Non-Fiction: Half a Glass: The Realist’s Guide by Craig Price

No one likes a party pooper, yet in Half a Glass (Blooming Twig) humorist and professional speaker, Craig Price, advises readers to get their poopyness in hand and use it all for good, instead of evil.

This book is a guide to show you how to get a grip on your negative thoughts, fears and doubts to use them to your advantage. Life isn’t always going to go as planned, so we need to learn how to play the cards we’re dealt, not hope and wish we had different cards. To manage negativity, you need to admit that it exists and that it’s a part of life.

These are concepts that are absolutely foreign to our culture, yet Price -- once voted Houston’s Funniest Person -- doesn’t play it for laughs. Exactly. You can see he takes this “Realist’s Guide” business quite seriously. “Change is going to happen,” he writes at one point. “Before you change something, ask around.”

I’m still not sure if I’m crazy about the idea of channeling negativity for fun and profit but Price’s voice is charming and funny. This is a business book for those looking for something a little different. ◊

Aaron Blanton is a contributing editor to January Magazine. He’s currently working on a book based on his experiences as an American living abroad.