Watch This Space

I'm putting this here to remind myself that I want to put up an essay on three books I've just read, that are influencing me very greatly.  These are The Body Keeps the Score, a book on memory, trauma and the body;  Stumbling on Happiness a surprisingly interesting book on what we know about how we feel, and to a much lesser extent The Sociopath Next Door, a very quick book about people without a conscience and the traumatic effect that has on the people around them.  I tend to read things in threes so The Sociopath Next Door just happened to be up next after I read the first two, although there are ways in which the three books dovetail.  For example if you follow the implications of all three books you end up thinking about the ways in which traumatic memory of for abuse victims can be the product of a kind of social trauma brought on by dealing with a person (a sociopath) whose mind/motives/goals and forms of happiness are utterly foreign to a normal person, being based on a lack of conscience and a lack of regard for the humanity of others.   On second thought--or maybe I mean Terry Pratchett's Third Thought* the third book ought to be Fluent Forever a book about memory and language from an aquisitioner's perspective.  This will push the essay in the direction of memory and desire.


*"As a witch, Tiffany possesses First Sight, the ability to see 'what is really there' (as opposed to Second sight, which shows people what they think ought to be there). She also possesses Second Thoughts, which are defined as 'the thoughts you think about the way you think'. Whilst other witches are said to have this trait as well, Tiffany also recognizes some of her thoughts as Third Thoughts, (the thoughts you think about the way you think about the way you think,) and Fourth Thoughts, (the thoughts you think about the way you think about the way you think about the way you think.) All these thoughts sometimes cause Tiffany to walk into door frames." From the Wiki on Tiffany Aching.