What did you do yesterday?
After breakfast, did you wander outside and give a policeman a balloon? Did you start your own religion before lunch? Perhaps you met a hypnotic dog on your way home from work, and maybe you even started your own country before bedtime.
The author, broadcaster and radio presenter Danny Wallace wouldn’t be surprised if you did any of these bizarre things.
In a series of real-life confessional books, the writer explores the idea of challenging yourself and the world around you to be more spontaneous, free-living and optimistic.
It sounds easy. But as the Wallace finds out, being positive all the time is very hard work and can lead to some hilarious and wacky situations, dilemmas, journeys and discoveries.
Just Say Yes….All the Time
Danny WallaceThe premise of Wallace’s book Yes Man is simple, yet the task the narrator takes up is far from straightforward.
The book opens with Wallace sitting on a bus feeling very sorry for himself. He has recently been dumped by his girlfriend and has gotten into a rut, staying in and avoiding his friends.
His life changes when a stranger, seeing how miserable our hero looks, advises him to ‘Say yes more’.
From the words of a stranger, Wallace decides to explore a simple philosophy - ‘to say Yes to every favour, request, suggestion and invitation’.
The book follows his transformation from a negative hermit into an adventurer. His life changes every time he says ‘yes’ “where once I would say no”, even if it is dangerous or against all of his common sense to do so.
One of the more fascinating messages of this book is that you don’t need to climb a mountain, plan a round the world trip or take up an expensive hobby to transform your life. The simple act of saying ‘yes’ to everything from the requests of a stranger to the demands of an advertisement sends Danny on a journey where he becomes a qualified nurse, gains a nemesis, wins and loses £25,000, finds himself on holiday in Melbourne and much, much more.
But this is not a preaching self-help book. As you would expect from someone who counts the surrealists comedians Ross Noble and The Mighty Boosh as friends, the book is very funny and is written in a confessional comedic style which is both almost unbearably honest and, ultimately, touching. One of its pleasures is the self-deprecating manner in which Danny laughs at himself as he chooses to lose control of his life and starts to take risks. The British traditionally hate embarrassing themselves, and another witty feature of this book are the embarrassed, mocking and bemused responses of Danny’s friends as he follows his ‘Yes Manifesto’.
The idea behind Yes Man inspired the Jim Carey film of the same name. While it has its funny moments, the film is not as entertaining or radical as the book. Wallace’s real-life account of six months saying ‘yes’ to every offer and suggestion raises more interesting ethical questions and is far funnier, cringe-inducing and more absurdly realistic than the Hollywood movie.
The Karma Army
Another of Wallace’s books, Join Me, tells the story of how the author accidentally set up a cult and religion. The intention was to encourage people to be more philanthropic. Every Friday, Wallace suggested that people should do something good for a stranger – anything from buy them a cup of tea to helping them with their shopping. Thousands of people signed up to do just that, and the book – and the follow-up, Random Acts of Kindness – reveals the often silly but poignant results of people simply being kind to each other, as they became part of a Karma Army.
Give it a Go
In books such as Yes Man and Join Me, Danny Wallace challenges himself and the reader to break their routines and negative assumptions and challenge their worldview by doing something positive.
Wallace’s positivism targets the mundanity, shallowness, and cynicism of modern life. Wallace is braver than most – this is a man who started his own country, after all – but why don’t you read his attempts to shake up his life and then ‘Give it a go’ yourself?
OK, we can’t all afford the time, money and the danger of breaking the patience of friends and family to go to the extremes that Danny Wallace has to challenge himself. But by taking small chances, who knows what you might discover about yourself and the world around you?
The only thing at risk is your boredom.
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