The Power of Positive Thinking was a minister. He writes that Peale's books have no connection to Christianity and that they “influence, mislead and often disillusion sick, maladjusted, unhappy or ill-constructed people, obscuring for them the Christian realities. They offer easy comforts, easy solutions to problems and mysteries that sometimes perhaps, have no comforts or solutions at all, in glib, worldly terms. They offer a cheap 'happiness' in lieu of the joy Christianity can offer.” While contemporary theologians and mental health experts criticized Peale's teachings in "The Power of Positive Thinking," the general public praised the self-help book. The "Los Angeles Times" estimates that “legions
The Year of Magical Thinking made his remaining time more meaningful. Fleeting memories of events and persistent snippets of past conversations with John take on a new significance. Her daughter's continuing health problems and hospitalizations further compound and interrupt the natural course of grief. Didion wrote "The Year of Magical Thinking" between October 4, 2004, and December 31 the same year, completing it a year and a day after Dunne died. Notes she made during Quintana's hospitalizations became part of the book. Quintana Roo Dunne Michael died of pancreatitis on August 26, 2005, before the publication of the book, but Didion told the press that