5 comments about William James: In the Maelstrom of American Modernism.

1. Richardson's biographies of Thoreau and Emerson are two of the best books I've encountered in my life of voracious reading and this is one is just as wondrous. I cannot read any of these books in public, because they all make me want to weep and clutch my chest and shout, "At last! Everything has been revealed!"
   
   I wish I could explain why Richardson's biographies are different from anyone else's. It's not just an artful piling up of delightful and distressing facts. Instead it's like the doorbell rings and you have a new best friend: William James. There's something magical and occult about this. It's not like he went to the research library, it's like he drew mystic diagrams on the floor.
   
   Richardson writes that one of James' gifts was "his uncanny ability to pick up redemptive ideas from his reading." And it is Richardson's gift too, to fill each page with life-giving ideas. These biographies are as purely inspirational as a strong Lao coffee with sweetened condensed milk. Reading them makes me prone to fits of euphoria.
   
   Richardson points toward the sources of James' genius-- one of the most important of which was James' own depression and heartbreak. He writes, "James had a remarkable capacity to convert misery and unhappiness into intellectual and emotional openness and growth. It is almost as though trouble was for him a precondition for insight." How hopeful that is!
   
   Richardson's compassion for his subject spills out, somehow, to the reader, and makes one feel that one's own nonsense and bleakness do not render one disqualified for a whole human life. What more can I ask for?



2. More than an interesting read, not only into the life of one of the gotfathers of psychology and pragmatism, but of the period. Well written.



3. I would suggest reading this book first before reading some of William James other books. This book gives you an overview and thought process to give the reader a context for understanding all of his work. I am 35 years old and know of no one in my age that reads William James but I just wish this book came out years ago before I read all of his work.



4. I need not repeat the summaries set forth below by other reviewers, since these explain both Richardson's method -- to tell the life story through the work -- and the essentials of James' theories. What I will say is that, even if you have no background in philosophy or psychology, you should read this brilliant, passionate biography. James wrote for a popular as well as a professional audience; he was open and curious to all experience, and wished to be inclusive rather than exclusive in disseminating his ideas. Richardson is clear and succinct in explaining James theories -- often in the man's own, crisp, evocative language and clarifying analogies. Moreover, the concepts that James developed have in many cases become part of our popular vocabulary, including through organizations such as Alcoholics Anonymous, which Richardson reports took inspiration from James' Gifford lectures, published in the U.S. as "The Varieties of Religious Experience."
   
   I had not read James for many years but, since reading this biography, have purchased a collection of his writings and am re-reading many of his works. You will come away from "In the Maelstrom of American Modernism" with a better understanding of both American values and ideals, and the history of U.S. higher education. Most importantly, however, you will come away with enormous admiration for the radiant personality that was William James, or as Richardson exclaims (using italics, not caps) at the end of this great work, for "the SPIRIT the man." When I finished reading, I not only wanted to read William James; I was sorry that I had not known him or had him as a teacher. That's how good this book is -- for every reader.



5. This book will resonate perfectly with scholars trained in philosophy and psychology. Biographer Richardson traces William James' evolving thought patterns with a thoroughness no writer could exceed. For the average reader, though, I suggest the book will have value mostly because of the interesting lives of William James and his novelist brother Henry.
   
   Certainly I had been unaware of William's lifelong health problems. Too, the book provides fascinating tidbits about his courtship with his eventual wife Alice. Note his highly formal writing style in a love letter to her: "My duty is to win your hand if I can. . .What I beg of you now is that you should let me know categorically whether any absolute irrevocable obstacle already exist to that consummation."
   
   Another highlight for me--William James' rejection of "copied religion." He has no use for the person whose "religion has been made for him by others, communicated to him by tradition, determined to fixed forms by imitation and retained by habit." James noted that "the founders of every church owed their power originally to the fact of their direct personal communion with the divine."
   
   I enjoyed the book as a life story well told.
   
   The Complete Communicator: Change Your Communication-change Your Life!

3 comments about The Theory of the Growth of the Firm.

1. The Theory of the Growth of the Firm is a classic book in management literature, and one that is explored by academics as well as business enthusiasts. With this book, Penrose founded what's known as the resource-based view. Essentially, she determined that there must be something inside the firm that drives its growth (i.e. success).
   
   The author explores the reasons for such growth. Penrose moves away from the neoclassical economics model of the firm towards a definition of the firm as one that has administrative responsibilities (strategic planning or management) and a view of the firm as a collection of resources (human resources, technologies and other capabilities a firm has). She argues that choice of how those resources are put to use is central to a firms "entrepreneurial" activity.
   
   Penrose goes on to say that change and growth of firms must be driven from inside the firm because the economy as a whole does not constrain firms. Managers, she says, know that they can alter their environment, and that the environment is not independent of their activities.
   
   The resources that are available within firms are ever changing, of course, and often come together in bundles. This means that there are always some resources that are not being used, or being used inefficiently. Managers who realise this can develop those resources and grow their companies as a result. Thus, it is knowledge in combination with resources that drives growth. This is also what makes each firm unique: there are hundreds of ways to combine those resources, and each firm does it differently.
   
   The book then talks about how growth takes place - sometimes as part of a diversification process or through an acquisition or merger. Penrose also discusses the role of time, and the difference between a small or a larger company growing. Growth, she concludes is possible for all firms - size does not necessarily mean that a firm is more efficient (which is the typical economic argument). The only thing that constrains growth, really, is the limited capacity we humans have for managing a lot of change at once.
   
   The style of writing is conversational, if somewhat dated. The only slight drawback is that Penrose often returns to hammer on the same point. But that's not unusual for this type of book. The most astonishing aspect by far is that Edith Penrose was a woman, in a world of business and academia that then, and still now, consists largely of men.



2. I find myself springing to the defense of this book, because when I read it - right through - it was with a sense of appreciation for its acumen. Penrose's terminology is a little idiosyncratic but it does not take long for the reader to adjust. Moreover, when reading it with the circumstances of actual companies in mind, it presents a way to gain insight into their histories. One other way to express this is that my notes on this book are very detailed and lengthy. I didn't make these notes simply because the book is a "classic".



3. This book helped provide the foundation for what has become known as the resource-based view of the firm (RBV). Back in 1959, when the male gender dominated the economics discipline, Ms. Penrose set out to answer this question: Was there "something inherent in the very nature of any firm that both promoted its growth and necessarily limited its RATE of growth."

   I found this book so interesting and helpful (I am a business appraiser) that I read it twice. This led me into studying the resource-based view of the firm.

   I recommend this book for anyone interested in the broad topics of business strategy and management. Related books that I recommend include "Contemporary Strategy Analysis," by Robert Grant; "Modern Competitive Analysis, by Sharon Oster; and "Why Firms Succeed," by John Kay.

3 comments about John Maynard Keynes: 1883-1946: Economist, Philosopher, Statesman.

1. This tome (including more than 100 pages of notes and indices) is an abridgment of author Robert Skidelsky's original three-volume biography of John Maynard Keynes. It is in all respects an extraordinary work. The author offers a portrait of Keynes not only as an economist but also as a philosopher and a statesman. He does not segregate these three dimensions, but rather shows how they interpenetrate and inform each other. He sets Keynes in the context of his time and circumstances. Skidelsky is unsparing in his treatment of the inconsistencies and contradictions in Keynes' life and character, but he is fair and balanced; he avoids sensationalism even in the treatment of the sensational. getAbstract finds that this book merits multiple readings and should intrigue not only economists but also anyone interested in the ideas and events of the 20th century.



2. Anyone who has taken a course in macroeconomics knows who Keynes is. Economics is full of camps, conflicting doctrines, feuds, rivalries, etc. Keynes was unique in that, unlike other economists who are indoctrinated or are in love with a theory, he was never scared of giving up an idea that did not work. If one was to read his "Tract on Monetary Reform" one might be fooled into thinking that it was Milton Friedman that was writing and not the J.M Keynes who revolutionized economic thought with his General Theory. This pragmatism is what sets Keynes apart from every other economist. But why Keynes was so different from others is something students never learn. This biography does an admirable job of tracing Keynes' upbringing, his education, career, and contributions in the light of circumstances that Keynes lived through and shaped his ideas. It is also full of nuggets about Keynes' idiosyncracies which humanizes the biography and shows the real person behind the aura. The book is long, but 63 years of action-packed life requires such detail. The Chinese say, May we live in interesting times. Keynes certainly lived in interesting times with the result that this book is just as interesting.



3. This book is Skidelsky's one volume abridged version of his previous three volume biography(1983,1992,2000)on J M Keynes.Skidelsky successfully weaves all of the different aspects and strands(personal,familial,historical,social,political,economic) of Keynes's life into a beautifully constructed historical tapestry that will keep the reader's attention from the first page to the last.All of the different talents Keynes possessed and displayed during his lifetime come alive on the pages of this book.Skidelsky is the master of his material as long as he concentrates on the vast nontechnical aspects of the life of his subject.Skidelsky has clearly mastered the historical and chronological events and interrelationships that occurred during Keynes's life. Unfortunately,Skidelsky does not have the necessary formal training in mathematics,logic,statistics or probability in order to properly understand or assess any of those parts of Keynes's scholarship that involves the use of formal logical and mathematicalmethods or analysis.These technical deficiencies in Skidelsky's academic training are the main defect,not only in this book but in the entire corpus of Skidelsky's writings on Keynes going back over 30 years.I will concentrate on Skidelsky's error filled statements concerning Keynes's A Treatise on Probability(1921;TP) and the logical theory of probability.On p.95,Skidelsky conflates the principle of indifference(poi) with the principle of insufficient reason.They are not the same.Keynes's poi requires a balance or symmetry of the relevant,available evidence or factors involved before equiprobabilities are assigned.The poi can't be applied if there is no relevant evidence.Advocates of the principle of insufficient reason,on the other hand, argue that equiprobabilities can be applied in states where no relevant evidence exists.Keynes always rejected this kind of reasoning.Skidelsky bases his assessment of Keynes's logical theory of probability on the error filled work of A. Carabelli and R.O'Donnell.Carabelli and O'Donnell base their assessments of the TP on four sources:1)Keynes's introductory guide to the measurement of probability in chapter III of the TP;2)F. Ramsey's 1922 book review of the TP in The Cambridge Magazine;3)F.Ramsey's 1926 book review of the TP in his article,"Truth and Probability",published in 1931 in a book of articles;and 4)Keynes's 4 page eulogy and very brief review of the book in 1931.In chapter III,Keynes had already made it clear to the alert reader,who had a mind of his/her own (and would not ape the preposterous ,nonsensical claims made by F. Ramsey that by nonnumerical and nonmeasurable Keynes meant that numbers could not be used in general to estimate probabilities,i.e.,that Keynesian probabilities were like a surveyor assigning nonnumerical heights to a mountain hidden in the mist)that the vast majority of Keynesian probabilities used in common discourse were/are interval estimates.John Maynard Keynes is the originator and founder of the interval estimate approach to probability.Keynes spells it out in a number of places in the TP:"...we judge that the probability of the actual argument lies between these two(numbers;reviewers note).Since our standards,therefore,are referred to numerical measures in many cases where actual measurement is impossible,and since the probability lies BETWEEN(Keynes's emphasis)two numerical measures..."(1921,p.32).After warning the reader not to reach any conclusions based on chapter III alone until after Part II of the TP was reached(p.37),Keynes gives his definition of nonnumerical in chapter 15 of Part II on p.160 of the TP.On pp.161-163 and pp.186-194(ch.17),Keynes presents his approximation approach .It has nothing to do with ordinal rankings(see Skidelsky's queer claims on pp.284-285,for instance).An upper bound and a lower bound are specified for some 13 worked out probability problems.One of these problems(a revision of Boole's problem 10)is then made the foundation for Part III of the TP.Part III is then made the logical foundation for Part V. Carabelli's and O'Donnell's "reading" of Keynes's TP is very poor,at best.Skidelsky's conclusions,based on their very poor reading,are very poor.Skidelsky also appears to have been misled by Richard Kahn and Joan Robinson into believing that Keynes was a strictly literary economist, who was a poor mathematician by 1927. Supposedly,Keynes had never taken the twenty minutes that was necessary to understand the theory of value(microeconomics).Based on these bizarre beliefs,Skidelsky comes to the queer conclusion that Keynes deliberately refused to present any formal mathematical model of his general theory in the General Theory(1936;GT).Any mathematically trained reader can find Keynes's completely worked out model,with the results presented in the form of elasticities so that a reader of the GT can compare Keynes's results with those of A C Pigou,in chapters 19,20,and 21 of the GT.Keynes then compares and contrasts his model with Pigou's model,who had also presented his results in the form of elasticities, in the appendix to chapter 19 of the GT.A technically trained economist should purchase a copy of the GT instead of this book.

5 comments about Mother Jones: The Most Dangerous Woman in America.

1. A lot of good detail is presented in this biography, a lot of moral force worth bringing to our attention.
   
   Many of us are curently such spoiled and cowardly workers that we need historians like Ellliott J. Gorn to give us a dose of a truth that most of our employers, politicians and media don't want us to be exposed to. Is "American Idol" on? I suppose we do need someone else to shake up.
   
   From the historical record, it may not have been possible to uncover more of what made Mary Jones into Mother Jones: what it seems, as a historian and not a psychologist, Gorn has wisely done is to show how the conditions of Mary Jone's times presented her with challenges which she responded to bravely. You or I may have dodged the same challenges but not Mother Jones. It is well worth Mary Jones and Gorn showing us what is possible.
   
   Mother Jones eschewed religion, socialist parties, and the IWW. If without an answer, she demanded answers of those who we might have thought could help us. She knew what common folk were capable of but she also insisted on leaders being leaders and not servants of the rich.
   
   Hard times are upon us. Globalization and war machinery of unprecended strength and concentrations of wealth threaten all working people, whether in the United States, Mexico, India, China, Uganda, Peru, or Antarctica. Mother Jones did not cater to national or religious boundaries. I hope I can rouse myself from my reading of this book as I suggest you do. We have hope if we don't delay.



2. Elliott J. Gorn has written a well-researched biography of one of Labor's greatest spokesperson. Gorn writes a complete book on Mother Jones, Mary Jones, and even Mary Harris -- the person AND the persona. His objectivity allows him to correct Mother Jones' revisionist history of her own life and her achievements, even as he praises her deep committment and her probable rationale for exaggerating her achievements. One slight criticism is that Gorn on occasion follows one aspect of the Labor movement (or Mother's) struggle, then goes back in time to pick up another thread. In his great favor, though, Gorn details the incorrect details and unfair attacks of other authors, both of her day and later. If you read only one book on Mother Jones, this should be it.



3. This biography recalls early American radicalism and the efforts of one Mary Jones, a force in the early labor movement. She traveled throughout the country lobbying for civil rights, labor laws and basic worker's rights: her career, life, and long-ranging effects on American labor are recounted in a lively coverage.



4. Elliott Gorn has written an excellent biography of Mary Harris Jones, better known as Mother Jones. Gorn has applied critical analysis to his meticulous and quite impressive research--this was not an easy woman to pin down, and Gorn has managed with limited materials to convey the essence of her life. In doing so, he tells three simultaneous stories, all significant for a broad view of American history. First is the story of Mary Jones herself. Her life was both tragic and triumphant, and Gorn treats it with sensitivity and a light touch, conjecturing at times to what she must have felt, but never presuming to be inside her head or heart. The second story is the story of the American labor movement, particularly that of the United Mine Workers, and their struggle against BIG CAPITAL. Gorn does not overemphasize the uneven nature of this struggle, nor does he dwell on the massive injustices against the mine workers by mine owners, coal interests, and even the Federal Government. He gives it to us straight. The facts speak for themselves. But Gorn presents the facts in the context of Jones's life and her struggle, and never preaches. He lets the history--a history too seldom told--be revealed through the contours of Jones's life. Which leads to the third story: the story of American self-invention. Mary Jones invented herself, and went to great lengths to sustain an identity that would allow her, as a woman and a mother, to become one of the toughest and most feared labor organizers in American history--not a normal or accepted role for women, generally during her lifetime. Throughout these three stories, Gorn engages the notion of gender in late Victorian and early twentieth century US history. This, too, he does with a subtle hand and a light touch, totally without jargon. The book is thoroughly enjoyable, accessible to all readers, and interesting in its own right. Plus it sheds light on important processes in American history. I highly recommend it.



5. Mother Jones was a character of mythic proportions, created by the all-too-human Mary Harris Jones. The author takes the position that while many of the details of her life - as portrayed in Mother's speeches, writings and autobiography - are impossible to verify or demonstrably false, they stood for a larger truth.

   Gorn obviously has sympathy for Jones and does a good job of putting her life in its context, but this book is no easy read. It is written in the dry verbiage and cadences of academia.

   An unequivocally positive addition to the library of labor history, but don't try to read it at night before bed unless your aim is to hasten sleep.

1 comments about Winnicott.

1. Renowned, revered, kind-hearted D.W. Winnicott (1896-1971) was a pediatrician and then a child analyst whose contributions to theories of child development and psychology (mothering, love, language, attachment, dependency, anxiety and many other topics) were enormous. Phillips' book illuminates Winnicott's body of work and includes a chronology. The tone is respectful and insightful and Phillips' knack for skillful explanation and analysis is here. But he knows Winnicott's work -- and life -- by heart, and has written extensively on him elsewhere, and occasionally in this work he meshes the two -- biography and work -- so seamlessly that I wished for more. As an intro to Winnicott's ideas, this is first-rate.

5 comments about Twenty Years at Hull-House: With Autobiographical Notes.

1. A well written book but a littany of "look at what I did for the less fortunate" Jane Adams clearly brings out the fact that she was of the upper class and so much better than those she sought to help. Her goal it seems was to bring high society upper middle class values to the poor. She rarely talks about others who had to be involved. If it did not include her she was not interested in reporting. She also failed to show that she actually helped anyone better thier lives. She just crows about how she brought literature and art to the poor masses.



2. Along with Addams herself, "Twenty Years At Hull-House" inspired generations of US social and political activists. For decades a Hull House sojourn, or at least a visit, was virtually a pilgrimage for all kinds of progressive reformers. Jane Addams came from a conventional Middle American milieu, but was radicalized by seeing the ravages of the Industrial Revolution both in Britain and Chicago. This timeless memoir of the years 1889-1909 documents her wide-ranging concerns, embracing public health, pacifism and feminism as well as philanthropy, working-class education and poverty alleviation. Nationalist hysteria damaged Addams's reputation as a result of her antiwar stance during World War I, but it recovered enough for her to win the 1931 Nobel Peace Prize. Students had mixed views of book and author. To some she is a revelation, but others see her as rather sanctimonious (a fair criticism to some extent). Her prose is accessible but a little archaic now, sometimes appearing flowery or pompous, which deters some readers. While I respect and admire Addams, I waited in vain for the epiphany felt by thousands inspired by her life's work. People who find their own way to "Hull-House" will probably appreciate her more than those required to read her book---but such unsought exposure lies at the heart of liberal education, and brings many rewards.



3. In 1911 Addams helped found the National Foundation of Settlements and Neighborhood Centers, and she was its first president. She was also a leader in women's suffrage and pacifist movements. In 1915 she helped found the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom. She received the 1931 Nobel Peace Prize (shared with American educator Nicholas Murray Butler).
   
   The Hull House could boast a group of about 2,000 people a week. It had facilities including: a night school for adults, kindergarten classes, clubs for older children, a public kitchen, an art gallery, a coffeehouse, a gymnasium, a girls club, a swimming pool, a book bindery, a music school, a drama group, a library, and labor related divisions.
   
   The Hull House also served as a women's institution of sociology and Addams was a friend and colleague to the early men of the Chicago School of Sociology influencing their social thought of the time through her work in applied sociology, which became defined as social work by academic sociologists of the time. Addams did not, however, consider herself a social worker. She co-authored the Hull-House Maps and Papers in 1893 that came to define the interests and methodologies of Chicago Sociology. She worked with George H. Mead on social reform issues including women's rights and the 1910 Garment Workers' Strike. Addams combined the central concepts of symbolic interactionism with the theories of cultural feminism and pragmatism to form her sociological ideas.



4. I am doing a History Fair project on the Hull House. I thought that I would just be quickly skimming over the book, but in fact i really enjoyed it and I ended up reading with a lot of intrest.



5. I enjoy reading about strong women with great vision. I also enjoy this particular period in history, so this was a perfect match for me. I would love to have been part of the Plato club, or study cooking, or sewing, or heard concerts throughout the week. I sometimes think we have so much going on in our lives right now that we don't take the time to slow down and cherish the simple things. This book did that for me. It made me want to study and focus on things. I know we have tons of technology available to us, but I wish we would still discuss philosophy, and I wish more people would read - I mean, really read. Not just the top twenty things out there. But times are different...

5 comments about Somebody Somewhere: Breaking Free from the World of Autism.

1. This book covers a period just prior to internet prevalence and the digitally connected world. This book is one that any adult on the autism/Asperger's (a/A) scale will readily identify with as it addresses issues people on the spectrum contended with prior to being able to find one another and understand living with "undefined differences."
   
   Donna Williams' early life reads like a Dickensian classic. She survived poverty, prostitution, homelessness and the abuse that so often accompanies these societal obstacles in a person's life. She has traveled extensively from a geographical perspective as well as a diagnostic one. It was only when she had long reached adulthood that she was formerly diagnosed with autism.
   
   Many people with autism born during the Baby Boom were misdiagnosed with schizophrenia and other unrelated conditions. Bad placements and inappropriate placements were very much the order of the day for many years. It is only in recent times, thanks to pioneer experts such as Donna Williams, Jerry Newman and Tony Attwood that these misperceptions about autism can hopefully be laid to rest.
   
   Donna Williams, as with probably everybody on the a/A spectrum likens autism to sociology (learning about how humans behave and interact and what general expectations are) and feeling like an alien for not having this inborn, instictive and intuitive knowledge. People on the spectrum will certainly be able to identify with her experiences and how she describes them as well as her feelings regarding same. I like the way she describes her client-doctor relationship with her therapist, Dr. Marek. It sounded like a dance, of sorts where each was dancing timidly around the other, trying to figure out what step to take next.
   
   Like the Bronte Sisters who created wonderfully creative, diversely populated fictional towns, Donna Williams sets out to create such an "Autistitopia" (Autistic Utopia).
   
   Sheer luck and an unlikely friend come through like the Cavalry for her. Her first manuscript was left in England. A stranger found it and forwarded it to her. From there, an agent contacts her, expressing an avid interest in her work. That was the first quantum stride forward that transformed Donna Williams from a private citizen into a leading expert and scholar in matters relating to autism and treatments. This book is a shining beacon of hope and a ray of strong sunlight. WE NEED THIS BOOK!



2. Donna Williams was diagnosed with autism as an adult, after many misdiagnosises. In her past, she faced child abuse, homelessness and prostitution. Now, that she began to realize her problems had a definite basis, she began to do something about them. Although her behavior was considered "antisocial" and eccentric, her insight into the human condition is remarkable. She has worked as a teacher of special needs children, and received awards for her "do-goodness." In this book, she casts aside the "characters" and poses that have made up her world, and begins to relate to people as herself, not as how she imagined they would want her to. Eventually, she began to publish memoir, which was picked up and published internationally. Her triumphs both in the professional and personal spheres will have you cheering, as she fights to master autism. "I will not let it control me" she writes, and she hasn't.



3. It's 1994 in a world where most people don't yet have email or internet and the undiagnosed adults on the Autistic Spectrum born in the 1960s and earlier still don't know each other exist, often believing they are the only one's like themselves in the entire world.
   
   After a life of abuse, domestic prostitution, homelessness and poverty Donna Williams has wandered her way back to Australia and finally found the answer to 'what kind of mad am I'. The words of her childhood like deaf, psychotic, disturbed now get swept aside with a formal diagnosis as Autistic as she stumbles upon and enters into therapy with an eccentric an innovative psychologist, Theo Marek and they try to understand each other with astoundingly different language, concepts, realities and 'normality', viewing each other as one might an alien.
   
   Having finally discovered the population she has been kept from all her life, Donna develops a small town dream and determines with her IQ of under 70 to become a teacher and change and advance the world of Developmental Disabilities and how those with them are treated in Special Education and beyond.
   
   But the manuscript of her first book remains in a tea chest in England, a copy of it left with a stranger who unknown to her has forwarded it on. And soon a fax arrives through the post from a literary agent with a copy of that book in his hands. The book she wrote only for herself, filled with darkness and shame and surreal idiosyncracy of her previously undiagnosed Autistic world is set to become an international bestseller and propel the woman terrified of being 'known' out of the shadows and straight into the limelight as one of the most famous people ever diagnosed with Autism in the world.
   
   An incredible, uplifting book.



4. There are many books written about autism. While we can learn from researchers and professionals, we gain a whole new perspective when we listen to someone who has autism describe what it's like. Donna Williams is a bright, articulate young woman who freely shares insight into what it's like to live in the world of autism.



5. The first book was an amazing journey for me, and to read the second book was just as wonderful as the first. It left me wondering if there was a third book. A must read!

5 comments about Lying: A Metaphorical Memoir.

1. Prior to this book, I'd read Prozac Diary and Welcome to my Country, both of which were quite good. This book, although an interesting concept, does not live up to Slater's better works. Satire-like, memoir-like, fiction-like.... But it fits none of these, is fairly incoherent, and does not really thread the story together adequately. If you want some fictional-type, possibly-true, almost-factual words, try this book. It is a fairly quick read and mildly entertaining. Personally, I'd save my time for Welcome to my Country. Reminds me of Blank: The Power of Not Actually Thinking at All (A Mindless Parody)



2. Hmmm? What to say? What to think about this book?
   
   Obviously Lauren Slater is very clever, I enjoyed her story. But mostly when I read this book I felt fortunate to have endured only the so called normal or typical teenaged angst growing up.
   
   She offers us a history of her life that may or may not be a complete fictionalization. It's an interesting angle from which to write a memoir.
   
   I have to say that I read Love Works Like This by Lauren Slater and I really enjoyed it. Lying was clever but I didn't love it.



3. Slater insists that her book be characterized as a non-fiction memoir, despite that fact that she freely admits that her account of her epilepsy is factual, symbolic, real, and fantastical all at once. Slater herself isn't always sure which of her memories are true and which are vivid but invented. If the reader can let themselves free in this alternate reality, Slater's memoir makes for fascinating, touching, and chilling reading. She truly brings the reader inside her own confusions about how much of her disease is real and how much fabricated. The short length of the book allows Slater's literary trickery to work well.
   
   As an adult, Slater confesses to her adolescent neurologist that she frequently exaggerated her seizures and symptoms right before her corpus callostomy surgery. He dismisses her guilt, saying it was well-known that she was an exaggerator. "Okay, you lied. But really, Lauren, I don't want you to feel guilty. In a sense you lied, but in another sense you didn't, because trickery is so hinged on your personality style, and, therefore, you were only being true to yourself."
   
   Also as an adult, Slater finds salvation in AA, despite the fact that she's hardly a drinker. She enjoys the comraderie and the structure of the 12 steps. The climax of Slater's coming to terms with her disease is a stunning confessional at an AA meeting, spoken entirely metaphorically, which has a huge impact on her group and the reader.



4. Lauren Slater's tribute to postmodernism in her "metaphorical memoir" is an interesting exploration of the role of fact in what is true. Where we may tend to regard the objective facts of a situation to be the truth of it, Ms. Slater takes a much more subjective view. She asserts her point, explicitly and in a masterful way woven seemlessly throughout the text, that there may be a more truthful way to relate a situation, a character, an anecdote, than to simply relate the facts.
   
   So she leads us to wonder even about the most central elements of the story. Does she really have epilepsy? Has she ever really had a seizure? Does the doctor she cites throughout her story really exist, or is he a metaphor also?
   
   While fascinating questions I found their deliberate effect a bit too successful: I couldn't trust the narrator. Unfortunately for me, that meant also that I was ultimately unable to feel close to the narrator and really understand her motivations -- perhaps, in my eyes at least, the most important role of a memoir.
   
   It's a bit of a quandry that I'm left in. She's succeeded fully in doing what she set out to do. She's presented herself as something of a chronic lier; a trickster at the very least. But since I know this about her so soon, and I'm so frequently reminded, I have difficultly staving off the need to push her away. So as a memoir, instead of a piece of literary theory, I found Slater's book a bit distant.



5. Lauren Slater, Lying (Random House, 2000)
   
   I picked up Lauren Slater's first book, Welcome to My Country, on a whim in 1997, and instantly fell in love with Slater's impeccable prose. That she related case studies without descending into the smarmy self-help realm of, say, Oliver Sacks helped immensely. Welcome to My Country was on my best-I-read list that year.
   
   Fast forward to 2005, and I start wondering what Slater's been up to since releasing it. I check her out at Amazon, and am thrilled to find she's released two books since. Lying is the first of them I picked up, and it's great to see she's still at the top of her game.
   
   Billed as "a metaphorical memoir," we are given an autobiography of Lauren Slater, an epileptic who's had a rather extreme surgical procedure performed to counter her epilepsy. It controls the physical aspects-- the seizures-- but hasn't controlled any of the mental. This, of course, is the stuff popular memoirs are made of; the dysfunctional childhood sells.
   
   What Slater brings to the table that sets her apart from the others is that, while there is always the understanding that the memoir is colored by the perceptions of its author, Slater recognizes this as much as any reader, and has decided to play with it-- to the point where the reader (and the person who wrote the cover copy, as well) realize that by the time we reach the first of Slater's revelations that she's written a fantasy as an actual event, we can no longer even be sure she has epilepsy. This opens up whole worlds of discussion in the larger genre of memoir, and that in itself makes Lying a singularly important work in its field; if taken as a greater meditation on memoir, the reader should come away with this book with a new way of looking at the form.
   
   All that aside, though, the best reason to read Lauren Slater's books is simply that she's a fine, fine writer. Lying also has a very, very good chance of landing on this year's best-I-read list, despite the quality of my reading having skyrocketed in recent years. **** ½

5 comments about Songs of the Gorilla Nation: My Journey Through Autism.

1. I just finished reading "Songs of the Gorilla Nation", by Dawn Prince-Huges. I found it very interesting, (especially the parts about the gorillas), but also very disturbing.
   
   Dawn is about my age, so we share having grown up with Asperger's Syndrome in a time when autism, and especially AS, weren't really recognized---especially in women---and it's subsequent late diagnosis. I guess I found it disturbing because of the many parallels in our lives, and the bad memories they brought up for me.
   
   She mentions feeling guilty about being envious of her relative who was just diagnosed with AS, because of all the slack people cut him, and all the help he is getting. I also have a newly diagnosed nephew, and I can totally sympathize with her jealousy. If I had gotten 1/10th the understanding and help that he gets, well...who knows how much pain I might have been spared?
   
   I also liked her point about how hard she works to act "normal", and how frustrating it is for her because people don't believe her when she says she's autistic. They think she's making excuses for being abrupt or uncaring or the million other things "normal" people accuse us of. Sort of a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation.
   
   I REALLY sympathized when she spoke of how she has been criticized for her
   perseveration, as I have run into that a lot.
   
   I liked the book and I recommend it with some provisos: If you are on the spectrum, it may bring up bad stuff for some of you---especially if you're a woman. It's a little patchy -she skips around a bit and leaves out some background info that I would have found interesting/helpful. The insights into the gorilla mind are absolutely fascinating, and very sad.
   
   A good read if you can handle it---I'm still having fallout.



2. This is the autobiography of a woman who not only overcame the challenges posed by autism but also came to terms with her lesbianism and embraced both things as part of her life.
   
   Growing up different - autistic AND gay - in a small town was dreadful, and she left at 16. Her description of the extra difficulties faced by a homeless autistic was frightening, but she managed to climb out of that hole anyway.
   
   I would have liked to have read more details about her college life and how she managed to earn a Ph.D., largely by correspondence, from a Swiss university.
   
   She now lives in the Pacific Northwest with her life partner and their son, borne by the partner from an anonymous sperm donor who was likely as colorful as they are.



3. This is not just another autistic auto-biography. In talking about her life the author is also talking about her work with and her experiences of Gorillas, and what she has learned from them, creating as a result a thoughtful and intelligent book not just about one person but about what it is to be autistic and what it is to be human.



4. I thought the title was a metaphor, but it was actually quite literal. This book provides a fascinating view of the life and coping strategies of a "high-achieving autistic." It also provides insight into the lives and societies of gorillas. This book could be enjoyed for either reason. One of the best patient autobiographies I have read.



5. I was spellbound by Songs of the Gorilla Nation, a beautifully written memoir of a young woman who has Asperger's Syndrome, a mild form of autism. Although she has difficulty communicating and interacting in person, she is a remarkably eloquent writer, and is able to describe and provide profound insight into the thought processes and experiences of people who have the syndrome.
   
   She describes her syndrome as a sensory filter malfunction (interestingly enough, many people with Autism and Asperger's have asthma and terrible allergies, which can be seen as other types of 'filter' disorders). For her, to experience the world is to drown in synesthetic sensory overload. Overwhelmed, unable to process the tidal wave of stimuli, she escapes the painful barrage through obsessive compulsive behavior, repetitive actions, and solipsism. As a child she was unable to connect normally with other people and was incapable of picking up on normal social cues. Although not cognitively or verbally delayed, she was socially helpless. Blunt, inadvertantly rude, and always "different,' she was a vulnerable target for vicious schoolmates and even teachers. She suffered greatly as a tormented, confused social outcast.
   
   Completely alienated, she dropped out of school at 16 and was moved to Seattle and became homeless, eating out of garbage cans to survive. She eventually became an exotic dancer, and with her first paycheck visted the Seattle zoo because she had always found solace in animals. There she discovers an almost mystical connection with the gorillas, and for the first time experiences empathy and connection with another primate. Adept at shutting her senses off, she is able to focus her brain like a laser, and with a formidable singlemindedness observed and learned everything she could about them. Through studying their social interactions, and from the relationships she develops with the gorillas, she learns how to interact with humans. She credits the gorillas with "civilizing" her, and forms deep, communicative relationships with some of them. She becomes involved with the zoo and eventually is able to earn her PhD in Interdisciplinary Anthropology, form a relationship with a significant other, have a child, and become an activist for gorillas. Now she works to bridge the worlds between ape and human as well as autistic and normal people.
   
   Although she can "pass" now as a normal person, there are still some things about human society that counfound her, although I can certainly see why.
   
   "It is hard to express the horror I feel when I am out at a parade or carnival (already a sensory nightmare) and I see a clown coming. The garish colors of an exaggerated smile, the electric daggers that are rainbow wigs, the oversized hands and feet: all of these make me want to run at top speed for the nearest exit. If I can't get away, I sometimes feel like I want to attack the clown."
   
   Amen, sister. Amen.

4 comments about Luminous Night's Journey: An Autobiographical Fragment.

1. I have read this book twice, and each time I had a very different experience. The second time was a real adventure, because the concerns the author grapples with in this book are now similar to those I have in my own life. So, there was a real sense of affinity in the second reading.
   
   The book is a series of journal passages written over what appears to be a number of years, in which Hameed Ali (A.H.Almaas) shares, and wonderfully describes, his most intimate mystical reflections. He describes in beautiful language his encounters with the fears and exhilarations he experiences as he manifests new and increasingly powerful dynamics on the ascent of Being. Eventually he arrives at a temporary "state" of experiencing the "Absolute." Some time later, this achievement of bonding and unity with the Absolute becomes a "station," in that it has become a permanent state of consciousness.
   
   This book is very well written, with descriptions of feelings and insights that are at times astounding in their beauty and fullness. A word of warning, though: this book will appeal far more to a more mature reader who has familiarity with actual mystical experience, an abundance of metaphysical and, especially, mystical study and practice, or a strong background in Hameed Ali's works on the Diamond Approach. I would recommend a reading of John Davis's The Diamond Approach for an overview, then plunging in to the Diamond Mind, Diamond Body, and Diamond Heart books. I would also suggest reading Evelyn Underhill's books on western mysticism, Idries Shah's works on Sufism, D.T. Suzuki's writings on Zen Buddhism, and the Tibetan Book of the Dead.
   
   With those books and concepts in mind, Hameed Ali's writings on his personal and deeply intimate mystical experiences will take on even more flavor and beauty.



2. The Diamond Approach to human potential teaches us that when we "learn how to invite our true nature to reveal itself, it will guide us toward realizing our spiritual ground and, at the same time, actualize our potential in all walks of life" (A. H. Almaas, SPACECRUISER INQUIRY, p. xiv). In LUMINOUS NIGHT'S JOURNEY, Almaas describes the self-discovery of his own true nature, and his integration of that realization into his personal life. "The thread I follow in this book," he writes, "sheds light on the obscure process of how the soul, the individual consciousness, becomes integrated into this absolute nature, as and after the source of all experience is realized" (p. ix). This book may appeal more to Almaas's students than to those readers new to his Diamond Approach teachings.

   G. Merritt




3. I have been reading about and studying higher states of consciousness for 30 years, and in all that time I have never read such personal, detailed, in depth descriptions of experiences of Unity Consciousness. Almaas has an amazing facility to describe profoundly subtle experiences. His descriptions are consistent with classical descriptions of that state, yet at the same time he adds an element of examining his own "ego structures" in the light of the Untiy experiences. If you are into this type of thing, this is a truely facinating book.



4. Accessible, profound and inspiring. Tastes like freedom to me.