A brief preface notes the ways in which despondency grasps our attention. In one chapter, various religious and philosophical views on what is wrong with the world, from Manichean to Buddhist notions to existential pessimism flow out one after another. Despair appears to be all but pointless, impelling us to tend to our garden, so to speak, as Voltaire concluded. We deal with the world as is and do what we can to improve it.