Angury

What an incredibly insightful post. Your review makes me want to reread the novel and see the protagonist from an entirely different point of view.

I agree that USS Callister was fantastic but the rest didn't really live up to the previous seasons. The ideas behind the episodes were thought-provoking as always, but I felt like the topics weren't explored as cleverly.

I love a squeaky clean new thread. I can't believe it's 2018 already. Back in 2017 I created my first ever Reading Diary on this forum and I found it immensely useful. Not only was it fascinating to see what books I had read and what I had thought about them (boy did that bring some nostalgia) but it also gave me an overarching view of the direction of my reading interests. I've decided to continue my Reading Log into the next year, but this time with an added Writing Log. My aim is to write everyday, and I hope documenting the word count on this thread will give me some motivation. At present I am working on a fictional novel, which I have no aims to publish - it is purely an opportunity to flex my writing muscles. However, now and then I enjoy writing essays & articles which I will document in this log. Bring on 2018!

Writing Log Current Projects 1st Novel (Chapter 6) 2nd 'Draft' Novel (Chapter 2) Goals Aim to write for at least fifteen minutes each day. Progress November Chapter 5 completed; to re-review.

To-Read Fiction • Abe, Kobo - The Woman in the Dunes • Bukowski, Charles - Tales of Ordinary Madness • Bulgakov, Mikhail - The Master and Margarita • Byatt, A.S. - Possession • Calvino, Italo - If One Winter's Night a Traveller • Camus, Albert - The Plague • Catton, Eleanor - The Luminaries • Christensen, Kate - The Epicure's Lament • Eliot, George - Daniel Deronda • Dostoyevsky, Fyodor - Demons • Dostoyevsky, Fyodor - The Gambler and A Nasty Business • Dostoyevsky, Fyodor - The Idiot • Faulkner, William - As I Lay Dying • Gide, Andre - The Immoralist • Hall, Sarah - Daughters of the North • Hall, Sarah - Haweswater • Hardy, Thomas - The Return of the Native • Hesse, Herman - Journey to the East • Hesse, Herman - Narcissus and Goldmund • Hesse, Herman - The Glass Bead Game • Jelinek, Elfriede - Greed • Johnson, Denis - Train Dreams • Kavenna, Joanna - Come to the Edge • Lish, Atticus - Life is with People • Morrison, Toni - The Bluest Eye • Nabokov, Vladimir - Ada or Ardor: A Family Chronicle • Nabokov, Vladimir - Pale Fire • Nutting, Alissa - Tampa • Quincey, Thomas de - Confessions of an English Opium-Eater • Remarque, Erich Maria - All Quiet on the Western Front • Sartre, Jean-Paul - The Age of Reason • Singh, Khushwant - Train to Pakistan • Thackeray, William Makepeace - Vanity Fair • Thomas, Michael Ford - Suicide Notes • Zweig, Stefan - The Royal Game Medicine, Psychology & Anthropology • Bateson, Gregory - Steps to an Ecology of Mind: Collected Essays in Anthropology, Psychiatry, Evolution and Epistemology • Brewer, John D. - The Public Value of the Social Sciences: An Interpretive Essay • Cantacuzino, Marnia - The Forgiveness Project • Carel, Havi - Health, Illness and Disease: Philosophical Essays • Cooper, Rachel - Psychiatry and Philosophy of Science • Diamond, John - C: Because Cowards Get Cancer Too • Gifford, Fred - Philosophy of Medicine • Kahneman, Daniel - Thinking, Fast and Slow • Kleinman, Arthur - The Illness Narratives: suffering, healing and the human condition • Kleinman, Arthur - Rethinking Psychiatry: from cultural category to personal experience • Laing, Ronald D. - Wisdom, Madness and Folly: The Making of a Psychiatrist 1927-57 • Levi-Strauss, Claude - Myth and Meaning: Cracking the Code of Culture • Mishler, Elliot G. - The Discourse of Medicine: Dialectics of Medical Interviews • Ofri, Danielle - What Doctors Feel: How Emotions Affect the Practice of Medicine • Osler, William - A Way of Life: An Address to Yale Students, Sunday Evening, April 20, 1913 • Perry, Sarah - Every Cradle is a Grave: Rethinking the Ethics of Birth and Suicide • Phillips, Adam - On Kindness • Reynolds, Richard - On Doctoring: Stories, Poems, Essays • Selzer, Richard - Letters to a Young Doctor • Sigerist, Henry E. - Medicine and Human Welfare (Terry Lectures) • Skultans, Vieda and Cox, John - Anthropological Approaches to Psychological Medicine • Sontag, Susan - Illness as Metaphor • Storr, Anthony - The Integrity of the Personality • Svenaeus, Fredrik - The Hermeneutics of Medicine and the Phenomenology of Health: Steps Towards a Philosophy of Medical Practice • Tallis, Raymond - The Black Mirror: Looking at Life through Death • Woolf, Virginia - On Being Ill Philosophy • Alain de Botton - Status Anxiety • Aristotle - The Art of Rhetoric • Aurelius, Marcus - Meditations • Burton, Neel - Plato: Letters to my Son • Dewey, John - How We Think • Jaspers, Karl - Philosophy of Existence • Kierkegaard, Soren - The Concept of Anxiety • Merton, Thomas - Thoughts in Solitude • Radhakrishnan, Sarvepalli - Indian Philosophy Volume II • Russell, Bertrand - The Analysis of Mind • Tallis, Raymond - In Defence of Wonder and Other Philosophical Reflections • Wittgenstein, Ludwig - Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus Literature & Writing • Prose, Francine - Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Them • Eagleton, Terry - How to Read Literature • Eagleton, Terry - Literary Theory: An Introduction • Huxley, Aldous - Literature and Science • Midgley, Mary - Science and Poetry • Thomas, Francis-Noel - Clear and Simple as the Truth: Writing Classic Prose Other • Atkinson, Charles Francis - Art and Artist: Creative Urge and Personality Development • Bevan, Aneurin - In Place of Fear • Debord, Guy - The Society of the Spectacle • Orwell, George - Down and Out in Paris and London • Rosseau, Jean-Jacques - Confessions • Tolstoy, Leo - What is Art?

Angury's Reading & Writing Log 2018 Currently reading: Carpe Jugulum by Terry Pratchett Books Read in 2018January If on a Winter's Night a Traveller by Italo Calvino (3/5) The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov (2/5) May Doctor Faustus by Thomas Mann (4/5) June The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy (3/5) Ada, or Ardor by Vladimir Nabokov (4/5) July Buddenbrooks: The Decline of a Family by Thomas Mann (4/5) Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham (4/5) August For Two Thousand Years by Mihail Sebastian (2/5) The Fountain Head by Ayn Rand (2/5) September A Heart so White by Javier Marias (3/5) A History of Psychiatry: From the Era of the Asylum to the Age of Prozac by Edward Shorter (3/5) Indian Philosophy: Volume 2 by Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (4/5) October The Graduate by Charles Webb (2/5) The Edwardians by Vita Sackville-West (3/5) The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton (3/5) November The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison (4/5) Life after Life by Kate Atkinson (4/5) A Bridge of Clay by Markus Zusak (3/5) Moby Dick by Herman Melville (4/5) December Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes (3/5) White Noise by Don DeLillo (3/5) The Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz (4/5) Carpe Jugulum by Terry Pratchett (3/5) Man at Arms by Terry Pratchett (4/5)

Anyone watching the new season?

Incredible that it's almost the end of the year. I have read 25 books this year which I am pleased about, especially given the hectic job I started in August. I wanted to quickly post to check if anyone had read or heard of The Magus by John Fowles? I couldn't find any threads on this forum, but having just read the first ten pages, I know it is a book I am going to love.

I've just looked it up and it sounds like an interesting book, particularly with the emphasis on case studies. Perhaps what makes it even more interesting is the recent critical review of it in The International Journal of Psychoanalysis, which is essentially a moan about Neuroscience and Psychoanalysis being two completely different fields. I always find these types of debates stimulating to read. Would you recommend the book? I finished reading Stoner by John Williams last week. One of the best books I've read in a long time if I'm honest. On the face of it, it sounds rather dull; it is about the life of a English professor in an American University. He gets married, has an affair, has a kid and then dies. It is basically a story about his ordinary life. I've become more attracted to these types of books recently. I no longer find thrillers or books around quests etc as much fun to read. I really enjoy books that emphasise the ordinary life and the gems that can be found in our day to day workings. Stoner just illustrates how meaningful and intricate our lives can be, no matter how dull we may think they are on the surface. I'm now back to reading my tome, Indian Philosophy Volume 1. I suspect I'll have finished Volume One by next week. It's very well written and explains difficult concepts in a clear way. It's particularly interesting to read how what I had assumed to be Western concepts were actually written about and discussed in Eastern Philosophy a long time beforehand, including questions on immortality, the good life and 'true' reality. I always used to find the idea of asceticism rather odd, yet the way it is described in this volume sheds light into its history and reasoning behind it. It actually makes it sound more appealing than the current materialism and obsession with status that we have in modern society.

How's October been treating you? Hope it's been full of joyous reading!

Thanks vodkafan. How's your reading going? I have finally finished reading Middlemarch by George Eliot. I had to take multiple breaks while reading the novel which slowly grew longer and longer, until I became a bit fed up with the slow speed of my reading and decided to sit down and properly read the book in one sitting. I only came across Eliot recently after she was mentioned in an interview with the author Zadie Smith. I became interested in her background and the topic she wrote about, and decided to give Middlemarch a go. While the novel is in a lot of ways a product of its time, the insight of the human mind and the emotions we battle are resonant even today. The book follows several characters and their families in a small town in England, and goes through the ups and downs of life, from young love to marriage difficulties to financial woes and the question of identity and how one is seen within society. I wasn't actually expecting it to be such a profound book, and I think it is a book worth reading multiple times. It offers insights that go beyond the characters lives and really stay with you after you've finished the book - the definition of a good book imo. After being so impressed by Eliot, I have had a look at some of her other works and have now added Daniel Deronda to my reading list. I'd love to hear from anyone who has read this novel in comparison with Middlemarch (or indeed, people's favourite books by Eliot so I can have a dig around some bookstores).

Apologies for not updating the blog recently - I have just started my new job and it has been very busy. I've just been reading a chapter of Middlemarch every few days to keep up with my reading, which I am starting to enjoy now. I took a break yesterday to read Adam Kay's This is going to hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor which I was recommended by a few people. It has received great reviews, and I finished it in a day as it was so good. It's a collection of diary entries outlining Adam's job mainly in Obs and Gynae over a ten year period. He is a very funny person, and his anecdotes are hilarious to read through, as well as giving an insight to working in the NHS today. His last chapter in particular is a harrowing read, and it's a book I'd highly recommend to anyone interested in this type of area. Anyway, I am back to Middlemarch, although I doubt I'll finish it any time soon.

Ooh, would you recommend the Isle of Wight? It sounds like a nice place for a break. I love finding gems in second hand shops, but I never buy from them because I prefer my books to be new (selfish, I know). Some of those books sound very interesting though. Which one are you reading at the moment?

I haven't updated this blog in a month as I've been on holiday and have been reading a very long and difficult book called A Critique of Pure Reason by Immanuel Kant. I am by no means an expert in Philosophy, but I became interested in Metaphysics after completing an online philosophy course. I started reading introductory books on the topic and watching lectures on Youtube, yet the author that I repeatedly found myself becoming more and more interested in was Kant, and his theories of space and time. A Critique of Pure Reason is not really aimed at amateurs, and I did a lot of background reading beforehand. I read Hume's 'An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding', Kant's Prolegomena and three separate online lectures on Kant's work before starting the Critique. It took a very long time, mainly due to Kant's heavy writing style but also because of the different terminology he used which meant I had to almost learn a different language. But the more I read, the more fascinated I became by his perception of the world. After more than a year, I have finally finished and I can honestly say it was worth all the hard work. Reading the Critique has given me a new respect for philosophy and I have now added several more philosophers to my to-read list. It's amazing how much of an impact philosophy can have on your life - it's a pity that it has a reputation for being a subject that should only be studied in universities. While reading the Critique I had to make copious amounts of notes and highlight various pages to make sure I could look back and clarify my understanding. Here is the end product (the green bits are all stickies I have added to pages which are filled with my notes): With my mind fully set on philosophy, my next book is going to be Volume One of Two of Indian Philosophy by Radhakrishnan, one of India's most well-known philosophers and intellectual.

I have been on and off reading Middlemarch by George Eliot. I am one of those people who leaves a book half way then comes back to it months later - frustrating, I know. This is mainly because I like reading a mixture of fiction and non-fiction at the same time, and depending on my mood I change books half way. Anyway, I decided to take a break from fiction and read The Denial of Death by Ernest Becker. It caught my attention after I noticed it had won The Pulitzer Prize in 1974. It covers our fear of death from a psychological perspective, using theories from Sigmund Freud, Otto Rank and Kierkegaard to explain our day-to-day neuroticism, particularly in the modern world, and how we can escape it. It sounds like a heavy topic but Becker explains these psychological theories in a very clear manner, linking them to our day to day lives from childhood onwards. He also offers a dissection into modern life (well, life in 1974) and tries to explain the rise in neuroticism in todays world - something that I find very thought-provoking. It is by no means a challenging read and it will teach you things about yourself that will make you look at your thoughts and behaviours in a different way, but it is not a book you can finish in a day. It takes a while to appreciate these numerous theories over the centuries and how they link in with the evidence we have today. However, if you have an interest in this subject then I would certainly recommend this book whether you are a beginner or Professor of Psychology.

I would highly recommend using this guide when choosing what to read from the Discworld series: There are several different story arcs based around certain characters. Pick a character you want to follow, and start at the beginning of their arc. I would recommend starting with Death - they are some of my favourite books by Pratchett. Once you start reading the Discworld series you'll never look back.

I think where you're based does have a large impact. I am currently in a capital city surrounded by mainly university students. I very rarely come across someone reading when I walk around the city centre or take public transport. However, I am currently in the process of moving to a small little town, with the closest university roughly an hour away. I've only visited it twice so far, but each time I have been surrounded by people reading: in coffee shops, on the train, in the park etc. I do wonder if a large part of this has to do with how young (or old) you are. Most of my friends who are at university just don't read books that much anymore. And the ones who do read just wouldn't be seen doing it in public because y'know.. it's 'weird.' Maybe I have the wrong type of friends..

Oh god, that sounds awful. I can't imagine getting the tube in this sort of weather with all those countless people. A few of my friends went to visit Buckingham Palace yesterday and I was just thinking of awful it must be for the Queens Guards in those massive bearskins. I guess with hot countries, they are used to hot weather and plan for it accordingly (such as aircon). Here in Britain it's just not for us. I have to walk forty minutes to get to an appointment later this afternoon and am tempted just to get a taxi. If I walk I'll probably arrive there as a piece of gloop.

I've had trouble sleeping at night as well. I live on the top floor of a building with no air con and windows that don't fully open. It's actually cooler for me to go outside and sit in the shade than swelter up in my room. I like hot weather when it's the holidays, I'm lying around drinking a pint and enjoying myself. Not when there's no a/c.

Also wanted to add, I just google'd this guy - thanks for the recommendation. I am always inspired by medics who have gone beyond their sphere into things like art, literature and language. According to wiki he also taught himself English and German - definitely someone I will look into.

The weather in the UK is horrible at the moment. Too hot. I'm melting.

I passed, but the real test will be when I start working in August with real patients. I agree. I reread my post and I think it came across as more judgemental than I meant it to be - apologies. I think this matters a lot. The way we subsconciously react to someone reading or the novel they hold in their hand tells us a lot about ourselves, our society and the culture we reside in. I don't think anyone is arguing that people openly react to someone reading a book. Certainly in Western culture where we hold personal autonomy in such high stead, a vocal reaction is frowned upon (contrast this to somewhere like India where I have had personal experience of people commenting on what I am reading right next to me!). I think the discussion to be had is how we subconsciously react to others reading in public - and I believe we all react in some way, based on our own opinions of the novel, or of reading, or of someone reading in public. It is these internal reactions that make humanity so interesting - if this were a discussion about only our external reactions, I think this discussion would dry up pretty quickly. I concur.

From what I have read in David James post, he didn't say anything about people making the 'same assumption' about people, simply that everyone makes a judgement. Perhaps we interpreted it differently, but using an example of serial killers is similar to mine of Paedophilias - i.e. that they tend to illicit strong emotions in people: To use another example, I was travelling to an exam in London a few weeks ago and was reading a heavy tome about medicine. I am sure many people who saw me reading it who had no experience of healthcare would just make an assumption that I worked in that area, while someone who was perhaps familiar with that text (say, another healthcare professional) may have made a different judgement about me. The point is, a judgement is still being made. Again, in David James's post he specifically says: Hence, surely Brady is specifically a good example in this context as it is recent and therefore in the public's mind compared to say The Yorkshire Killer. I think it's important to appreciate that this type of thought process goes beyond literature - it wasn't a comment specifically at you, apologies if it came across that way!