas for which short histories are presented along with an antidote illustrating an aspect of the area. The book does not have to be read from front to back - just open it up and allow fate to take you to the story you need or look at the table of contents to pick your area. Very inspiring and thought provoking without being the "over-the_top" motivational stuff ( )

I've been randomly reading selections from this book and find the majority of them to be uplifting and thought provoking. It's the kind of book you want to keep nearby to dip into when you need a bit of a lift. I think this will be a keeper.