Review of “A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: In Which Four Russians Give a Masterclass on Writing, Reading, & Life” by George Saunders Saunders’ book contains seven short stories in addition to his commentary on each. Out of the seven stories, three are by Anton Chekov, two by Leo Tolstoy, and the others are by Ivan Turgenev and Nikolai Gogol. The book is based on a university course on.. Read More
In the most recent post, which began this series, I said that I would discussion of Thomas Teo’s (2017) article, “From psychological science to the psychological humanities: Building a general theory of subjectivity“. If you have not yet read that article, I’d encourage you to do so, because what I’ve written here is a response to Teo’s article. While thinking about that article, let us also remember our general plan:.. Read More
Because I have already used the phrase, “psychological humanities”, and because I know I am going to use the phrase in the near future (both here and on my YouTube channel), I have decided to spend some time on introducing it. Trying to provide an introduction gives me a chance to reflect on psychological humanities. I also hope to improve my understanding with the help of your feedback. Let’s begin.. Read More
Despite my general resistance against popular books of psychology, especially those that fall in the self-help genre, I decided to read the two books by Kishimi and Koga, beginning with the first, The Courage to Be Disliked. I reviewed the two books separately, and in each case, I began with what I liked about the book before moving into criticism. To my surprise, I found The Courage to Be Dislike.. Read More
Rutger Bregman’s recent book, Humankind: A Hopeful History (translated by Elizabeth Manton & Erica Moore) is a book about human nature. It is also about our beliefs about human nature, what informs our beliefs and what those beliefs lead to. He makes a careful case that our beliefs about human nature have real consequences. Whereas negative views lead to caution, distance, distrust, thinking and acting based on stereotypes, positive views.. Read More