My current reading. Well part of it at least. A fascinating set of case studies about how music is processed by the brain and the effect of various disorders on that processing. Not a book to read cover to cover though!
Year: 2012
Exploring a Grey Area
The leap from doing good to doing evil is often no more than a tiny step. Those of us who try to be ‘good’ might want to think that we are almost immune from the ‘dark side’ unless we make a mistake – but the reality is that (at least in my eyes) in many aspects of our lives there is a continuum stretching from ‘perfectly good’ at one end to ‘perfectly evil’ at the other – and the nature of continuums is that somewhere along the line we step over from one side to the other!
The Other Side of “If Only”
When you start to think about it, it is sobering – no – downright scary just how many people and events may be affected in the future by the decisions we make, individually and collectively, today. I may believe that I have some idea of the immediate effects however, given the way that the world is now connected so much more than ever before, it is next to impossible to determine the totality of the effect of each and every decision we make.
Dodger
A ‘gentle’ story with all the wit of the typical Pratchett books. Recommended
If Only
I have had personal and harrowing experience of the “if only” thoughts – I find it hardest to deal with in respect of how my actions (or my inaction) affects other people. I don’t mean directly – since that is ‘usually’ understood at the time – at least to a certain extent – I am talking about decisions that have long term repercussions that are far from what is envisaged.
A Word That Deserves A Better Press
There are some words that fall into disuse. There are other words that people are scared of. There are words that change their meaning over time. We all use too many words without thinking. Words play a huge part in everyone’s life. I’d like to talk about an adjective that we seemingly try to avoid – vulnerable.
The Meaning Of Average
What a bizarre headline for an article was my first thought, but then – is this how most people think? Then again – bizarre headlines are not exactly unusual – they appear everywhere and are mainly designed to pull in the unsuspecting reader.
History Is What We Make It
The fact that our memory is nearly 100% fallible (note that I am not saying 100% wrong) means that to some extent we need to doubt what we have really experienced in the past. Our own personal life story is full of bits and pieces that our minds have made up to “fill in the gaps” between the reality that we actually do remember correctly.
A New Science of Life
Although some of this was interesting, this on the whole was not the best reading this year. I like lots of Sheldrake’s ideas, but this was probably the wrong book of his for me to read.
The Tingle Factor
I was reminded last night of the power of music to affect you in a physical way – I don’t pretend to understand how this works, but it is a very real experience as far as I am concerned. Music affects me in many different ways, depending on the nature of the music – soothing to calm me, martial to inspire, the possibilities are endless, but what I want to concentrate on here is the tingle factor when the power of the music sends a shiver through your body.