Positive Psychology Books on Optimism & Resilience

	Karen Reivich & Andrew Shatte have taken Marty Seligman's groundbreaking work in explanatory style, combined it with their own research, and produced a proven method for developing optimism and resilience. This is the adult version that's been taught to businesses and professionals around the world. Written as a very practical workbook. Kindle version: The Resilience Factor: Seven Essential Skills For Overcoming Life's Inevitable Obstacles
	This is the book that connected me to positive psychology, and gave me some real insights into my older son; he's a flaming optimist! Interesting and useful both as to the science and for applications to particular fields. I've written a more extensive booknote here.
	Karen Reivich, Lisa Jaycox, and Jane Gillham are co-authors. Karen & Jane developed the "Penn Resilience Program" to teach optimism and resilience skills to middle school students. That program's been the subject of more than a dozen academic studies, both by the developers and others, establishing its effectiveness. I have helped teach that program to teachers from England and in Australia. This book highlights why the self-esteem movement didn't protect (and may have hurt) kids in the face of an epidemic of childhood depression. It goes on to outline the skills, help adults master them, then to give practical steps for teaching them to children. Given the research by Tim Judge that shows how important these sorts of skills are for taking advantage of opportunities as well as for bouncing back from adversities, training in these skills should be available to every child.
	Susanne Segerstrom is one of the leading researchers on expectational optimism. (There are two types of optimsim in positive psychology: Seligman's explanatory style is a backward looking form that is based on how we explain good and bad events to ourselves. Segerstrom works with expectational optimsim (Carver & Scheier), the expectation that more good than bad things will happen in the future. One can be an explanatory optimist and not an expectational optimsist, or the expectational and not explanatory, or neither! However, the corralaries of the two forms are very similar: health, longevity, good relationships, and success. Also, since her Ph.D. days, Dr. Segerstrom has been researching law students and lawyers, so lawyers will find some passages on familiar topics. A little bit more explanation than change program, but plenty of help for those who want more expectation optimism and its correlates! Kindle version: Breaking Murphy's Law: How Optimists Get What They Want from Life - and Pessimists Can Too
	Ever think you don't have enough of "it", whatever "it" is? This book can help you understand and change that thinking! Dr. Dweck's work was inspired by Dr. Seligman's early work with explanatory style (which was originally "attributional theory" and focused on learned helplessness and depression). She became intrigued with how students at Columbia responded to the adversities of the semester and discovered that much of the difference could be explained by how the students thought about what it means to "be smart." She went on to look at "mindsets" or "self-theories" about what it means to "have good character" or "be good at relationships." She applies her discoveries not only to academics, but also to sports, to business and leadership, and to relationships, with suggestions for parents, teachers, and coaches. The book ends with a description of a workshop for middle school students and the "Brainology" program that has grown out of it. Kindle version: Mindset: The New Psychology of Success
	This book is older, shorter, more technical, and more expensive than Mindset, and it may be better. At least for those who really want to understand the construct and the research behind it, this book will help build confidence to teach and work with Dr. Dweck's insights. Highly recommended for those with an interest in the science of psychology, or who expect to teach or train using this body of research.