The Book Lover

I like to think a used book is "better off" from me having read it. A book is an art object to me. I will clean off any "schmutz" residue stains on the cover and pages using my thumbnail. I will un-dog-ear any interior pages, and flatten out any and all paper creases. I will glue-seal any cover tears or de-laminated corners -- even on a high-print run "Jack Reacher" mass-edition paperback thriller, taken from a "Little Free Library." While I read it, I will straighten a cocked spine and buff up the cover gloss. When I'm done, a used book will be in better condition than when I acquired it, even if it's not destined to be a "keeper." That's just how I roll these days...

Sadly -- Been There, Done That...

On the Reading Table: "Tesla: The Wizard of Electricty" by David J. Kent

Nikola Tesla 

Nikola Tesla 

Nikola Tesla 

Nikola Tesla 

Nikola Tesla 

I'm reading the "companion volume" to the "Thomas A. Edison: Inventor of the Modern World" biography.

From its author, David J. Kent:

“This book is designed to appeal to general readers with a wide range of interests. 

Like thrilling personality insights? The book is chock full of interesting stories on Tesla from his '100-bug-powered' windmills as a youth to his practical jokes on Mark Twain in his heyday to his dispute with Albert Einstein as he entered his twilight years. 

Into graphic novels? 'Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity' includes many historical comics and photos to spotlight key events and figures in Tesla's spectacular life. The book is an amazing visual experience. 

An invention buff? The book captures the prolific inventive mind of Nikola Tesla and how many of his inventions were so far ahead of their time that we are still today relying on his patents for new discoveries. 

Turned on by conflict and tension? Tesla's life can be summed up by one of my chapter titles -- 'A Man Always at War.' Delve into the complex relationships he had with Thomas Edison, George Westinghouse, Guglielmo Marconi, J. P. Morgan, and others that were sometimes colleagues, and sometimes rivals. 

Prefer serious historical biography? 'Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity' traces the great man's life from his childhood in the military frontier, through his schooling and employment in the grand capitals of Europe, to his tumultuous, yet most productive, years in New York City, Colorado Springs, Chicago, Pittsburgh, and Niagara Falls. 

In short, the book provides insights into a man who has been largely ignored by history despite his huge contributions to modern life. A man who over 100 years ago anticipated that one day we would all be carrying around hand-held devices capable of instant communication across vast distances. Who a century ago promoted and developed renewable energy sources to replace fossil fuels. A man who left us a legacy that is just now being rediscovered by scientists, the public, and perhaps most ironically -- pop culture."

David J. Kent is the author of two books on Nikola Tesla -- "Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity" and an e-book, "Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of its Time."

Bessel Van der Kolk, MD Quotes : The Body Keeps Score

Bessel van der Kolk

Bessel van der Kolk

Bessel van der Kolk

Bessel van der Kolk

Bessel van der Kolk

Bessel van der Kolk

Bessel van der Kolk

I'm only 75 pages in, but I can already say that this is a very important book on therapy, informed by many of the advances of neuroscience about how the brain, mind, and body work. If you have any interest in these topics off PTSD, trauma in general, stress, OCD, phobias, anxiety, etc., and the healing arts, I recommend reading it.

The OCD Zone: "The Nick of Time"

William Shatner, Twilight Zone

Time"
The Twilight Zone episode
Episode no.	Season 2 Episode 7
Directed by	Richard L. Bare
Written by	Richard Matheson
Featured music	Uncredited
Production code	173-3643
Original air date	November 18, 1960
Guest appearance(s)
William Shatner Patricia Breslin Stafford Repp Guy Wilkerson Walter Reed
Episode chronology

"The hand belongs to Mr. Don S. Carter, male member of a honeymoon team on route across the Ohio countryside to New York City. In one moment, they will be subjected to a gift most humans never receive in a lifetime. For one penny, they will be able to look into the future. The time is now, the place is a little diner in Ridgeview, Ohio, and what this young couple doesn't realize is that this town happens to lie on the outskirts -- of the Twilight Zone."

"Counterbalance in the little town of Ridgeview, Ohio. Two people permanently enslaved by the tyranny of fear and superstition, facing the future with a kind of helpless dread. Two others facing the future with confidence -- having escaped one of the darker places -- of the Twilight Zone."

Edit

JAMA: OCD Infographics

Pretty in Pink -- OCD Batman

Soil Microbes and Serotonin Production

Did you know that there’s a natural antidepressant in soil? Mycobacterium vaccae is the substance under study and has indeed been found to mirror the effect on neurons that drugs like Prozac provide. 

The bacterium is found in soil and may stimulate serotonin production, which makes you relaxed and happier. Studies were conducted on cancer patients and they reported a better quality of life and less stress. Lack of serotonin has been linked to depression, anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder and bipolar problems. The bacterium appears to be a natural antidepressant in soil and has no adverse health effects. These antidepressant microbes in soil may be as easy to use as just playing in the dirt. 

Antidepressant microbes in soil cause cytokine levels to rise, which results in the production of higher levels of serotonin. The bacterium was tested both by injection and ingestion on rats and the results were increased cognitive ability, lower stress and better concentration to tasks than a control group. 

Gardeners inhale the bacteria, have topical contact with it and get it into their bloodstreams when there is a cut or other pathway for infection. The natural effects of the soil bacteria antidepressant can be felt for up to three weeks if experiments with rats are any indication. So get out and play in the dirt and improve your mood and your life.

Uncertainty Quotes

A Book to Review

Uncertainty is a topic of profound interest to those that suffer with an anxiety disorder.

Frank Herbert Quote: I Must Not Fear

Frank Herbert

Move On -- If Only It Was That Easy -- But We'll Try...

From the International OCD Foundation website:

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a mental health disorder that affects people of all ages and walks of life, and occurs when a person gets caught in a cycle of obsessions and compulsions. 

Obsessions are unwanted, intrusive thoughts, images or urges that trigger intensely distressing feelings. Compulsions are behaviors an individual engages in to attempt to get rid of the obsessions and/or decrease his or her distress.

Most people have obsessive thoughts and/or compulsive behaviors at some point in their lives, but that does not mean that we all have “some OCD.” In order for a diagnosis of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder to be made, this cycle of obsessions and compulsions becomes so extreme that it consumes a lot of time and gets in the way of important activities that the person values.

Here is one way to think about what having OCD is like:

Imagine that your mind got stuck

on a certain thought or image…

Then this thought or image got replayed in your mind

over and

over again

no matter what you did…

You don’t want these thoughts — it feels like an avalanche…

Along with the thoughts come intense feelings of anxiety…

Anxiety is your brain’s alarm system.  When you feel anxious, it feels like you are in danger.  Anxiety is an emotion that tells you to respond, react, protect yourself, DO SOMETHING!

On the one hand, you might recognize that the fear doesn’t make sense, doesn’t seem reasonable, yet it still feels very real, intense, and true…

Why would your brain lie?

Why would you have these feelings if they weren’t true? Feelings don’t lie…  Do they?

Unfortunately, if you have OCD, they do lie.  If you have OCD, the warning system in your brain is not working correctly.  Your brain is telling you that you are in danger when you are not.

When scientists compare pictures of the brains of groups of people with OCD, they can see that some areas of the brain are different than the brains of people who don’t have OCD.

Those tortured with OCD are desperately trying to get away from paralyzing, unending anxiety…

Agreed

Currently Reading: Nassim Nicholas Taleb's "Antifragile - Things That Gain From Disorder"

Aside from businessmen and investors, anyone who is uneasy with uncertainty, like anxiety disorder and OCD sufferers, can benefit from the profound insights of this book. You can learn to face uncertainty, It follows Nassim Nicholas Taleb's other great books, Fooled by Randomness and The Black Swan. I highly recommend it.

Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Antifragile is a standalone book in Nassim Nicholas Taleb's landmark Incerto series, an investigation of opacity, luck, uncertainty, probability, human error, risk, and decision-making in a world we don't understand. 

The other books in the series are Fooled by Randomness, The Black Swan, and The Bed of Procrustes. Nassim Nicholas Taleb, the bestselling author of The Black Swan and one of the foremost thinkers of our time, reveals how to thrive in an uncertain world. 

Just as human bones get stronger when subjected to stress and tension, and rumors or riots intensify when someone tries to repress them, many things in life benefit from stress, disorder, volatility, and turmoil. What Taleb has identified and calls "antifragile" is that category of things that not only gain from chaos but need it in order to survive and flourish. 

In The Black Swan, Taleb showed us that highly improbable and unpredictable events underlie almost everything about our world. In Antifragile,  Taleb stands uncertainty on its head, making it desirable, even necessary, and proposes that things be built in an antifragile manner. The antifragile is beyond the resilient or robust. The resilient resists shocks and stays the same; the antifragile gets better and better. Furthermore, the antifragile is immune to prediction errors and protected from adverse events. Why is the city-state better than the nation-state, why is debt bad for you, and why is what we call "efficient" not efficient at all? Why do government responses and social policies protect the strong and hurt the weak? Why should you write your resignation letter before even starting on the job? How did the sinking of the "Titanic" save lives? 

The book spans innovation by trial and error, life decisions, politics, urban planning, war, personal finance, economic systems, and medicine. And throughout, in addition to the street wisdom of Fat Tony of Brooklyn, the voices and recipes of ancient wisdom, from Roman, Greek, Semitic, and medieval sources, are loud and clear. 

Antifragile is a blueprint for living in a Black Swan world. Erudite, witty, and iconoclastic, Taleb's message is revolutionary: The antifragile, and only the antifragile, will make it. 

Praise for Antifragile:

"Ambitious and thought-provoking . . . highly entertaining."-- The Economist. "A bold book explaining how and why we should embrace uncertainty, randomness, and error . . . It may just change our lives."--Newsweek.  "Revelatory . . . Taleb pulls the reader along with the logic of a Socrates."--Chicago Tribune. "Startling . . . richly crammed with insights, stories, fine phrases and intriguing asides . . . I will have to read it again. And again." -- Matt Ridley, The Wall Street Journal. "Trenchant and persuasive . . . Taleb's insatiable polymathic curiosity knows no bounds. . .  You finish the book feeling braver and uplifted."--New Statesman. "Antifragility isn't just sound economic and political doctrine. It's also the key to a good life."-- Fortune. "At once thought-provoking and brilliant."-- Los Angeles Times.

Nassim Nicholas Taleb

"Changed my view of how the world works." -- Daniel Kahneman, Nobel laureate "[This] is the lesson of Taleb . . . and also the lesson of our volatile times. There is more courage and heroism in defying the human impulse, in taking the purposeful and painful steps to prepare for the unimaginable." -- Malcolm Gladwell, author of The Tipping Point "[Taleb writes] in a style that owes as much to Stephen Colbert as it does to Michel de Montaigne."--- The Wall Street Journal "The most prophetic voice of all . . . [Taleb is] a genuinely significant philosopher . . . someone who is able to change the way we view the structure of the world through the strength, originality and veracity of his ideas alone." --GQ.

Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Voltaire Quotes and OCD

The Fabulous Bobby Fischer

Recommended Bill Moyers DVD Set: Moyers On Addiction: Close to Home

I picked this two-DVD Bill Moyers set up at the used bookstore at a bargain price -- one dollar. Sure, why not check it out? Upon viewing this material, the neuroscience, psychology of emotions, and the social aspects of healing addiction seem to have much in common with severe anxiety disorder treatment.

This set is well worth watching for an understanding of treating these widespread chronic problems that can relapse. Five in-depth episodes, plus bonus materials.

"Moyers on Addiction: Close to Home"

This five-part series takes a look at the science, treatment, prevention, and politics of addiction. The compulsive need for alcohol, nicotine and illegal drugs affects people of every class, race, and profession. Few Americans have been spared its impact -- either directly or through a friend, co-worker or loved one. Despite its prevalence, there is no clear picture of addiction in America. Hoping to raise awareness about this issue, Moyers reports on a disease that has affected his own family as well as millions of Americans. (1998)

"The Hijacked Brain"

March 29, 1998 | Moyers on Addiction: Close to Home

Bill Moyers attempts to unravel the mysteries of the addicted mind.

"Portrait of Addiction"

March 29, 1998 | Moyers on Addiction: Close to Home

Nine men and women -- all recovering from drug and/or alcohol addiction -- tell their stories. Their candid testimony leaves no doubt that addiction can happen to anyone -- and so can recovery.

"Changing Lives"

March 30, 1998 | Moyers on Addiction: Close to Home

BIll Moyers visits innovative treatment programs, including the one that helped his son.

"Next Generation"

March 31, 1998 | Moyers on Addiction: Close to Home

Addiction is a cycle, passing from generation to generation. Many anti-drug programs have little effect, but there's still hope for children.

"The Politics of Addiction"

March 31, 1998 | Moyers on Addiction: Close to Home

Moyers talks with people working to change American drug policy from a criminal-justice approach to a public-health model.