I don't think any of the ideas in this short rumination on our world today are new, but it's <i> how </i> Elif Shafak communicates them that I think makes this a book to read, digest, share with others, and return to. I've watched Shafak give a talk and I was immediately taken in by her eloquence and calmness, her ability to drive straight to the heart of a matter and shake the cobwebs off thoughts you might have already been having or shine a light on a perspective you hadn't seen before. I was pleased that this little book gave me the same feelings. Though the most recent crisis she touches on is the coronavirus pandemic, the same bells ring true when reading this whilst Russia invades Ukraine and the world feels like it's on a knife's edge. Strangely comforting and a heady dose of 'conscious optimism and creative pessimism'.