book reviews
Book reviews by and for those seeking to understand the human mind for all its strengths, quirks and shortcomings.
The Best Book I'll Never Recommend
Summer reading—it’s something I look forward to all year. Longer days means more daylight hours, which translates to more time to enjoy reading ‘al fresco’, perhaps with a glass of wine or an after-dinner cuppa. I’m not a fan of ‘light’ fiction or romance, but I attempt to keep my warm-weather reading list a little less ‘dark’ than usual.
By Catherine Kenwell3 years ago in Psyche
Michaela Coel's Misfits is a triumph of inclusion
Michaela Coel made Emmy-winning history on September 2021 for best writing in a limited series for "I May Destroy You". The Ghanaian-born British poet, musician, actress, screenwriter, director and producer delves into the writing process of the acclaimed HBO series in this memoir "Misfits: A Personal Manifesto" (2021) published by Ebury Press.
By Anne Korhonen4 years ago in Psyche
Review of Janet Bloom's Book Co-Parenting Hell: Raising Healthy Kids With a Narcissistic Ex
The author of this book is a divorced mother of young children. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual-Version 5 definition of narcissistic personality disorder provided by the American Psychiatric Association is presented at the beginning of the book (DSM-V). The author bases the book's description on her own experiences while also using academic articles from the American Psychiatric Association. The book is structured as a memoir and guide for other parents in a similar position. She speaks of finding emotional liberation and tranquility. However, she alludes to "my ex (the bastard)" a few pages later. Hmmm.
By Rahau Mihai4 years ago in Psyche
Review: My Year of Rest and Relaxation
I loved this book from the first page. The voice, the unlikeable but addictive narrator, who takes you through the mundane and boring of her own life that could otherwise be interesting (I mean, she has the money). We meet vapid and uncaring people. We meet artists that only care to shock their audience (very Damien Hirst-esque in their art pieces). But mostly we meet someone who thinks they can fix their life after a year of sleep.
By Zoe McGarrick4 years ago in Psyche
Am I Neurodivergent?
I recently posted a meme about neurodivergent people struggling with eye contact, as well as a second post about how a diagnosis is akin to learning that you're playing the game on hard mode; it doesn't reduce the difficulty, but it lets you strategize.
By Zachary Phillips4 years ago in Psyche
Terry Pratchett: Made Me Believe In Magic
When Terry Pratchett died I felt like a family member had died. His books were an integral part of my early life, hell they still are. When I was younger I would have one of his books everywhere so I could read one wherever I was.
By Sam Finlayson4 years ago in Psyche
Anxious People
Anxiety is the equivalent of a plague for our generation. There is not even a single person unaffected by it as far as I know. Some hide it under the façade of extreme pleasantness and for some, it may be rudeness. We suffer in the self-made prisons thinking we are all alone in our suffering. We imagine that we are all broken and somehow that brokenness we treat as something unmendable. Many of our life-threatening problems will disappear if we open up a bit to others. But in a highly connected world, who has the time to sit down and listen without flipping through the mobile phone even once?
By chembarathi4 years ago in Psyche
Philosophical Foundations of Neuroscience — Sixteen Years Later
Authors note: Portions of this are directly reposted from a response I had written to a Jack Preston King review/discussion of the book How Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain by Lisa Feldman Barrett. From the little I have read of her work (I have not read her current book, which is the subject of Jack’s discussion) Dr. Barrett writes and thinks very much in the tradition of Patricia Churchland Smith, a neuroscientist/philosopher of great renown. That said I view her positions as misguided and she is the queen of the mereological fallacy often using the brain and the person interchangeably as she views them as one and the same. She also believes that if we fully understood everything about how the brain works, we could recreate particular states of consciousness. She is the ultimate reductionist and views consciousness as nothing more than a particular series of electro-chemical reactions in the brain which, like particular states of consciousness, we could replicate artificially if we fully understood. No body would be required for this miraculous achievement. My guess is the AI crowd is a big fan of her work, myself, not so much. I do not know if Dr. Barrett would go so far but it seems she commits the mereological fallacy almost as frequently. In any event, neither would fare well at the hands of Bennet and Hacker. In fact Dr. Churchland-Smith is a frequent target of their logical breakdowns of various neuroscientific studies and claims about the brain and consciousness, which they dissect and show to be in error point by point.
By Everyday Junglist4 years ago in Psyche
When I Really Shouldn't Have Judged a Book By Its Cover
With how damaging anxiety can be to your health, some will try almost anything they can think of if it will make them feel better. From medications to meditation, endless hours of books, supplements, diets, and everything else in between, navigating self-help material is like wading in muddy water. What makes those conditions even worse is when someone who doesn't know about this topic at all, tries to contribute to it.
By Grace Linn4 years ago in Psyche
