I'd Rather Laugh: How to Be Happy Even When Life Has Other Plans for You

Linda Richman, self-described "typical Jewish girl from Long Island" and the most popular speaker at the world-renowned Canyon Ranch Spa, presents a tears and laughter guidebook guaranteed to help readers withstand life's hard knocks. The first four decades of her life were rife with tragedy: She lost her father at eight and her mother to depression soon after; later, she lost her husband to compulsive gambling; her son to a car accident; and spent 11 years battling agoraphobia.

But now, Linda shares her life story and how she learned that when all is said and done, the only cure that works, and the one that takes the most courage, is laughter. Combining wry, self-deprecating humor with hard-knocks wisdom, Linda makes it her mission to get everyone to shake off the blues and make their way back into the world. Because she knows from experience that when life makes you cry--that's the best time to laugh.