Optimistic and constructive books

I read this book when I was twenty, and then I read it again recently on a business trip.

What's great about this book is that the author takes the prominent Philosophers from the West, and renders their essences into a form digestible by the larger public. In fact, he wrote this book only to teach his high school class in philosophy, but then it became a worldwide success.

The only thing I regret is that the author has not cared to look into the philosophers from the East. If he did, I am sure he would have done a great job too. But then, in how many high schools of the West are we taught about the philosophers from the East?

The book is written in the form of a novel, and I find the author's art of storytelling reasonably good. Overall, I think it's a great book for those who want to have a decent grasp on the Western philosophy, because it is easily comprehensible.