(About pleasures. The Optimist’s Manual) “What would happen if pleasure was free and were the product of an optimistic education and of an alliance between desire and surprise?” That is what this book is about (…) Pleasure is, among other things, a demonstration of our capacity for adaptation. (…) In solitude, in captivity, there has always been a ray of light that came in through the window, a moment of calm, a song recalled, the love of a potato skin, the balsamic feel of water. If this has occurred in extreme conditions, what can’t we do to extract the unexpected distillation of tiny comforts of the soul from daily life?

There are many small daily pleasures and they’re free, and they often arrive when we’re not looking for them. To enjoy them is simply a case of knowing how to capture them when they pass.

In this book, Joan Barril teaches us through his lucid articles, how enjoying daily life is merely question of adopting an optimistic attitude and resetting our clock to a new internal tempo.  A tempo that is slow, rich, intense and wise and will teach us to recognize the minute pleasures and be snappy when it comes to making them our own.