What are you reading?

Yes typo hehe....

Thanks! lol I found mind mapping really useful for revision over my years of studying.

*Willow*

Omg so many blogs on mental illness, flowers, photography etc.....I would have never found these through google. I recommend becoming a blogger just for the ability to find more people’s stories....😀

Yeah, i found a lot of philosophy and literature blogs, it's interesting to get an academics view on Homer. Footnotes to Plato is a pretty good one, i think Newt would like him. I believe he's a professor, reviews a lot of books and posts philosophy stuff.

I wish i could get somewhere with it though. Somehow get paid for all the hard work i put into mine. Like with a Patreon. :/

Yeah yours is so in depth....some people do add a patreon or a donation button....I’m not entirely sure which plans that works with for Wordpress though. If you ever publish your book though a blog following can help with that.

I got this book called "Rock Steady: Brilliant Advice From My Bipolar Life" by Ellen Forney at the library today. It was released this year. It's a graphic novel that gives tips for living with Bipolar or any mood disorder and maintaining stability. It's really cool!

I'm also on book 3 of The Iron Fey series.

The little book of hygge.....it’s a book on why danish people are so happy ....I’ve been into reading about happiness lately....like how do you get there, how do you maintain it etc.

This is such a cute book it’s like a culturally encoded version of happiness embedded in the language itself......

My last name is Danish from my father's side. My mother's side is Norwegian so I'm about 100% Scandinavian. Their history shows struggles with the rich and the common folks who eventually won and created socialism for their democracy. So they have universal healthcare, college education, huge paternity leave I think 6 months. They pay high taxes but their wages are higher too. They seem to really identify with each other's problems. Their classrooms are revolutionary. They actually let the kids play with their lessons, and get this--NO HOMEWORK. Why did my great grandmparents leave Scandinavia???

I remember after I broke up from my 9 year relationship I bought a book "How to be Happy." I remember looking at the cashiers face when i gave him the book to scan. He raised his eye brows and took a double look at me and frowned. That was 9 years ago that i bought that book. My depression was dark and the book didn't really help. I think what finally helped me was when I found a purpose in academia in philosophy. That's why I clung to it even during my psychosis. Even though there was no chance of getting letters of recommendation I couldn't let go for the longest time. It was really nice having a meaning to life to look towards where I could play in my field. It meant the world to me that I had hope of living such a dream "Living on the isle of the blest" as Aristotle calls it, where one can live the contemplative life that mostly only gods are capable of.

I'm reading Goethe's Faust again. I'm hoping for some much needed inspiration that it once gave. It've been 5 years since i've read it carefully. Every page has a good quote. ANd I love my notes I've collected over the years of reading it and annotating it myself. I wish I could annotate boks for a living like the Norton Critical Edition annotated books for scholars but with more philosophical and aesthetic back ground.

I'm glad that you are enjoying the book. Words are important. I know that I bang on about it, but how can you understand or share ideas if there are no words for them?? That's exactly why they removed words from the language in the book '1984' - you couldn't have 'bad' thoughts if the words and the concepts themselves didn't exist.

And culture is so important for happiness too. In Italian (I don't speak any Italian, so forgive me if I'm getting this slightly wrong), they have a word that basically translates as 'the art of doing nothing'. I find that interesting because 1) it seems to be an active process of doing nothing (rather than passive like we would see it in English), but also it doesn't have the negative connotations that we give 'doing nothing' in English.

At least in the UK and US, I know that doing nothing has bad connotations of laziness etc. Everybody likes to humble brag about how 'busy' they are all of the time, which, IMO, is why we're all so stressed as a society! For me, I have found great pleasure in practising 'the art of doing nothing' (as I understand it, not speaking Italian or knowing their full interpretation of the saying) of trying to live in the moment and enjoy the simple pleasures in life, such as a warm breeze, a nice cup of tea, spying a ladybird on a leaf in the garden etc etc. That's happiness to me, and I've found little elsewhere, especially not in the 'busy-ness' that is 'worshipped' by society these days.

*Willow*

Yeah its interesting but there seems to be a flow state for play as well as work and its in doing things like watching a fire where your mind is watching the gently shifting patterns or other simple activities that really engage us in a calm playful way.

The man who wasn’t there.....

Error coding manual. :P
I thought it would help me sleep - but actually i liked it!!!

So this is an interesting book.....they are talking about estatic seizures and where they act in the brain.....they make you super happy and feel connected to the universe.....has to do with the acc and anterior insula....apparently our emotions come from there good and bad.....make me think of DT. There apparently is a way to increase activity in this area but it has to do with psychedelics used in shamanism..

Called ayahuasca.....

"The Craving Mind: From Cigarettes to Smart Phones to Love- Why We Get Hooked & How We Can Break Bad Habits" by Judson Brewer.

Just checked it out, it was in the "new and popular" section in my college library. I have been seeing it for the past few weeks and finally decided to check it out. I have so many books I'm reading and on my to read list, this just seems like a good one to be reading now

I'm reading Goethe's Faust still. It's going to take me a very long time because im reading 2 interpretive notes (books) on it. It's so cryptic.

What's the most mysterious book you guys have ever read?

I just started reading Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

How children succeed....they are talking about how in areas of poverty it’s often a trauma history rather than poverty that is affecting kids ability to work in schools.

I'm reading Four Past Midnight, a series of 4 novellas by Stephen King. Well actually I'm not reading it, but listening to the audiobook. I love Stephen King.

And apparently in rats licking an grooming behavior towards pups changes anxiety.....I guess we now know why in my non hugging family why I have anxiety.....

Just turned the last page of Mary K Andrews' book "The High Tide Club".

Checked out two books today;

"Bulimia: A Guide to Recovery by Lindsey Hall and Leigh Cohn" (25th anniversary edition)

"Un-Agoraphobic: Overcome Anxiety, panic attacks, and agoraphobia for good" A Step by step plan by Hal Matthew

Radium girls......

Im at the end of Harry Potter: The Half blood Prince. I've already gone through all the harry potter books, but they are so good, I can't stop reading them. After I finish it then I'm going to go through The Name of the Wind again. This time I'm not going to read it but listen to the audio book version.

Anyone have any recommendations for a guy that likes sci fi and fantasy?

Patrick Rothfuss said The Last Unicorn is the best book he's ever read, so I'm going to give that a try.