Ways to Stay Miserable - Politics of Melancholy Versus Happiness (Paperback)

Ways to Stay Miserable is a treatise about the trickery of the mind based on my experiences and observations. The theme of the book is at different levels but is mainly about looking at "real" and "imaginary" events and reflections on self and others. I have chosen to use the "I" voice, so as to make it clearer for the reader. "Mind" is frequently used as a place for breeding images and thoughts from which experience comes. This is a disguised book; the names and characteristics of people have been shuffled so as to render identification unattainable. There are enough intentional hints of the way I "should" feel rather than the way I do feel. I have tried to develop my own impressions and have chosen the bulk of my material from personal social interactions and world sources. I also drew upon the experiences of a number of men and women through my work and journeys on the trains and buses, to give the reader an accurate impression. I have tried to distinguish melancholy from happiness, what it means "here and now."