This is quite a short book—it just took me about an hour and a half to read through it at a leisurely pace. The text structure is as if Mr. Thacker compiled notes of pessimism he jotted down while he rode the train to work. Instead of providing an exegesis on fundamental pessimism, this book(let?) contains the musings of a pessimist. If you're looking for mind-numbing philosophical profundity, this may not be the book for you. If, however, you're a pessimist interested in the poetic perspective

Is ideology, philosophy, politics, all just one grandiose way of coping? Probably. I’d go so far as to say yes. Is that what this book is? Maybe. That doesn’t mean it won’t hold up, though, as it has some valuable things to say. While I didn’t think this was one of Thacker’s best, I still think he’s a phenomenal author that is absolutely worth reading. One way to look at this book is to see it as a half-baked pamphlet full of flimsy ideas, attempting to analyze the tragic core of the universe. A...

"We’re Doomed"The logic of pessimism moves through three refusals: a no-saying to the worst (refusal of the world-for-us, or Schopenhauer’s tears); a yes-saying to the worst (refusal of the world-in-itself or Nietzsche’s laughter); and a no-saying to the for-us and the in-itself (a double refusal, or Cioran’s sleep).Cosmic Pessimism, Both moral and metaphysical pessimism point to another kind, a pessimism that is neither subjective nor objective, neither for-us nor in-itself, and instead a pessi...

"Gloom is not simply the anxiety that precedes doom. Gloom is atmospheric, climate as much as impression, and if people are also gloomy, this is simply the by-product of an anodyne atmosphere that only incidentally involves human beings. More climatological than psychological, gloom is thestuff of dim, hazy, overcast skies, of ruins and overgrown tombs, of a misty, lethargic fog that moves with the same languorousness as our own crouched and sullen listening to a disinterested world. In a sense,...

For a book so focused on darkness, Thacker’s delivery is surprisingly cutesy, at times even approaching precious about his downer outlook. Occasional glimpses of his characteristic black humor enliven what would otherwise be a slog through a series of glumly repetitive oxymorons—except for when that backfires and the aphorisms shift their focus to overly clever wordplay. A mixed bag overall, burying some of Thacker’s most impactful, direct statements inside pages of grim bloviating.

I like some of Thackers other work, but this collection of random thoughts was not on par with that. Some of his thoughts are interesting but most of this (btw NOT a book, a large pamphlet really) is just fleeting thoughts that never really come to a conclusion or come together at all. Skip this.

This very brief book contains some interesting commentaries on philosophers, primarily Schopenhauer, Nietzsche and Cioran, but I suppose I was hoping for a bit more focus on the cosmic element of cosmic pessimism. The book is full of little aphorisms that purposefully contradict themselves and many brief, evocative prose poems which are interesting but not especially memorable. Probably the best thing about the book was the mentioning of other books along similar ideological lines which might be...

"WE'RE DOOMED." That's the starting point of Thacker's 'Cosmic Pessimism'. I didn't expect much except it being a non-fiction work on pessimism. It's Tuesday night and I was partially stressed out because I expected it to be a philosophical text that would need way more time and nerves to fully comprehend but it got unexpectedly enjoyable. I am so glad that I loved it within seconds. It's full of beautiful and well thought out poetic expressions and imagery. It's probably a bit more enjoyable if...

I was pleasantly surprised by this one. It immediately reminded me of Cioran's work, although as a slightly less lyrical version. This means that my attempt to distill it to the few ideas that I appreciated the most can't be anything other than misleading. This kind of writing is philosophical mostly in the sense that it engages with philosophers or philosophy itself and its lyrical part is constitutive of its meaning. To not over-complicate things, this work gives us, the fellow commuters who t...

There are 3 reasons I like this book:1. The opening line.2. The insights he provide regarding pessimism as a philosophy and about two stalwarts ; Nietzsche and Schopenhauer.3. There's an anecdote about Nicolas Chamfort, even if it's apocryphal it's a little dark.

Feeling pessimistic about pessimism, no-saying no-saying. Why not abandon the sad passions?

Made me think of things...

Wonderful little book which encapsulates the others views of the great pessimists of philosophy; Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, and Cioran, among others. This is done with brief essays and clever aphorisms dedicated to the "night side of thought", that perpetual "no-saying" to the world, the pessimistic outlook. I found this work, for all the negativity held within it, to be a breath of fresh air. There is something completely new and vital to author Eugene Thacker's approach to philosophy. The langua...

this book is very northwest, cute and comforting for those who love to complain, makes me miss the rain, etc. "what is philosophy if not just a bad mood."

It was nice knowing me

Such page-turning aphorisms on pessimistic philosophy. Filled with biographical and philosophical allusions of 19th and 20th Century pessimistic philosophy patrons. Such a shame it's so short, but I hope it would be an appetizer for Thacker's trilogy, The Horror of Philosophy.

The impact of music on a person compels them to put their experience into words. When this fails, the result is a faltering of thought and language that is itself a kind of music. Cioran writes: “Music is everything. God himself is nothing more than an acoustic hallucination.” Elegante y frío, que no es poco. No me sorprende, las fuentes de este texto son continentales y de otros siglos: Schopenhauer, Nietzsche y Cioran. La forma de elección es el aforismo y el fragmento, que está casi siempr

While this short book is titled “Cosmic Pessimism,” I found it had shockingly little (perhaps 3 paragraphs) to say about the subject. However, the book does contain many interesting takes on notable pessimist philosophers (mainly Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, and Cioran), occasionally interrupted by prose that I found to be distracting.Given the short length (and thus low degree of commitment), it’s a worth-while read, if only to collect references to other philosopher’s works that may be of interest...

"[Pessimism] is caught somewhere between philosophy and a bad attitude." As Thacker elucidates the inner workings of pessimistic thought through insightful deconstructions, witty aphorisms, and poetic passages, it results in a work that is, ironically lacking in pessimism. It's a beautiful, short, concise work that could potentially disillusion many staunch pessimist from their philosophical positions by showcasing just some of the philosophical inconsistencies of their own thoughts. It is not a...

Engaging, short, and relatively succinct. Sparse citations that chart out an interesting lineage/context for pessimistic thought as it relates to philosophy. Not being a theory head myself, it a point of entry into a long-running discourse and also some interesting writing on the line-level about philosophy. I feel like this hits somewhere between, as another goodread reviewer put it, a long phamphlet and a punk zine manifesto.