my mind on books

Angst: Origins of Anxiety and Depression by Jeffrey P. Kahn (Oxford University Press, USA, 2012)

(amazon.co.uk)

Book description from the publisher:

Some twenty percent of us are afflicted with common anxiety and depressive disorders–not just brief bouts of nervousness or sorrow, but painful dysfunctions without obvious benefit. Why do so many people suffer from angst?

In this path-breaking volume, engagingly written for the general public, psychiatrist Jeffrey Kahn reveals that angst ultimately results from our transformation, over tens of thousands of years, from biologically shaped, almost herd-like prehistoric tribes, to rational and independent individuals in modern civilization. Kahn looks at five basic types of modern-day angst–Panic Anxiety, Social Anxiety, OCD, Atypical Depression, and Melancholic Depression–and shows how each derives from primeval social instincts that once helped our ancestors survive. For instance, the “panic disorder” which prevents some people from flying may have originally evolved to keep our tribal ancestors from traveling dangerously far from home. Likewise, the increased emotional sensitivity to social rejection that now triggers episodes of “atypical depression” may have helped maintain polite behavior and social harmony in our ancestors. Our distinctly human civilization and rational consciousness lets us defy these social instincts. But those over-ridden instincts can resurface as stressful emotional disorders. Kahn notes that some of us painfully tackle this distress head-on, in ways that can advance intellectual creativity, social performance and productivity. He also describes the interplay of instinct with the advance of civilization, and on how evolutionary perspective explains why modern treatments work.

Ranging from Darwin and Freud to the most cutting-edge medical and scientific findings–drawing from ancient writings, modern humor and popular lyrics, and with many amusing cartoons–Angst offers us an exciting new slant on some of the most pervasive mental health issues of our time.

out in paperback: ‘The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined’ by Steven Pinker amazon.com/gp/product/014… via @amazon

— Debbie A Foster (@mymindonbooks) October 1, 2012

On Settling by Robert E. Goodin (Princeton University Press, 2012)

(kindle ed.),
(amazon.co.uk)

Book description from the publisher:

In a culture that worships ceaseless striving, “settling” seems like giving up. But is it? On Settling defends the positive value of settling, explaining why this disdained practice is not only more realistic but more useful than an excessive ideal of striving. In fact, the book makes the case that we’d all be lost without settling–and that even to strive, one must first settle.

We may admire strivers and love the ideal of striving, but who of us could get through a day without settling? Real people, confronted with a complex problem, simply make do, settling for some resolution that, while almost certainly not the best that one could find by devoting limitless time and attention to the problem, is nonetheless good enough. Robert Goodin explores the dynamics of this process. These involve taking as fixed, for now, things that we reserve the right to reopen later (nothing is fixed for good, although events might always overtake us). We settle on some things in order to concentrate better on others. At the same time we realize we may need to come back later and reconsider those decisions. From settling on and settling for, to settling down and settling in, On Settling explains why settling is useful for planning, creating trust, and strengthening the social fabric–and why settling is different from compromise and resignation.

So, the next time you’re faced with a thorny problem, just settle. It’s no failure.

Google Books preview:

free kindle ebook on Amazon.com: ‘The Meaning of Madness’ by Neel Burton amazon.com/gp/product/B00… via @amazon

— Debbie A Foster (@mymindonbooks) September 23, 2012

(It is now $2.99, as of 10/1)

How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character by Paul Tough (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012)

(kindle ed.), (amazon.co.uk)

Book description from the publisher:

Why do some children succeed while others fail?

The story we usually tell about childhood and success is the one about intelligence: success comes to those who score highest on tests, from preschool admissions to SATs.

But in How Children Succeed, Paul Tough argues that the qualities that matter most have more to do with character: skills like perseverance, curiosity, conscientiousness, optimism, and self-control.

How Children Succeed introduces us to a new generation of researchers and educators who, for the first time, are using the tools of science to peel back the mysteries of character. Through their stories—and the stories of the children they are trying to help—Tough traces the links between childhood stress and life success. He uncovers the surprising ways in which parents do—and do not—prepare their children for adulthood. And he provides us with new insights into how to help children growing up in poverty.

Early adversity, scientists have come to understand, can not only affect the conditions of children’s lives, it can alter the physical development of their brains as well. But now educators and doctors around the country are using that knowledge to develop innovative interventions that allow children to overcome the constraints of poverty. And with the help of these new strategies, as Tough’s extraordinary reporting makes clear, children who grow up in the most painful circumstances can go on to achieve amazing things.

This provocative and profoundly hopeful book has the potential to change how we raise our children, how we run our schools, and how we construct our social safety net. It will not only inspire and engage readers, it will also change our understanding of childhood itself.

See also: Author’s website