"The Battle of the Brain"

3/10/10.

Iain McGilchrist:

"Why is the brain divided? If it is about making connections, why has evolution so carefully preserved the segregation of its hemispheres? Almost every function once thought to be the province of one or other hemisphere—language, imagery, reason, emotion—is served by both hemispheres, not one."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704304504574609992107994238.html

"On the Origins of Comics"

3/10/10.

Brian Boyd:

"Comics can have almost no mass and yet be the most mass of mass arts: Garfield has had up to 263 million readers a day. Comics constitute a new art, just over a century old, and usually an unusually accessible one. So what can evolution add to our understanding of comics?"


http://aliceandrews.tumblr.com/

"When Anger Is An Illness"

3/9/10.

"Scream at the boss? Snap at a colleague? Throw your cell phone into your @#$%%&* computer monitor? If so, you may find yourself headed to anger-management classes, which have become an all-purpose antidote for fit-throwing celebrities, chair-throwing coaches, vandals, road ragers, delinquent teens, disruptive airline passengers, and obstreperous employees."

Demand for treatment of the anger-prone cannot keep up with the supply.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703954904575109671604585094.html?KEYWORDS=when+anger+is+an+illness

"Thank You For Not Expressing Yourself"

3/6/10. "Not every devotee of reason is himself reasonable: that is a lesson that the convinced, indeed militant, atheist, Richard Dawkins, has recently learned...He ran a website for people of like mind, but noticed that many of the comments that appeared on it were beside the point, either mere gossip or insult..."

So writes Theodore Dalrymple (a.k.a Anthony Daniels) retired psychiatrist from London, England who worked in a prison.

http://www.newenglishreview.org/custpage.cfm/frm/58706/sec_id/58706

Novels of Ideas

3/5/10. Author Rebecca Goldstein ("36 Arguments for the Existence of God. A Work of Fiction") names her pick for the 5 best novels of ideas:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704299804575095531114336268.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_TOPRightCarousel

"Romance Novels and Evolutionary Psychology"

3/5/10. Evolutionary psychology explains females' attraction to romance novels.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/mar/04/evolutionary-psychologists-romantic-fiction

"Alice in Health Care"

3/2/10. Economist Thomas Sowell discusses what happens when health care meets Alice in Wonderland.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/printpage/?url=http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2010/03/02/alice_in_health_care_104606.html

Surviving Death

3/2/10. Surrounded by true believers in life after death, Skeptic's magazine editor Michael Schermer argues for death as the end, on - of all places - "The Larry King Show."

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=surviving-death-on-larry-king-live&print=true

What Motivates Us?

3/2/10. Five questions for Daniel Pink, author of new book on motivation among other insightful books.

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/bookclub/2010/02/five-questions-for-daniel-h-pink.html

"It's Not Too Late to Save 'Normal'"

3/1/10 Psychiatrist Allen Francis writes about the pitfalls of changing the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, last revised in 1994.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-frances1-2010mar01,0,2030641.story

Jonah Lehrer: "Depression's Upside"

3/1/10. Why has depression survived millions of years of evolution?

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/28/magazine/28depression-t.html?ref=magazine&pagewanted=print

"HEAD CASE: Can Psychiatry Be A Science"

2/24/10. Louis Menand reviews two books on the treatment of depression and examines psychiatry's claim to be a science.

My view is psychiatry can be a science, and has made significant progress --- but the field is still way behind the scientific accomplishments in all other medical specialties --- about 200 years behind.

A core reason for the elementary knowledge base in psychiatry is that we have no idea how the brain produces the mind and generates consciousness.

To compound matters, we have no reliable biological markers such as blood tests or brain scans for any mental disorder. And, we do not know the etiology of psychiatric disorders. We have a diagnostic manual of mental disorders crammed with too many lists of recipes, too many cooks, and too little science.

Yet depression is real and effective treatments are available. Read "Darkness Visible" by William Styron, or "The Unquiet Mind," by Kay Jamison.

Some depressions fit the etiology of the disease model and respond well to medicine.

Some people get life-saving benefits from antidepressants; some people develop self-knowledge, confidence, and coping skills from psychological therapy; and people who take antidepressant medication and go for psychological therapy often have the best outcome.

Both antidepressant therapies and psychology therapies are both underused. The stigma of mental illness still touches the lives of many people and their families. Many depressed patients never seek help, or when they do, they do not get the help they need.

It is not just politicians who labor under rigid ideologies. With so little and often contrary scientific findings, many mental health professionals still subscribe to either biological or psychological treatment ideologies.

http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/atlarge/2010/03/01/100301crat_atlarge_menand?currentPage=all

Blame ________ for Diseases

2/24/10. No --- not your parents, not your doctor, not the pharmaceutical companies, and not the environment.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704454304575081613327728110.html?mod=WSJ_hp_mostpop_read

"Evidence that Little Touches Do Mean So Much"

2/23/10. NYT science writer Benedict Carey:

"...in recent years some researchers have begun to focus on a different, often more subtle kind of wordless communication: physical contact. Momentary touches, they say - whether an exuberant high five, a warm hand on the shoulder, or a creepy touch to the arm - can communicate an even wider range of emotion than gestures or expressions, and sometimes do so more quickly and accurately than words."

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/23/health/23mind.html?ref=science

"Matters of Life and Death"

2/22/10. "Two fathers' memories shows that grief has no political affiliation.

http://www.city-journal.org/printable.php?id=5973

Monday Quotations

2/22/10.

(referring to jazz:) "The Sound of Surprise."

--- Whitney Balliett (1926 - 2007 )


"Analogies decide nothing, that is true, but they can make one feel more at home."

--- Sigmund Freud (1856 - 193)


"No one can answer for his courage when he has never been in danger."

--- la Rochefoucauld (1747 - 1827)


"'Hope' is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul ---
And sings the tune without
And never stops - at all."

---Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886)

"Life Among the 'Yakkity Yaks'"

2/19/10. Interview with Temple Grandin "doctor of animal science, ground-breaking cattle expert, easily the most famous autistic woman in the world."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703525704575061123564007514.html?mod=WSJ_newsreel_opinion

"Modern Love: Scientific Insights from 21st Century Dating"

2/19/10/ Association for Psychological Science Staff Writer Ann Conkle opens her article with the following:

"The modern world provides two new ways to find love --- online matchmaking and speed dating. In the last few years, these methods have moved from a last resort for the loveless to a more accepted way for millions to try to meet their mates. While this has led to dates, relationships and marriage around the globe, it has also been a boon for enterprising researchers - providing huge datasets chronicling real world behavior. Psychological scientists have been studying attraction, love, and romantic relationships for decades..."

http://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/

"Prescriptions for Psychiatric Trouble"

2/18/10. Psychiatrist Sally Satel offers her views on the troubles with the 5th edition of the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders. This revision of psychiatric diagnoses has too many recipes for psychiatric troubles, too many cooks preparing the categories, and too little science.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703525704575061851569968656.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEFTTopOpinion

"Why Do People Become Lactose Intolerant?"

2/17/10.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703562404575067264166151750.html?KEYWORDS=lactose+intolerance

The Yiddish are Coming

2/17/10. So "How is Yiddish doing?," asks Professor Ruth Wisse. Her survey may surprise you.

http://www.mindingthecampus.com/originals/2010/02/yiddish_rises_again.html

"Empathy's Natural, but Nurturing It Helps"

2/16/10. NYT science writer Jane Brody writes about the importance of developing empathy in children..."Lacking empathy, people act only out of self-interest, without regard for the well-being or feelings of others. The absence of empathy fosters antisocial behavior, cold-blooded murder, genocide...Healthy self-esteem is essential to empathy..."

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/16/health/16brod.html?ref=health&pagewanted=print

Monday Quotations

2/15/10.

"I cannot believe the purpose of life is to be 'happy.' I think the purpose of life is to be useful, to be responsible, to be honorable, to be compassionate. It is above all, to matter: to count, to stand for something, to have made some difference that you have lived at all."

--- Leo C. Rosten (1908 - 1997)


"You can't have everything. Where would you put it?"

--- Steven Wright (1955 - )


"I cannot give any scientist of any age better advice than this: the intensity of conviction that a hypothesis is true has no bearing over whether it is true or not."

--- Sir Peter Medawar (1915 - 1987)

Human Nature

2/12/10. A colleague asked me whether my opinions about human nature have changed over the years. Here is my response:

• Human nature is deeply woven with contradictions, conflicts, and discontents.
  
• Genetics and environments are equally important contributions to understanding human nature.
  
• The proper use of reason is to recognize reason’s limitations. Reason is the “rider” holding the reins on the “elephant” of unconscious desires and values.
  
• Understanding human nature springs from the mystery of the generation of consciousness.
• Consciousness is the basic experience of humans on which our social and personal relationships rest.
  
• We do not understand how consciousness is produced nor do we understand its full potential.
  
• There is little science that applies to our understanding of human nature. So our understanding of human nature takes the form of stories, religions, ideologies, and beliefs.

"Opening Pandora's Box"

2/12/10. More on DSM-V, the psychiatric bible. A list of symptoms is never a substitute for clinical experience and judgment.

http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/home/content/article/10168/1522341?pageNumber=2&verify=0

"Disorder Out of Chaos"

1/11/10. Updating our ideas about what autism is. If only we had some biological marker of this disorder, perhaps we could make more order out of chaos and bring some effective treatments to bear on this often disabling condition of the mind.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/10/opinion/10grinker.html

"The Limits of Bioethics"

2/10/10. Psychiatrist Sally Satel discusses where the profession of bioethics ends and politics begins.

http://www.hoover.org/publications/policyreview/82722522.html

Revising the Book on Disorders of the Mind

2/10/10. The 5th edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) is due in 2013. What are some of the proposed changes in psychiatric disorders?

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/10/health/10psych.html

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704182004575055363825943790.html?KEYWORDS=diagnostic+and+statistical+manual+psychiatry

"Happy Couples Kiss and Tell"

2/9/10. Some words of wisdom on what makes a marriage last.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703615904575053161639498630.html?mod=WSJ_hp_mostpop_read

"The New Dating Game. Back to the New Paleolithic Age"

2/9/10. So what would Darwin say if he came back and saw the evolution of sexual escapades between modern men and women?

http://weeklystandard.com/print/articles/new-dating-game?page=12

"When to Worry if Your Child has Too Few Words"

2/08/10. Useful information from pediatrician Perri Klass in the NYT.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/09/health/09klass.html?hpw

"Good Grief"

2/8/10. On death, dying and grieving.

http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/atlarge/2010/02/01/100201crat_atlarge_orourke?printable=true

Monday Quotations

2/8/10.

"An onion can make people cry, but there has never been a vegetable invented to make people laugh."

--- Will Rogers (1879 - 1935)


"There are two types of people in the world: good and bad. The good sleep better, but the bad seem to enjoy the waking hours much more."

--- Woody Allen (1935 - )



"A serious and good philosophical work could be written consisting entirely of jokes."

--- Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889 - 1951)

Humor and the Brain

2/8/10. Humor is a complex process --- and no laughing matter when it comes to how jokes affect the brain.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20527451.400-the-comedy-circuit-when-your-brain-gets-the-joke.html?full=true&print=true

Seymour B. Sarason R.I.P.

2/8/10. The life of psychologist Seymour Sarason, an author of more than 40 books, who applied his insights on social psychology to help many. He founded the field of community psychology.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/08/education/08sarason.html?hpw=&pagewanted=print

Old Cars - watch to the end!

2/6/10. I saw my 1957 Plymouth.


http://www.flickr.com/photos/24796741@N05/sets/72157604247242338/show/with/2346008881/

"A Mind So Different"

2/4/10. "The story of Temple Grandin, diagnosed with autism at age 4 and in time a symbol of hope for the afflicted, has made its way to the screen with spellingbinding results," says Dorothy Rabinowitz, a member of the WSJ editorial board - on this Saturday, 8- 10 p.m. EST, on HBO.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704259304575043741307874012.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_TOPRightCarousel

A review from the NYT.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/05/arts/television/05grandin.html?em

EPsychologist

2/4/10. Interested in psychology? Check out this helpful Web site.

http://www.epsychologist.org/

The New Science of Sleep

2/3/10. All you want to know about sleep apnea.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704107204575039101390202576.html

The Lancet's Vaccine Retraction

2/3/10. The British medical journal The Lancet issued a full retraction of a study it ran in 1998 linking measles-mumps-rubella vaccines to autism.

Even prestigious journals can be conduits for junk science. And promoting this junk science in such a well respected periodical lead to a decline in children's vaccination rates, a significant increase in preventable diseases, and death.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704022804575041544115791952.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_AboveLEFTTop#printMode

"Health Care: Who Knows 'Best'"?

2/2/10. Dr. Jerome Groopman discusses the role of behavioral economics and comparative effectiveness research in reforming health care.

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/23590

Howard Zinn R.I.P.

1/28/10. The life of Howard Zinn, a controversial historian.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/28/us/28zinn.html?em

"Attachment Security: Born or Made?"

1/26/10. John Bowlby, an eminent psychiatrist from England, developed a wide-ranging theory of attachment. His three books "Attachment," "Separation." and "Loss," are classics, filled with useful clinical principles understood through psychoanalytic and evolutionary theories.

Professor of psychology, Jay Belsky, discusses whether attachment security is in nature or nurture.

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/family-affair/200901/attachment-security-born-or-made

Monday Quotations

1/25/10.

"Do not seek to have events happen as you want them to, but instead want them to happen as they do happen, and your life will go well."

--- Epictetus (55 - 135)


"Without Contraries is not progression. Attraction and Repulsion, Reason and Energy, Love and Hate, are necessary to Human Existence."

--- William Blake (1757 - 1827)


"Not all knowledge in this sense is part of our intellect, nor is our intellect the whole of our knowledge. Our habits and skills, our emotional attitudes, our tools, and our institutions --- all are in this sense adaptations to past experience which have grown up by selective elimination of less suitable conduct. They are as much an indispensable foundation of successful action as is our conscious knowledge."

Friedrich Hayek (1899 - 1992)

"Haiti's Apocalypse"

1/15/10. The earthquake adds a nightmarish chapter to a tragic history.

http://www.city-journal.org/2010/eon0115td.html

"Martha Coakley's Convictions"

1/15/10. Dorothy Rabinowitz, a member of the WSJ's editorial board, is the author of "No Crueler Tyrannies: Accusations, False Witness And Other Terrors of Our Times."

Here, Ms. Rabinowitz describes the role played by the U.S. Senate candidate in a notorious sex case that raises questions about her judgment.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704281204575003341640657862.html

"Writing English as a Second Language"

1/14/10. William Zinsser gives advice on writing. He is a writer, editor, teacher, and author of the classic "On Writing Well." This article is a gem.

http://www.theamericanscholar.org/writing-english-as-a-second-language/

"Suicide, Sex, and SUVs"

1/13/10. Robert Samuelson, columnist for Newsweek, takes some facts from "The Statistical Abstracts."

http://www.newsweek.com/id/229842

Neuroscience

1/13/10. Interview with NYT writer David Brooks on neuroscience.

http://thebrowser.com/books/interviews/brooks

"The Conservative Case for Gay Marriage"

1/12/10. Conservative lawyer Theodore Olson makes the case for gay marriage.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/229957/output/print

Monday Quotations

"Music is the effort we make to explain to ourselves how our brains work. We listen to Bach transfixed because this is listening to a human mind."

--- Lewis Thomas (1913 - 1993)


"The three most beautiful words in the English language are "It is benign."

--- Woody Allen (1935 - )


"Politics is the art of preventing people from becoming involved in affairs which concern them."

--- Paul Valery (1871 - 1945)

"Udder Madness"

1/11/10. A weekend at the Pudnik's farm - by Woody Allen. Highfalutin' silliness.

http://www.newyorker.com/humor/2010/01/18/100118sh_shouts_allen

"Diary of a High Functioning Person with Schizophrenia"

1/7/10. A remarkable interview --- don't miss this.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=diary-of-a-high-function

"Popular Drugs May Only Help Severe Depression"

1/7/10. This article is not a surprise --- as far as it goes, which is --- not far enough. The antidepressant drugs often help people with panic attacks, chronic mild to moderate depressed mood , and the range of obsessive-compulsive symptoms.

For people with life-long mild to moderate depressed mood, antidepressant medication "puts air in their tires."

Severe depression fits the criteria of a brain disease and often responds to pharmacotherapy.

The data overwhelming suggest that psychological therapy helps some people, medication helps some people and does not help others, and the best combination for treatment of psychiatric disorders is often psychological therapy and medication.

Both psychological therapy and medications are under-used --- the stigma of getting help for problems of the mind still exists --- at a time when psychologists and psychiatrists have many effective treatments to offer.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/06/health/views/06depress.html?em

And more on depression ---

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/09/opinion/09warner.html?em

And the benefits of antidepressants ---

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/12/health/12mind.html?hpw

Looking at ways to treat depression - Letters to the Editor ---

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/12/opinion/l12warner.html

Wednesday Quotation

1/6/10.

"Half the harm that is done in this world is due to people who want to feel important. They don't mean to do harm --- but the harm does not interest them. Or they do not see it, or they justify it because they are absorbed in the endless struggle to think well of themselves."

--- T. S. Eliot (1888 - 1965)

"The Science of Success"

1/5/10. "Most of us have genes that make us as hardy as dandelions: able to take root and survive almost anywhere. A few of us, however, are more like the orchid: fragile and fickle...With a bad environment and poor parenting, orchid children can end up depressed, drug-addicted, or in jail---but with the right environment and good parenting, they can grow up to be society's most creative, successful, and happy people."

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200912/dobbs-orchid-gene

The Good Life: Ends and Means

1/5/10. Now I see the corn beef, coming through the rye. Professor Christopher Peterson, University of Michigan Positive Psychologist extraordinaire, on the good life.

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-good-life/201001/the-good-life-ends-and-means

"The Art of Living Mindfully"

1/10/10. "Nothing is ever certain," says Harvard psychologist Ellen Langer. "We should make the most of that." Jennifer Ruark discusses the work of Professor Ellen Langer, best known for her concept of "mindfulness," --- paying attention: consciously looking for what is new and different, and questioning preconceived ideas.

http://chronicle.com/article/The-Art-of-Living-Mindfully/63292/

"My Brain on My Mind"

1/2/10. From "The American Scholar," thinking about the mysteries of thinking and self-consciousness.

http://www.theamericanscholar.org/my-brain-on-my-mind/#more-5963

In Remembrance

1/1/10. Vivid personalities of the past decade.

The lesson: When you are alive, live.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/31/obituaries/31decade.html?hpw

"I Hereby Resolve To Make Fewer New Year's Resolutions"

1/1/10. Theodore Dalrymple on New Year's resolutions.

http://www.manhattan-institute.org/html/miarticle.htm?id=5793

"Seeking a Cure for Optimism"

12/31/09. Hope springs eternal in the healthy, but not in many intellectuals who make a living knowing things that aren't true.

This NYT article takes a swipe at Positive Psychology, a movement that Professor Martin E.P. Seligman started in 1998. Positive Psychology has attracted some of the best and brightest psychologists and psychiatrists, among other professionals, and spawned some important, well designed research studies on such topics as character, virtues, and enhancing human experience. This emphasis on looking for what is positive in human experience is a much needed corrective to years of only examining psychopathology.

This article quotes the work of Barbara Ehrenreich, a congenital sourpuss, with a long history of applying her Marxist world view --- and I don't mean Groucho --- to helping the poor and downtrodden, barely disguising her smug attitudes.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/31/fashion/31positive.html?_r=1&em

"Obama and Our Post-Modern Race Problem"

12/30/09. Shelby Steele on race and American politics.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704254604574614540488450188.html

"Information - For Better or Worse"

12/28/09. Journalist Robert Samuelson reflects on his 40 year career getting to the "truth."

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2009/12/28/information_is_power_--_for_better_or_worse_99705.html

Monday Quotations

12/28/09.


"I went to a restaurant that serves 'breakfast at any time.' So I ordered French Toast during the Renaissance."

--- Steven Wright (1955 - )


"The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings."

--- Eric Hoffer (1902 - 1983)

In physics the truth is rarely perfectly clear, and that it certainly universally the case in human affairs. Hence, what is not surrounded by uncertainty cannot be the truth."

--- Richard Feynman (1918 - 1988)

"What My Daughter Taught Me About Compassion"

12/27/09. Former 60's radical, editor of Ramparts Magazine, friend of the Black Panthers, author of "Radical Son," and now conservative social critic, David Horowitz tells the story of what he learned from his daughter - a passionate liberal --- who recently died.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703939404574568361975770866.html

"Where Did These Guys Come From?"

12/27/09. Victor Davis Hanson, Professor of Ancient History, looks at Obama and his followers. Not all will agree with Hanson, for sure, but his ideas are provocative and make you think.

http://pajamasmedia.com/victordavishanson/where-did-these-guys-come-from/

"Trial by Fire"

12/25/09. David Grann investigated the death of Cameron Todd Willingham's three children --- they died in a house fire, and Williamgham escaped.

"The fire moved quickly through the house, a one-story wood-frame structure in a working-class neighborhood of Corsicana, in northeast Texas. Flames spread along the walls, bursting through doorways, blistering pain and tiles and furniture. Smoke pressed against the ceiling, then banked downward, seeping into each room and through crevices in the windows, staining the morning sky..."

Willingham was executed for killing his children. --- Did Texas execute an innocent man?

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/09/07/090907fa_fact_grann

College Students and Suicide

12/24/09. Psychiatrist Sally Satel reviews the policy of too many colleges to expel students who talk about suicide - rather than getting students the help they need.

http://www.aei.org/article/101450

"The Protocol Society"

12/24/09. NYT's writer David Brooks reviews a new book about the new economy - filled with ideas, knowledge, and the creativity of entrepreneurs.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/22/opinion/22brooks.html

Monday Quotations

12/21/09.

"Music is the best means we have of digesting time."

--- W. H. Auden (1907 - 1973)


"Familiar things happen and mankind does not bother about them. It requires a very unusual mind to undertake analysis of the obvious."

--- Alfred North Whitehead (1861 - 1947)


"It is also true that one can write nothing readable unless one constantly struggles to efface one's own personality. Good prose is like a windowpane."

--- George Orwell (1903 - 1950)

Ideas of 2009

12/17/09. The NYT Magazine looks back at some wacky, useful, silly, creative and practical ideas of 2009.

http://www.nytimes.com/projects/magazine/ideas/2009/#a

"Last Exit to Utopia"

12/15/09. WSJ writer Brett Stephens reviews a mind-opening book by the French political-philosopher Jean-Francois Revel.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704240504574585881108040134.html

Monday Quotations

12/14/09.

"Among those whom I like or admire, I can find no common denominator, but among those whom I love, I can: all of them make me laugh."

--- W. H. Auden (1907 - 1973)


"The trouble with our times is the future is not what it used to be."

--- Paul Valery (1871 - 1945)


"To teach is to learn."

--- Japanese Proverb

Paul A. Samuelson, R.I.P.

12/13/09. Economist Paul Samuelson dies at age 94 years. Among his many contributions, he wrote one of the most famous and enduring textbooks.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/14/business/economy/14samuelson.html?hp

Book Comes to Life

12/12/09. Only for the curious, eager to be entertained.

http://www.wimp.com/booklife/

TESTING, TESTING

12/9/09. Always worth reading, Atul Gawande, surgeon and writer, discusses health-care.

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/12/14/091214fa_fact_gawande?printable=true

Evolution (not Religion) is Source of Morality

12/9/09. Evolutionary psychologist, biologist, and Harvard Professor Marc Hauser makes the case for evolution as the source of morals.

http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/hauser09/hauser09_index.html

Men, Women, Parenting, and Evolution

12/8/09. Are women hard-wired for parenting?

http://www.city-journal.org/2009/19_4_femina-sapiens.html

"Married (Happily) with Issues"

12/5/09. In the NYT, writer Elizabeth Weil muses about the complexity of marriage.

Couple therapy is the toughest kind of therapy ---- psychologist and couple are in a room with the strong winds of unconscious forces, blame, regrets, jealousies, projections, voices from the past, and much more ---- yet when it works, couple therapy is often the most gratifying.

"By all means marry. If you have a good wife, you'll be happy; if you get a bad one, you'll become a philosopher."

--- Socrates (469 B.C. - 399 B.C.)

"Love is strong as death, jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame."

Song of Songs (8:6)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/06/magazine/06marriage-t.html?_r=1&em=&pagewanted=all

Help Me Make It Through the Night and, For The Good Times

12/3/09. Kris Kristofferson, a star in the '70's, reflects on his life at age 73.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704431804574539992094222308.html

Climategate: Science and Politics Don't Mix

12/2/09. Daniel Henninger wonders whether we can still trust scientists.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052748704107104574572091993737848.html

Developmental Psychologist Says Teenagers are Different

12/2/09. Interview with Dr. Laurence Steinberg on the adolescent mind. What's the matter with kids today?

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/01/science/01conv.html?_r=1&hpw

Monday Quotations

11/30/09.

"If there were no God, there would be no atheists."

--- G. K. Chesterton (1874 - 1936)


"The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes of mind."

--- William James (1842 - 1910)


"In the history of the world, no one has ever washed a rented car."

--- Larry Summers (1954 - )

100 Notable Books of 2009

11/29/09. The New York Times best 100.

http://www.nytimes.com/gift-guide/holiday-2009/100-notable-books-of-2009-gift-guide/list.html?em

"Mental Illness in Academe"

11/25/09. Elyn Saks, a law professor, writes a remarkable article.

http://chronicle.com/article/Mental-Illness-in-Academe/49233/

Lessons Learned

11/24/09. This is an interview with Dr. Wilbert "Bill" McKeachie, Professor of Psychology at the University of Michigan, about the lessons he has learned over 60 years of teaching, research, and learning.

http://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/getArticle.cfm?id=2582

Monday Quotations

11/23/09.

"The intellect is always fooled by the heart."

--La Rochefoucauld (1747 - 1827)

"Better to sleep with a sober cannibal than
a drunken Christian."

--Herman Meville (1819 - 1891)


"Either he is dead or my watch stopped."

--Julius Henry "Groucho" Marx (1895 - 1977)

Satchmo and the Jews

11/18/09. The beloved Louis Armstrong and his connection to a Jewish family.

https://www.commentarymagazine.com/viewarticle.cfm/satchmo-and-the-jews-15265?page=all

Health 'Reform' Gets a Failing Grade

11/18/09. The dean of Harvard Medical School gives the health-reform debate a failing grade.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704431804574539581994054014.html

Monday Quotations

11/16/09.

"A professor is someone who talks in someone else's sleep."

--- W. H. Auden (1907 - 1973)


"Man's inhumanity to man
Makes countless thousands mourn!

--- Robert Burns (1759 - 1796)


"One has to belong to the intelligentsia to believe things like that: no ordinary man could be such a fool."

--- George Orwell (1903 - 1950)

"Nothing was the Same"

11/16/09. Johns Hopkins psychologist Kay Jamison is a world authority on Manic-Depressive Illness --- and the author of "The Unquiet Mind," a telling of her life with the disease. This is a review of her latest book about the death of her husband, and her struggle to cope and live.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/15/books/review/Greenberg-t.html?ref=review

Malcolm Gladwell: "What the Dog Saw and Other Adventures"

11/15/09. Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker reviews Malcolm Gladwell's latest book.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/15/books/review/Pinker-t.html?_r=1&pagewanted=print

A Schtick with a Thousand Lives

11/15/09. Mel Brooks (83) and Carl Reiner (87) have been cracking each other up for nearly 60 years. On Nov. 24, "The 2000 Year Old Man: The Complete History," will be released. Brooks and Reiner are interviewed for this article.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/15/arts/television/15karp.html?_r=1&sq=mel brooks&st=cse&scp=2&pagewanted=print

Teaching Math

11/14/09. Should only math teachers teach math? Doing math requires thinking clearly. Are we thinking clearly about math education?

http://www.city-journal.org/2009/eon1113ss.html

Health Reform's Moral Hazard

11/12/09. Steven Malanga discusses some down sides to the governments approach to revamping our health care.

http://www.realclearmarkets.com/articles/2009/11/11/health_reforms_moral_hazard_97502.html

On the Efficacy of Psychodynamic Psychotherapy

11/8/09. Psychologist Jonathan Shedler writes an excellent review on the efficacy of psychoanalytic therapy. He describes how principles of psychotherapy derived from the developments of psychoanalytic theory and research over many years benefit patients.

https://portfolio.du.edu/pc/port?portfolio=jshedler

The Doctor is In

11/6/09. On Dr. Aaron Beck, founder of Cognitive Behavior Therapy.

http://www.theamericanscholar.org/the-doctor-is-in/#more-5299

In Jazz, as in Life, Choices

11/5/09. Trumpeter Terrence Blanchard talks about his life in jazz.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704500604574485102188478392.html

In Depth: Temple Grandin

11/4/09. This is a 3 hour interview with Temple Grandin, a remarkable autistic woman. She has written ten books, and is a professor of animal science. She has written about growing up with autism, and about her work with animals.

http://www.booktv.org/Featured/10695/In+Depth+Temple+Grandin.aspx