"Bright-Sided" Not As Bright As Hoped, But Still Shiny

By erika on 7/30/10 2:09pm
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I had pretty high hopes for this book, and I have to admit that they didn't all get met.  But this is a solid book on its own, even if it didn't fulfill my every expectation.  Subtitled "How Positive Thinking is Undermining America," it only partly made this case.  I wanted so much more!

This book breaks down into three basic parts.  The first part is an expansion on Ehrenreich's inimitable essay, "Welcome to Cancerland."  This essay is one of my favorite works of short non-fiction writing, and has been for many years.  I keep a link to it handy, and pass it out whenever it's even remotely appropriate.


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Daniel Gilbert, "Stumbling on Happiness"

By erika on 4/12/10 12:52pm
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A bunch of books about "happiness" came out at about the same time. I have to confess, this isn't the book that I thought it was, and I suspect I have it confused with one of the others.  As a result I was a little bit annoyed, and I ended up skimming vast portions of the book.  Which isn't its fault - it's just a result of inappropriate expectations, which is entirely due to me.

Daniel Gilbert is a psychology professor at Harvard, so we can assume he knows what he's talking about.  Apparently he's used to a combative audience (of smartypants Harvard psychology students, I imagine) because a huge portion of the book is devoted to defining "happiness."


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Naomi Klein, "No Logo"

By erika on 3/25/10 2:55pm
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I've been meaning to read No Logo for ages.  But you know, that's the kind of thing a person says when they think they ought to read something, but they don't actually want to, isn't it?  Funny, that.

Okay, I admit it.  I ended up skimming this heavily.  Which isn't anything against Naomi Klein or her book.  It's partly (partly) because so much of what Klein had to say in No Logo has been disseminated so effectively to the culture at large.

Klein focuses on the emergency of "brand identity" as something that has value, as if brands were an actual thing that's being sold.  We all know (don't we?) that brands are meaningless, except for the meaning that we impart to them.  Nevertheless, I continue to see protestors attacking companies, when what they really need to do is address the people who buy into that company's brand identity.  


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Malcolm Gladwell, "Blink"

By erika on 12/26/09 4:20pm
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Malcolm Gladwell is one of the most popular psychology writers out there today, and it's easy to see why.  His second book, Blink is every bit as entertaining and easy to read as his first book, The Tipping Point.  It combines "man bites dog" counter-intuitive headlines with some interesting research, along with Gladwell's gift for the written word.

The underlying premise of Blink is that your first assumption, your instinctive reaction, is frequently the right one.  Despite all the cautions of everyone who argued against snap judgments, it turns out that snap judgments are often in fact correct.  Gladwell provides ample evidence to this effect, and I found myself convinced.


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The Mind & The Brain

By becksta on 11/16/09 8:31pm
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The Mind & The BrainThe Mind & The BrainA few years ago, a colleague of mine told me about the concept of neuro-plasticity, which is the brain reconnecting neural receptors through synaptics. I was instantly intrigued and fascinated by the idea of improving my own brain and reconditioning myself through changing some of my less than desirable habits. As a result of my interest, I picked up “The Mind & The Brain”, which is a doctor’s account of how he learned that he could treat psychiatric disorders and particularly OCD through the use of neuro-plasticity and the history of the experiments that led to the science itself.

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Pedagogy of the Oppressed, by Paulo Freire

By ecoscott on 11/15/09 8:12pm
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Pedagogy of the OppressedPedagogy of the Oppressed“Liberation is a praxis: the action and reflection of men and women upon their world in order to transform it.” – Paulo Freire

If you are an educator or work with youth in any way, this is a book that you should read, but do so knowing that it is, as it claims to be, a revolutionary way of thinking. In one sense, Pedagogy of the Oppressed is a book about how to teach oppressed populations- an argument for a simple but fundamental change in the way that education functions. In another sense, Pedagogy of the Oppressed is a book about how each of us interacts with and comes to understand the world- it is, on every level of thinking, a book that questions how we understand the world and why we understand it that way. In either case, it brings specific attention to the concept of education and the role it plays in either liberating or oppressive force in the life of a student.

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Authentic Happiness: Using the New Positive Psychology to Realize Your Potential for Lasting Fulfillment

By sarajean on 11/15/09 2:37am
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When we want to increase our level of happiness, we usually turn to a self-help resource. Maybe it’s a book by SARK or Dr. Richard Carlson; maybe it’s a blog or community online, such as The Happiness Project or YES! magazine. Still we may turn to a close friend or family member, or a comedy program, or our favorite pastime to get a little happier than we were when we woke up all grouchy and irritated and so not ready for the DMV.

But how many of us turn to psychology? Many people see a shrink on a regular basis—which I’m completely in favor of; if it were possible and affordable I think everyone should see one at least a few times a year—and still others who are chronically unhappy due to a medical condition sometimes take medicine to keep the doldrums at bay. I’m also in favor of this, too, as long as it’s not overdone—too many doctors write off patients with a prescription instead of trying to help them with their problems.

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