AMY E MARTIN // Thesis

The further I get into this book, the more it feels like I'm reading self-help. While it seems to be a very well-researched book–every other paragraph mentions research by person X at institution Y doing Z things–there isn't much discussion of the experiments beyond a sentence or two, there are no references or footnotes–which I often enjoy reading more than the textthemselves–and there's no discussion of how the experiments were performed. Basically the book so far has told me "hey, scientists say if you spend your time focusing on being happy, you'll be happier." It's a great sentiment but at this point only my stubborn distaste for quitting is preventing me from dropping the book entirely.

I am, however, really looking forward to random books I've picked up like Suspensions of Perception by Jonathan Crary and of course I really should've started my research with The Principles of Psychology by William James.

Labels: book reviews, reading list, related links

7.14.2009 // 0 Comments // READ FULL POST...

And yet there's no reason to let it waste. I am currently reading Rapt by Winifred Gallagher. It is not as research and science heavy as I would like it to be but it's... fun, so far. It remains to be seen if there will be anything in here that is of much use to my thesis. Still, it's fun to know that LSD helps remove a person's ability to sort and prioritize their attention so all the information about their environment is slamming them in the face at once. Heh.

Labels: book reviews, reading list