Bram Kaandorp
Master Poster
I did look for that one, but didn't find it.
That is to say, I didn't find it on sites where I would be able to buy it, which excludes Amazon from the get-go.
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What book is everyone reading at the moment? Part 2.
- Thread starter alex04
- Start date
I did look for that one, but didn't find it.
That is to say, I didn't find it on sites where I would be able to buy it, which excludes Amazon from the get-go.
Bram Kaandorp
Master Poster
Will look it up. Thanks for the tip.
catsmate
No longer the 1
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I got the reprint in a second hand bookshop, a hardcover older than me by thirty years. I got the IP version when I accidentally ordered it when they started reprinting Dickson/Carr.
In fact the little specialist bookshop ('Murder Ink') where I ordered them used to refer to Dickson/Carr as the "kiss of death" for any publisher; when one started reprinting the series they'd get in financial trouble. Apparently three publishers started reprinting them but disappeared before finishing...
catsmate
No longer the 1
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The first three Merrivale books (The Plague Court Murders, The White Priory Murders and The Red Widow Murders are worth reading. After that the series gets a bit spotty. The best Fell books (IMO) are Problem of the Green Capsule, He Who Whispers and Till Death Do Us Part.
calebprime
Penultimate Amazing
- Joined
- Jul 5, 2006
- Messages
- 13,001
_Unhinged: The Trouble With Psychiatry—A Doctor’s Revelations About a Profession in Crisis_ -- Dr. Daniel Carlat
Forget the lurid title. This is one of the best critical overviews, by a practicing psychiatrist. If anything, he's too much of a believer in his own treatments. As far as I know, he still prescribed benzos for chronic use, for example.
a review:
http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/fil...-doctor’s-revelations-about-profession-crisis
One thing I like about it is that it's concerned with the present. Too many books go into tedious historical detail, all the way back to Galen.
Oh, and while I'm on the subject. I've noticed that the standard boilerplate defense of psychiatry -- you know, Cuckoo's Nest (not), lobotomy (no more), stigma of mental illness (being spun the wrong way), just-like-insulin (utter nonsense), no danger of addiction (a lie, or a purely semantic argument), criticism is Scientology, etc. -- with its bland reassurances, as if written for eight-year-olds -- ignores the present-day, relevant issues:
--efficacy
--publication bias
--conflict of interest
--marketing
--modified placebo effect
--"desire to please the doctor" effect
--long-term effects
--problems with DSM
--drug company juggernauts
--circle-the-wagons, or professional guild loyalty to itself
--problems with managed care: short, perfunctory consulations, etc., bias against talking-cure
just for starters.
But Carlat's book at least mentions all of these issues.
Forget the lurid title. This is one of the best critical overviews, by a practicing psychiatrist. If anything, he's too much of a believer in his own treatments. As far as I know, he still prescribed benzos for chronic use, for example.
a review:
http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/fil...-doctor’s-revelations-about-profession-crisis
One thing I like about it is that it's concerned with the present. Too many books go into tedious historical detail, all the way back to Galen.
Oh, and while I'm on the subject. I've noticed that the standard boilerplate defense of psychiatry -- you know, Cuckoo's Nest (not), lobotomy (no more), stigma of mental illness (being spun the wrong way), just-like-insulin (utter nonsense), no danger of addiction (a lie, or a purely semantic argument), criticism is Scientology, etc. -- with its bland reassurances, as if written for eight-year-olds -- ignores the present-day, relevant issues:
--efficacy
--publication bias
--conflict of interest
--marketing
--modified placebo effect
--"desire to please the doctor" effect
--long-term effects
--problems with DSM
--drug company juggernauts
--circle-the-wagons, or professional guild loyalty to itself
--problems with managed care: short, perfunctory consulations, etc., bias against talking-cure
just for starters.
But Carlat's book at least mentions all of these issues.
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calebprime
Penultimate Amazing
- Joined
- Jul 5, 2006
- Messages
- 13,001
_Let Them Eat Prozac_ -- David Healy
Again, provocative title, but solid information. Healy also displays an inappropriate sense of humor on his blog.
This is both a history and a personal memoir. Healy learns as he goes.
One of the more interesting nuggets is a small double-blind study of healthy volunteers he conducted -- the volunteers being largely health professionals, including nurses and psychiatrists.
pgs 174-190:
Half of the people were given Zoloft (sertraline) , half reboxetine. Then the drugs were switched. What was interesting to me is that there were marked preferences among the volunteers: some felt good on one drug, some felt horrible, and vice versa.
Two healthy volunteers became suicidal.
The result seemed to agree with a study by Joyce and Mulder showing that people's response to an AD can be predicted somewhat by a personality test.
I think it might be this one:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3104887/
Some other nuggets:
and, on the issue of suicidality:
It seems that a small but significant number of people -- who weren't suicidal before -- become suicidal on SSRIs, especially at the beginning of treatment.
Now, there is (imo, absolutely terrible) advice from some quarters to stay on the med at the beginning -- that this will pass. It seems that the proper question should be whether someone who has a bad reaction to a psychoactive drug should be on that drug at all to begin with.
Less than 40% of people are "compliant" (an ugly word) with SSRI medications: They stop taking them fairly quickly.
When the first studies of Prozac were done, it failed most tests. It was considered to be a poor antidepressant by the Germans and some others. Also, it was considered necessary to give people a benzo at the same time at the beginning of treatment to calm down the agitation caused by the drug.
It also seems that the statistics on suicide vary hugely. If you take the suicide rate of people hospitalized for depression, it's very high, and this might be considered justification for drug treatment. But if you calculate the rate based on people who were not hospitalized, it's much lower. This may seem obvious, but when different groups are arguing, they may use one set of numbers or the other.
It seems that there is an agitation produced by Prozac that is quite distinct from their depression.
Anyway, this is a slightly rambling, somewhat blow-by-blow book, but full of interesting information.
some reviews:
http://metapsychology.mentalhelp.net/poc/view_doc.php?type=book&id=2744&cn=158
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3192386/
Again, provocative title, but solid information. Healy also displays an inappropriate sense of humor on his blog.
This is both a history and a personal memoir. Healy learns as he goes.
One of the more interesting nuggets is a small double-blind study of healthy volunteers he conducted -- the volunteers being largely health professionals, including nurses and psychiatrists.
pgs 174-190:
Half of the people were given Zoloft (sertraline) , half reboxetine. Then the drugs were switched. What was interesting to me is that there were marked preferences among the volunteers: some felt good on one drug, some felt horrible, and vice versa.
Two healthy volunteers became suicidal.
The result seemed to agree with a study by Joyce and Mulder showing that people's response to an AD can be predicted somewhat by a personality test.
I think it might be this one:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3104887/
Some other nuggets:
and, on the issue of suicidality:
It seems that a small but significant number of people -- who weren't suicidal before -- become suicidal on SSRIs, especially at the beginning of treatment.
Now, there is (imo, absolutely terrible) advice from some quarters to stay on the med at the beginning -- that this will pass. It seems that the proper question should be whether someone who has a bad reaction to a psychoactive drug should be on that drug at all to begin with.
Less than 40% of people are "compliant" (an ugly word) with SSRI medications: They stop taking them fairly quickly.
When the first studies of Prozac were done, it failed most tests. It was considered to be a poor antidepressant by the Germans and some others. Also, it was considered necessary to give people a benzo at the same time at the beginning of treatment to calm down the agitation caused by the drug.
It also seems that the statistics on suicide vary hugely. If you take the suicide rate of people hospitalized for depression, it's very high, and this might be considered justification for drug treatment. But if you calculate the rate based on people who were not hospitalized, it's much lower. This may seem obvious, but when different groups are arguing, they may use one set of numbers or the other.
It seems that there is an agitation produced by Prozac that is quite distinct from their depression.
Anyway, this is a slightly rambling, somewhat blow-by-blow book, but full of interesting information.
some reviews:
http://metapsychology.mentalhelp.net/poc/view_doc.php?type=book&id=2744&cn=158
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3192386/
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philkensebben
Illuminator
Recently I've read harrowing tales of survivial.
Into Thin Air by John Krakauer
Endurance: Shackletons incredible voyage
Heart Of the Sea by Nathaniel Philbrick
Adrift 76 days lost at sea by Steve Callahan
I like the genre. Can anyone recommend similar titles?
Into Thin Air by John Krakauer
Endurance: Shackletons incredible voyage
Heart Of the Sea by Nathaniel Philbrick
Adrift 76 days lost at sea by Steve Callahan
I like the genre. Can anyone recommend similar titles?
Bikewer
Penultimate Amazing
Two.....
1. Richard Schenkman's "I Love Paul Revere Whether He Rode Or Not". Schenkman is a historian who's written several books on common myths and misconceptions of American history.
2. "Shoot the President? Are you mad?" by Frank MacAuliffe. This is an "Augustus Mandrell" story, the last published by MacAuliffe. For those who enjoy clever prose and black humor, these books are a treasure.
Mandrell is an assassin with a droll sense of humor and a penchant for getting involved in fantastical "commissions". In one, he is charged with rescuing one of Hitler's doubles after the war. The fellow is quite likely the real McCoy, and ends up becoming the commissioner of baseball.....
That might give a clue as to MacAuliffe's thinking.
1. Richard Schenkman's "I Love Paul Revere Whether He Rode Or Not". Schenkman is a historian who's written several books on common myths and misconceptions of American history.
2. "Shoot the President? Are you mad?" by Frank MacAuliffe. This is an "Augustus Mandrell" story, the last published by MacAuliffe. For those who enjoy clever prose and black humor, these books are a treasure.
Mandrell is an assassin with a droll sense of humor and a penchant for getting involved in fantastical "commissions". In one, he is charged with rescuing one of Hitler's doubles after the war. The fellow is quite likely the real McCoy, and ends up becoming the commissioner of baseball.....
That might give a clue as to MacAuliffe's thinking.
Bikewer
Penultimate Amazing
Two.....
1. Richard Schenkman's "I Love Paul Revere Whether He Rode Or Not". Schenkman is a historian who's written several books on common myths and misconceptions of American history.
2. "Shoot the President? Are you mad?" by Frank MacAuliffe. This is an "Augustus Mandrell" story, the last published by MacAuliffe. For those who enjoy clever prose and black humor, these books are a treasure.
Mandrell is an assassin with a droll sense of humor and a penchant for getting involved in fantastical "commissions". In one, he is charged with rescuing one of Hitler's doubles after the war. The fellow is quite likely the real McCoy, and ends up becoming the commissioner of baseball.....
That might give a clue as to MacAuliffe's thinking.
1. Richard Schenkman's "I Love Paul Revere Whether He Rode Or Not". Schenkman is a historian who's written several books on common myths and misconceptions of American history.
2. "Shoot the President? Are you mad?" by Frank MacAuliffe. This is an "Augustus Mandrell" story, the last published by MacAuliffe. For those who enjoy clever prose and black humor, these books are a treasure.
Mandrell is an assassin with a droll sense of humor and a penchant for getting involved in fantastical "commissions". In one, he is charged with rescuing one of Hitler's doubles after the war. The fellow is quite likely the real McCoy, and ends up becoming the commissioner of baseball.....
That might give a clue as to MacAuliffe's thinking.
xterra
So far, so good...
Was that Alfred Lansing's book on Shackleton? Good one. If it was by someone else, who wrote it?
Recommendation:
Alive by Piers Paul Read 1974. The story of an airplane crash in the Andes Mountains, and the aftermath.
As it turns out, I recently finished his The Dreyfus Affair: The Story of the Most Infamous Miscarriage of Justice in French History (2012)
philkensebben
Illuminator
Its the Alfred Lansing one. It was brilliant.
Thanks for your suggestion by Piers Paul Read. Will check it out. First I have Lost in The Jungle by Yossi Ghinsberg to get through first though.
skeptichaggis
Muse
- Joined
- Mar 25, 2015
- Messages
- 692
Crimea by Orlando figs plus rare earth by ward and brownlee and krauss's a universe from nothing. I'm reading Krause for the second time-physics is not my best point. Oh and a intresting book I got for 25p called reconstructing quaternary environments.
arthwollipot
Limerick Purist Pronouns: He/Him
I've been very much enjoying reading The Lord Of The Rings again. Ask me how many times I've read it. Go on, ask me.
Well, I can't tell you because I have no idea. I lost count when I was 14. It's pretty safe to say that Lord Of The Rings and Star Wars shaped my childhood and had a profound effect on my whole life.
It's been quite a few years since I last read it though, so I decided that it was time. That was a great decision.
Well, I can't tell you because I have no idea. I lost count when I was 14. It's pretty safe to say that Lord Of The Rings and Star Wars shaped my childhood and had a profound effect on my whole life.
It's been quite a few years since I last read it though, so I decided that it was time. That was a great decision.
xterra
So far, so good...
It's good to see someone else who has a lifelong relationship with the series.
I first read LOTR in about 1955 or 1956; it was first published in 1955. The first edition had large fold-out maps. Incidentally, Tolkein revised the riddle at the Back Door of Moria; originally it was both more subtle and more direct than in later editions.
I found the series in the public library, and was probably the second or third person to take it out. (In those days, the return date for a book was stamped in a little piece of paper affixed to the inside of the front cover, so one could see how many people had read the book prior to oneself.)
My daughter just told me that two weeks ago on a panel at a major science-fiction convention, she mentioned that her father had read The Hobbit to her chapter by chapter as a bedtime story when she was four or five.*
ETA, I read the series on average once a year.
*I won't say how old she is, but that was over 35 years ago.
I first read LOTR in about 1955 or 1956; it was first published in 1955. The first edition had large fold-out maps. Incidentally, Tolkein revised the riddle at the Back Door of Moria; originally it was both more subtle and more direct than in later editions.
I found the series in the public library, and was probably the second or third person to take it out. (In those days, the return date for a book was stamped in a little piece of paper affixed to the inside of the front cover, so one could see how many people had read the book prior to oneself.)
My daughter just told me that two weeks ago on a panel at a major science-fiction convention, she mentioned that her father had read The Hobbit to her chapter by chapter as a bedtime story when she was four or five.*
ETA, I read the series on average once a year.
*I won't say how old she is, but that was over 35 years ago.
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skeptichaggis
Muse
- Joined
- Mar 25, 2015
- Messages
- 692
Star wars and lord of the rings-both stories with more morality and relevance than any religious text.
Gawdzilla Sama
TImeToSweepTheLeg
An Army at Dawn: The War in North Africa, 1942-1943, Volume One of the Liberation Trilogy Paperback – May 15, 2007
by Rick Atkinson (Author)
Yeah, I'm slow.
by Rick Atkinson (Author)
Yeah, I'm slow.
Parsman
Muse
Re-reading as many Terry Pratchett's as I can. Just finished "Unseen Academicals" and moving on to "The Science of Discworld II: The Globe"
Mahatma Kane Jeeves
Post No Bills
- Joined
- Oct 11, 2002
- Messages
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At the Mercy of the Mountains by Peter Bronski.
I'm currently reading The Plains of Abraham, a history of North Elba/Lake Placid, NY.
My Dad has a copy of The Worst Journey in the World WP Maybe doesn't count as a tale of "survival" but might tick the other boxes...
The Sledge Patrol is pretty good.
Then there are the Joe Simpson WP autobiographies
xterra
So far, so good...
Have you read it?
I've been looking for a copy for a very long time. I guess I am not patronizing the right bookstores. Have you read it?
ETA just started Hero Found: The greatest POW escape of the Vietnam War by Bruce Henderson, 2010. Report coming when I finish the book.
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