The Sunny Nihilist: A Declaration of the Pleasure of Pointlessness

by Wendy Syfret

Overview

A positively rebellious take on a traditionally negative philosophy offers an antidote for our anxious times.

Career success, a beautiful life, a beautiful Instagram account—what's the point? In a world where meaning has become twisted into a form of currency that everyone is very keen to cash in on, journalist Wendy Syfret invites you to change the way you think about the way you think.

In her seminal work, The Sunny Nihilist, Syfret presents the optimism in Nihilism, encouraging us to dismantle our self-care and self-centered way of living and accept a life more or less ordinary. Syfret re-examines the meaning of worth, value, time, happiness, success, and connection, and guides us towards the alternative path of pointless pleasure.

When you let go of the idea that everything must have purpose, you will find relief from stress, exhaustion, and anxiety. Most importantly, you can embrace the opportunity to enjoy the moment, the present, the chaos and luck of being alive at all. The Sunny Nihilist is an inspiring call to action and survival adaptation for modern life.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781797215808
Publisher:	Chronicle Books LLC
Publication date:	01/04/2022
Pages:	208
Sales rank:	265,598
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Wendy Syfret is former Head of Editorial for VICE Australia and an award-winning writer, editor, and author whose work has appeared in i-D and the Guardian.

Table of Contents

Stop Trying to Make Everything a Thing 1

A New Kind of Nihilism 19

The Myth of Meaningful Work 59

Following Your Heart (Into the Void) 85

Life after God 107

The Dark Side of Nihilism 129

Sunny Nihilism for Everyday Life 149

The Pleasure of Pointlessness 173

Endnotes 181

Acknowledgments 197

About the Author 199

Editorial Reviews

11/29/2021

Journalist Syfret (How to Think Like an Activist) urges readers to confront the “futile and meaningless” nature of existence in this savvy introduction to nihilism. Living in a society obsessed with making every moment meaningful left Syfret feeling guilty and anxious, she explains. What turned her life around was accepting that nothing she does will matter in the grand scheme of things, an outlook she dubs “sunny nihilism” and which positions “pointlessness as a chance to breathe and think.” Syfret looks at the way nihilism has been weaponized, having been twisted to fit the Nazis’ agenda and employed by conspiracy theorists and associated with darkness. She offers a brighter take on it, making a case that it allows for “a chance to enjoy the moment, the present, the chaos, and luck of being alive.” She offers plenty of anecdotes and tips, as when she skewers the “myth of meaningful work” by reminding readers that it “has no larger significance.” While Syfret tends to get repetitive, she nonetheless offers sharp takes on love, religion, work, and consumerism. This hopeful and breezy take will have philosophy-minded readers believing that an ordinary existence can indeed “become celestial”—if the perspective is right. Agent: Alexandra Cliff. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

"Syfret’s creative use of nihilism to dismiss the ‘meaningful' values and activities of normal society is engaging and potentially useful to anyone who feels trapped by those standards and willing to rethink their own priorities.”
-Dr. Michael Bennett and Sarah Bennett, New York Times bestselling authors of F*ck Feelings


"An honest, urgent, but also totally chill and non-dreadful call to find the mirthful in the meaningless. Syfret makes me proud to call myself a sunny nihilist."

-Amanda Montell, author of Wordslut: A Feminist Guide to Taking Back the English Language and Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism

“Rehabilitating overachievers can find further justification in Wendy Syfret’s The Sunny Nihilist.”
-Publishers Weekly


“Sharp . . . this hopeful and breezy take will have philosophy-minded readers believing that an ordinary existence can indeed 'become celestial’-if the perspective is right.”
-Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher