Books about brains, bunnies, and guns
Buddha's Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love, and Wisdom by Rick Hanson and Richard Mendius
My therapist recommended this book, which was an interesting but rather dense read about neuroscience as it relates to Buddhist philosophy. It discusses how brains and emotions are intertwined, how we regulate them, and how the self (just like the Buddhists said along) is, quite scientifically, an illusion our brains create.
Honestly, I often got frustrated with the jargon— I kept thinking, I don't care what each part of the brain is doing, tell me what this means tangibly! That said, I did learn a lot, and understanding a simplified explanation of neuroscience has helped me observe my reactions and emotions in a new way. One of the most important concepts I took away from this was the Buddhist philosophy of "first darts" and "second darts"— first darts being the unavoidable suffering of life (stubbing your toe, someone insulting you) and second darts being the avoidable suffering we put ourselves through (being angry at the object you stubbed your toe on, obsessing over the insult).
I'll admit I skimmed a bit, but it was still worth reading, and I got a lot out of it.
Watership Down: a novel by Richard Adams
A seer and his reluctant brother escape genocide in their village, leading a small band of their friends toward a new home. Along the way, they escape vicious enemies, battle a tyrant, rescue captives, discover magical technologies in the nick of time, narrowly escape death, and explore the rich oral history of their culture.
Oh yeah, and all the characters are rabbits.
This surprisingly intense novel from the 70's is a beautiful read, one that I come back to every decade or so to appreciate in a new light. Through these rabbits' stories, the novel explores questions about safety vs. freedom, what makes a great leader, and the meaning of storytelling. (The ending always makes me cry, too.) Highly recommended!
Loaded: A Disarming History of the Second Amendment by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
I'd previously enjoyed Dunbar-Ortiz's An Indigenous People's History of the United States, so I was interested to read her perspective on the history of this particular amendment. In this sweeping narrative of gun culture and violence from the 1600s until the present, she argues that the amendment is part of a long history of settler violence against Indigenous and enslaved people— a perspective that neither conservatives nor liberals generally want to touch.
The book is certainly not going to convince anyone who doesn't agree with her (the language is often highly charged; she has no interest in keeping a neutral journalistic voice), but it's an important perspective and she backs it up with extensive footnotes. The structure of the book was difficult to follow, grouped loosely by topic but often doubling back on itself, making me wish that it was organized in a different way. Worth checking out for its ideas, but I wish it had been through one more edit.
Previously on What I've Been Reading:
All What I've Been Reading posts
~~~
No comments:
Post a Comment