A Conversation between David Brooks and Walter Mischel

12/31/11. Two wise men talking.

http://www.psychologicalscience.org/index.php/publications/observer/obsonline/news-from-psychological-science-a-conversation-between-david-brooks-and-walter-mischel.html

The Periodic Table

12/31/11. I wonder what elements would constitute a periodic table in psychology.

http://www.ptable.com/

War No More

12/31/11. On psychologist Steven Pinker.

http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/136957/timothy-snyder/war-no-more?page=show

Trial and Errors: Why Science is Failing Us

12/30/11.

http://www.wired.com/magazine/2011/12/ff_causation/all/1

Are we alone in the universe?

12/30/11. Charles Krauthammer wonders why we have not discovered life on other planets.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/are-we-alone-in-the-universe/2011/12/29/gIQA2wSOPP_story.html

Writers Pick Their Top Ten Favorite Books

12/29/11.

http://toptenbooks.net/authorslists

The Way the Brain Buys

12/28/11. The psychology of shopping. We have come a long way since Vance Packard wrote "The Hidden Persuaders" in 1957.

http://www.economist.com/node/12792420

Antonio Damsio: The Quest to Understand Consciousness

12/28/11. How does the brain create the mind?

http://www.ted.com/talks/antonio_damasio_the_quest_to_understand_consciousness.html

Going Pogo

12/28/11. The life and times of Walt Kelly's Pogo.

"On the first Earth Day, in 1970, a cartoon poster appeared at rallies in all 50 states. It showed a rueful opossum picking up papers, bottles, cans, wrappers—the detritus of modern life. Superimposed on the image were the words WE HAVE MET THE ENEMY AND HE IS US..."

http://www.city-journal.org/2011/21_4_urb-walt-kelly.html

Thomas Sowell: Observations on the Passing Scene

12/27/11. Economist Thomas Sowell --- random thoughts on the political landscape.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2011/12/27/random_thoughts_112538.html

If Your Teeth Could Talk...

12/27/11. Your oral health tells an oral history.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203686204577112893077146940.html?KEYWORDS=dentistry

Essaying Epstein

12/22/11.

"Books of essays don’t sell, an editor once told me, so don’t send me one. Joseph Epstein, who considers the label “essayist” an honorific and who himself has been one of the editors of the annual series, The Best American Essays, has compared the essayist’s place in the realm of literature to a seat at the children’s table at the family holiday dinner. Not to get too snooty about it, as Joe Epstein might say, the essay deserves a better seat than that, maybe even one at the high table..."

http://www.the-american-interest.com/article.cfm?piece=1171

Web site: Association for Psychological Science

12/20/11.

http://www.psychologicalscience.org/

What is the Single Best Thing You Can Do for Your Health?

12/19/11. To life.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUaInS6HIGo

Twelve Months of Reading

12/18/11.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204466004577102800650505034.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_MIDDLESecondBucket

Decline in Democratic Control and Faith in Market Capitalism?

12/18/11. From Irwin Stelzer.
 
“Capitalism without failure is like religion without sin. It doesn’t work.”

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/decline-democratic-control-and-faith-market-capitalism_613447.html

The Community for Psychologists in Independent Practice

12/18/11. From Division 42 - Independent Practice - American Psychological Association.

http://www.youtube.com/embed/J5qWP-EMSRQ

Chirstopher Hitchens RIP

12/16/11.

NYT:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/16/arts/christopher-hitchens-is-dead-at-62-obituary.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all

David Frum:

http://www.frumforum.com/christopher-hitchens-1949%E2%80%932011


Julian Barnes:

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/fighting_words/2011/12/christopher_hitchens_death_the_novelist_julian_barnes_on_a_memorable_conversation_he_had_with_hitch_.html


Christopher Buckley:

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2011/12/postscript-christopher-hitchens.html


Matt Labash:

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/hitchless-world_613396.html

The Twice-Victimized of Sexual Assault

12/12/11.

Jane Brody:

"Nearly every woman I know can recall one or more instances in which she was sexually assaulted, harassed, threatened, inappropriately touched or even raped..."

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/13/health/the-twice-victimized-of-sexual-assault.html?_r=1&ref=health

Global Warming and Adaptability

12/11/11. The heat is on.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203413304577086361984880468.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop

The Excellence Gap

12/11/11. How do we improve our public schools?

http://www.city-journal.org/2011/21_4_academic-excellence.html

Book Review: Magical Mathematics

12/10/11. So how many times must you shuffle a deck of cards to produce randomness?

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204826704577074501731476934.html?KEYWORDS=magic+and+math

Matt Ridley: The market as an antidote to capitalism

12/9/11.

http://www.rationaloptimist.com/blog/market-antidote-capitalism

The Economist: Best Books of 2011

12/9/11, Page-turners.

http://www.economist.com/node/21541386

Obama's Godfather Speech

12/8/11.  A shovel-ready snow job:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203413304577084292119160060.html

and,

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/obamas-campaign-for-class-resentment/2011/12/08/gIQApYDagO_story.html

and,

http://campaign2012.washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/obamas-thing-gruel-osawatomie/247271

and,

http://campaign2012.washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/obamas-thing-gruel-osawatomie/247271

and,

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/285409/statist-delusions-mark-steyn

and,

http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2011/12/08/barack-obama-political-hack/

My Holiday Book Recommendations

12/6/11. Some of my recent favorite books:

Darlymple, Theodore. "Life at the Bottom. The Worldview that Makes the Underclass."

Epstein, Joseph. "Gossip."

Gazzanaga, Michael. "Who's in Charge?  Free Will and the Science of the Brain."

Kagan, Jerome. "The Temperamental Thread. How Genes, Culture, Time and Luck Make Us Who We Are."

Markel, Howard. "An Anatomy of Addiction. Sigmund Freud, William Halsted, and the Miracle of Cocaine."

The Myth of Multiple Personality Disorder

12/6/11. How can so many people be so wrong?  Easy. Science is filled with beliefs masquerading as facts.


http://io9.com/5865263/whats-the-truth-behind-multiple-personality-disorder?tag=psychology

On Thomas Sowell

12/6/11. Economist Thomas Sowell is a national treasure. His book "Conflict of Visions" is my favorite.

http://www.commentarymagazine.com/article/thomas-sowell-peerless-nerd/

Theodore Dalrymple: Barbarians on the Thames

12/6/11. A postmortem of the British riots. 

http://www.city-journal.org/2011/21_4_otbie-british-riots.html

Elisabeth Young-Bruehl RIP

12/6/11. Of her many books, I enjoyed her study of Anna Freud, the youngest of Sigmund Freud's six children.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/06/us/elisabeth-young-bruehl-65-dies-probed-roots-of-ideology-and-bias.html?_r=1&hpw

NYT: 100 Notable Books of 2011

12/6/11. http://www.nytimes.com/pages/books/review/index.html

What is your favorite book(s) from last year?

Book Review: "Gossip," by Joseph Epstein

12/6/11. On the untrivial pursuit - gossip.


http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/books/2011/12/gossip_the_untrivial_pursuit_reviewed_joseph_epstein_s_book_on_gossip.single.html

Wall Street on Trial

12/6/11. Andrew Klavan talking about my generation --- and others.

http://www.manhattan-institute.org/wallstreetontrial/?play

To Dream, Perchance to Consolidate Memories

12/4/11.  Matt Ridley writes about sleep, dreaming, and memory.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203802204577066321124757932.html?KEYWORDS=dream+matt+ridley

Wally Prechter on Bipolar Disorder: Adding Knowledge and Reducing Stigma

12/1/11. Paul W. Smith from WJR Radio interviews Wally Prechter about Bipolar Disorder.

http://www.wjr.com/FlashPlayer/default.asp?SPID=34612&ID=2294622