'We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.' (Oscar Wilde) 'I tell you, we're in a blessed drain-pipe, and we've got to crawl along it till we die.' (H.G. Wells) Are optimists just reckless dreamers? Are pessimists miserable doom-mongers or just erring on the side of caution? Is the glass half empty or half full? Brilliantly compiled and beautifully written, this is a rich anthology of evidence from both sides of any argument. Covering everything from Africa to Beauty, Happiness to Patriotism to Walking, it is sop to any disposition; the perfect tool for squabbling families, a counterbalance for arguing couples and a mine of detail for the quarrelsome. The Optimist on the Afterlife: My heaven will be filled with wonderful young men and dukes. (Dame Barbara Cartland ) And the Pessimist: 'That's what Hell will be like, small chat to the babbling of Lethe about the good old days when we wished we were dead (Samuel Beckett).