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What I Just Finished Reading
Transcend – Scott Barry Kaufman
This is one of the best written volumes of popular science I’ve read in recent memory. In it, Kaufman revisits and reconsiders Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs alongside advances in psychology, neurobiology, and the social sciences since Maslow published the theory in 1943. It’s a fascinating look at all the factors that come into play to make an individual feel safe, content, valued, and an active agent in a life with purpose, as well as the various maladaptive strategies to which humans resort to achieve these ends (e.g., narcissism).
Kaufman’s tone is casual without being patronizingly simple, and his enthusiasm for his subject is infectious. He wisely saves the self-exploration exercises for an appendix, focusing on presenting and explaining the scientific information in the body of the book. As someone who often finds such things more cringeworthy than useful (“Draw a visual representation of how I feel when I’m praised and then carry it in my pocket for a day”? Haha, nope!), I appreciated not having such content interwoven throughout the main text, which let me focus fully on the information Kaufman presents. In all, Transcend is a very enlightening and thought-provoking book.
What I Am Currently Reading
The Wicked and the Just – J. Andersen Coats
I’m about a third of the way through. Things are not going well for the Welsh.
The Ultimate Guide to the Tarot – Liz Dean
Dean counsels readers to “work with the images first,” which is ironic given that she doesn’t seem to have looked at the cards herself before attempting to interpret them based on the erroneous descriptions she's invented. ( She even publishes pictures of each card next to her inaccurate descriptions of it. )
And on and on, throughout all four suits and the major arcana. Indeed, judging from her descriptions throughout the book, Dean appears to have never learned to count or correctly identify her colors; a major failing in a text whose stated purpose is to teach readers to interpret the cards by the symbolism of the colors, numbers, and objects they contain.
Night Cry – Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
One of my all-time favorite books. I never get tired of revisiting this one.
願かけ – 佐伯 泰英 (Negaikake – Saeki Yasuhide)
The second volume in the Yoidore Samurai series starring Akame Kotoji, former expert swordsman and Choshu retainer who now makes his living as a knife sharpener in Edo. Unattractive, taciturn, stoic, and a reluctant but highly capable community leader, Akame is designed to appeal to the modern day salaryman, factors that made the first book in the series a bit of a slog.
The second book, I’m happy to say, is a great improvement over the first, largely due to its sly humor. The novel opens with Akame setting up shop outside a neighborhood wholesaler as usual. When a stranger appears in front of him, mumbles a prayer, and disappears into the crowd, he doesn’t give it much thought. But then over the next two days he’s mobbed by men and women, bowing, chanting, and offering astronomical sums of money as though he were a Buddhist saint or Shinto deity…and he has no idea why. He’s sure he’s being set up by someone for something, but he can’t get his friends—or the police—to take the situation seriously. Saeki subtly wields the humor of the situation to great effect, and I’m intrigued to find out what is really afoot.
What I'm Reading Next
I picked up Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai's The Mountains Sing, Y.S. Lee’s The Agency, Lydia Kang's Opium and Absinthe, and Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility.
これで以上です。
Transcend – Scott Barry Kaufman
This is one of the best written volumes of popular science I’ve read in recent memory. In it, Kaufman revisits and reconsiders Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs alongside advances in psychology, neurobiology, and the social sciences since Maslow published the theory in 1943. It’s a fascinating look at all the factors that come into play to make an individual feel safe, content, valued, and an active agent in a life with purpose, as well as the various maladaptive strategies to which humans resort to achieve these ends (e.g., narcissism).
Kaufman’s tone is casual without being patronizingly simple, and his enthusiasm for his subject is infectious. He wisely saves the self-exploration exercises for an appendix, focusing on presenting and explaining the scientific information in the body of the book. As someone who often finds such things more cringeworthy than useful (“Draw a visual representation of how I feel when I’m praised and then carry it in my pocket for a day”? Haha, nope!), I appreciated not having such content interwoven throughout the main text, which let me focus fully on the information Kaufman presents. In all, Transcend is a very enlightening and thought-provoking book.
What I Am Currently Reading
The Wicked and the Just – J. Andersen Coats
I’m about a third of the way through. Things are not going well for the Welsh.
The Ultimate Guide to the Tarot – Liz Dean
Dean counsels readers to “work with the images first,” which is ironic given that she doesn’t seem to have looked at the cards herself before attempting to interpret them based on the erroneous descriptions she's invented. ( She even publishes pictures of each card next to her inaccurate descriptions of it. )
And on and on, throughout all four suits and the major arcana. Indeed, judging from her descriptions throughout the book, Dean appears to have never learned to count or correctly identify her colors; a major failing in a text whose stated purpose is to teach readers to interpret the cards by the symbolism of the colors, numbers, and objects they contain.
Night Cry – Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
One of my all-time favorite books. I never get tired of revisiting this one.
願かけ – 佐伯 泰英 (Negaikake – Saeki Yasuhide)
The second volume in the Yoidore Samurai series starring Akame Kotoji, former expert swordsman and Choshu retainer who now makes his living as a knife sharpener in Edo. Unattractive, taciturn, stoic, and a reluctant but highly capable community leader, Akame is designed to appeal to the modern day salaryman, factors that made the first book in the series a bit of a slog.
The second book, I’m happy to say, is a great improvement over the first, largely due to its sly humor. The novel opens with Akame setting up shop outside a neighborhood wholesaler as usual. When a stranger appears in front of him, mumbles a prayer, and disappears into the crowd, he doesn’t give it much thought. But then over the next two days he’s mobbed by men and women, bowing, chanting, and offering astronomical sums of money as though he were a Buddhist saint or Shinto deity…and he has no idea why. He’s sure he’s being set up by someone for something, but he can’t get his friends—or the police—to take the situation seriously. Saeki subtly wields the humor of the situation to great effect, and I’m intrigued to find out what is really afoot.
What I'm Reading Next
I picked up Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai's The Mountains Sing, Y.S. Lee’s The Agency, Lydia Kang's Opium and Absinthe, and Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility.
これで以上です。