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The Invisible Brain Injury: Cognitive Impairments in Traumatic Brain Injury, Stroke and other Acquired Brain Pathologies (After Brain Injury: Survivor Stories)
by Aurora Lassaletta AtienzaThe Invisible Brain Injury recounts, in her own words, the experience of Aurora Lassaletta, a clinical psychologist who suffered a traumatic brain injury (TBI) after a traffic accident. Presenting her unique dual perspective as both a patient and a clinician, Aurora highlights the less visible cognitive, emotional and behavioural symptoms common to acquired brain injury (ABI). This moving account showcases Aurora’s growing awareness of her impairments, their manifestation in daily life, how they are perceived, or not, by others and the tools that helped her survive. Each chapter combines Aurora’s perspective with the scientific view of a professional neuropsychologist or physiatrist who provide commentaries on her various symptoms. This book is valuable reading for professionals involved in neurorehabilitation and clinical neuropsychology and for clinical psychology students. It is a must read for ABI survivors, those around them and clinicians, who are all an essential part of the rehabilitation, adjustment and acceptance process involved with ABI.
The Invisible Classroom: Relationships, Neuroscience & Mindfulness in School (The Norton Series on the Social Neuroscience of Education)
by Louis Cozolino Kirke OlsonImproving student learning with the tools of neuroscience and mindfulness. How is expanding students' strengths more effective than improving their weaknesses? Why is creating a school where staff and students feel safe necessary for learning? How can anchoring with simple mindfulness practices prevent classroom behavioral problems? There is more to a classroom than just a teacher and a group of students. All classroom interactions have "invisible" neurobiological, emotional, and social aspects--the emotional histories of students, the teacher's own background and biography. In this book, Kirke Olson takes lessons from brain science, mindfulness, and positive psychology to help teachers understand the full range of their students' school experiences. Using its classroom-ready resources, teachers, administrators, parents, and policy makers can make the invisible visible, turning human investment in their students into the best possible learning outcomes.
The Invisible Front: Love and Loss in an Era of Endless War
by Yochi DreazenThe unforgettable story of a military family that lost two sons—one to suicide and one in combat—and channeled their grief into fighting the armed forces’ suicide epidemic. <P> Major General Mark Graham was a decorated two-star officer whose integrity and patriotism inspired his sons, Jeff and Kevin, to pursue military careers of their own. His wife Carol was a teacher who held the family together while Mark's career took them to bases around the world. When Kevin and Jeff die within nine months of each other—Kevin commits suicide and Jeff is killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq—Mark and Carol are astonished by the drastically different responses their sons’ deaths receive from the Army. While Jeff is lauded as a hero, Kevin’s death is met with silence, evidence of the terrible stigma that surrounds suicide and mental illness in the military. Convinced that their sons died fighting different battles, Mark and Carol commit themselves to transforming the institution that is the cornerstone of their lives.<P> <i>The Invisible Front</i> is the story of how one family tries to set aside their grief and find purpose in almost unimaginable loss. The Grahams work to change how the Army treats those with PTSD and to erase the stigma that prevents suicidal troops from getting the help they need before making the darkest of choices. Their fight offers a window into the military’s institutional shortcomings and its resistance to change – failures that have allowed more than 2,000 troops to take their own lives since 2001. Yochi Dreazen, an award-winning journalist who has covered the military since 2003, has been granted remarkable access to the Graham family and tells their story in the full context of two of America’s longest wars. Dreazen places Mark and Carol’s personal journey, which begins when they fall in love in college and continues through the end of Mark's thirty-four year career in the Army, against the backdrop of the military’s ongoing suicide spike, which shows no signs of slowing. With great sympathy and profound insight, <i>The Invisible Front</i> details America's problematic treatment of the troops who return from war far different than when they'd left and uses the Graham family’s work as a new way of understanding the human cost of war and its lingering effects off the battlefield.
The Invisible Gorilla: And Other Ways Our Intuitions Deceive Us
by Christopher Chabris Daniel SimonsReading this book will make you less sure of yourself--and that's a good thing. In The Invisible Gorilla, Christopher Chabris and Daniel Simons, creators of one of psychology's most famous experiments, use remarkable stories and counterintuitive scientific findings to demonstrate an important truth: Our minds don't work the way we think they do. We think we see ourselves and the world as they really are, but we're actually missing a whole lot. Chabris and Simons combine the work of other researchers with their own findings on attention, perception, memory, and reasoning to reveal how faulty intuitions often get us into trouble. In the process, they explain: * Why a company would spend billions to launch a product that its own analysts know will fail* How a police officer could run right past a brutal assault without seeing it* Why award-winning movies are full of editing mistakes* What criminals have in common with chess masters* Why measles and other childhood diseases are making a comeback* Why money managers could learn a lot from weather forecasters Again and again, we think we experience and understand the world as it is, but our thoughts are beset by everyday illusions. We write traffic laws and build criminal cases on the assumption that people will notice when something unusual happens right in front of them. We're sure we know where we were on 9/11, falsely believing that vivid memories are seared into our minds with perfect fidelity. And as a society, we spend billions on devices to train our brains because we're continually tempted by the lure of quick fixes and effortless self-improvement. The Invisible Gorilla reveals the myriad ways that our intuitions can deceive us, but it's much more than a catalog of human failings. Chabris and Simons explain why we succumb to these everyday illusions and what we can do to inoculate ourselves against their effects. Ultimately, the book provides a kind of x-ray vision into our own minds, making it possible to pierce the veil of illusions that clouds our thoughts and to think clearly for perhaps the first time. From the Hardcover edition.
The Invisible Hand: Neurocognitive Mechanisms of Human Hand Function
by Matthew R. LongoHow the &“invisible hand&” of the nervous system makes the human hand such an evolutionary success.The hand has a central role in both human evolution and cultural development—in our descent and in our ascent. It is, Immanuel Kant said, &“the visible part of the brain.&” It is the invisible that concerns Matthew Longo in The Invisible Hand, a wide-ranging, deftly written account of the neural and cognitive mechanisms that have made a seemingly ordinary physical appendage an extraordinary tool in the evolution of humanity.The hand has been the focus of an enormous amount of research from a dizzying range of disciplines, from anatomy, psychology, and neuroscience to evolutionary biology and archaeology. With the concept of the invisible hand, Longo integrates and contextualizes the findings from these disparate fields to show how the neurocognitive mechanisms that comprise the invisible hand are central to understanding a wide array of phenomena, including basic sensory and motor function, space perception, gesture, and even the self. More generally, he contends that the extraordinary abilities of the hand arise precisely from the complementary nature and tight integration of the visible and invisible hands—a proposition that leads deep into topics as diverse as haptics, tool use, handedness, phantom limbs, and evolution. His work elucidates and significantly expands a key chapter of the story of human evolution and culture as manifested in the human hand.
The Invisible Machine: The Startling Truth About Trauma and the Scientific Breakthrough That Can Transform Your Life
by Jamie Mustard Eugene LipovPenCraft Book Awards 2023 Non-Fiction Runner Up The world has long misunderstood trauma. Now, leading experts in the field have a radical new understanding of post-traumatic stress . . . and a surprising new treatment to reverse it could have profound implications for medicine, mental health, and society. Despite its prevalence, post-traumatic stress, PTSD, is often seen as an unbeatable lifelong mental disorder. However, top trauma doctors and neuroscientists now understand that the result of trauma is not a disorder, but rather a physical injury—and while invisible to the naked eye, the posttraumatic stress injury (PTSI) can now be seen on a scan. Most importantly, the effects of PTSI are reversible. Meet Dr. Eugene Lipov. His research and partnerships have led to an amazing discovery that all trauma has at its root a single piece of human hardware: the sympathetic nervous system, controlling the fight-or-flight response. Anyone who has endured trauma, including long-term microdoses of emotional stress, can have this injury. Dr. Lipov has pioneered a safe, 15-minute procedure that reverses the injury, relieving mild to extreme symptoms of PTSI—irritability, hypervigilance, anxiety, insomnia, and more—for survivors to combat soldiers to the everyday person. Weaving hard science with moving human stories, The Invisible Machine reveals how this treatment was developed. It also tells the incredible story of the unlikely team, including the doctor, an artist, Special Forces leadership, and a sheriff, who are working together to change our understanding of post-traumatic stress and why it matters to society. Coauthored by artist and innovator Jamie Mustard and in collaboration with writer Holly Lorincz, The Invisible Machine weaves hard science with moving stories of warriors, prisoners, and ordinary people to provide a stark new understanding of the human condition. The implications for a better, pain-free world are astounding—and that world could be nearer than we think.
The Invisible Man: A Self-help Guide for Men With Eating Disorders, Compulsive Exercise and Bigorexia
by John F. MorganIncreasingly boys and men are suffering with eating disorders and related body image problems. Some have full-blown conditions such as anorexia nervosa, bulimia, binge eating, compulsive exercising or bigorexia. Others are distressed by slightly lesser degrees of disordered eating or over-exercise and seek ways of overcoming their problems. The Invisible Man applies the latest research to produce a practical, problem-focused self-help manual for men with eating disorders and body image problems. Divided into four sections, this evidence-based survival kit covers: the wider cultural context of male body image problems features unique to men science fact and science fiction a 7 stage approach to treatment. By combining the science of cognitive behaviour therapy with motivational enhancement and problem-solving therapies, The Invisible Man provides help to all men with body image disorders, as well as families and professionals involved in their care.
The Invisible Matrix: An Exploration of Professional Relationships in the Service of Psychotherapy
by Sasha BrookesThis book is about the therapist's professional matrix, both visible and invisible. It is about how clinicians manage the web of professional connections that inform, control, bother and console us whilst we struggle with our client's inner world.
The Invisible Orientation: An Introduction to Asexuality
by Julie Sondra DeckerLambda Literary Award 2014 Finalist in LGBT NonfictionForeword Reviews’ INDIEFAB Book of the Year Award 2014 Finalist in Family & RelationshipsIndependent Publisher Book Awards 2015 (IPPY) Silver Medal in Sexuality/RelationshipsNext Generation Indie Book Awards 2015 Winner in LGBT--What if you weren't sexually attracted to anyone?A growing number of people are identifying as asexual. They aren’t sexually attracted to anyone, and they consider it a sexual orientation-like gay, straight, or bisexual.Asexuality is the invisible orientation. Most people believe that "everyone” wants sex, that "everyone” understands what it means to be attracted to other people, and that "everyone” wants to date and mate. But that’s where asexual people are left out-they don’t find other people sexually attractive, and if and when they say so, they are very rarely treated as though that’s okay.When an asexual person comes out, alarming reactions regularly follow; loved ones fear that an asexual person is sick, or psychologically warped, or suffering from abuse. Critics confront asexual people with accusations of following a fad, hiding homosexuality, or making excuses for romantic failures. And all of this contributes to a discouraging master narrative: there is no such thing as "asexual.” Being an asexual person is a lie or an illness, and it needs to be fixed.In The Invisible Orientation, Julie Sondra Decker outlines what asexuality is, counters misconceptions, provides resources, and puts asexual people’s experiences in context as they move through a very sexualized world. It includes information for asexual people to help understand their orientation and what it means for their relationships, as well as tips and facts for those who want to understand their asexual friends and loved ones.
The Invisible Plague: The Rise of Mental Illness from 1750 to the Present
by E. Fuller Torrey Judy MillerThe prevalence of insanity, which was once considerably less than one case per 1,000 total population, has risen beyond five cases in 1,000. Why has mental illness reached epidemic proportions? What are the causes of severe mental illness?
The Invisible Presence: How a Man's Relationship with His Mother Affects All His Relationships with Women
by Michael GurianWhether he's conscious of it or not, a man's mother is the model for just about every relationship with a woman he has for the rest of his life. Sometimes it's obvious (just ask his wife or girlfriend), sometimes it's more subtle, but when you see it, it becomes crystal clear. For fifteen years, this book has helped men understand their mothers' pervasive influence over the way they relate to women--both the positive and negative aspects of it. But more than that, it has helped thousands of men break free of old relationship patterns. Gurian gives men a wealth of practical exercises and meditations they can use to recognize their mothers' influence in relationships, and to establish a healthy and rewarding new basis for relationships that will benefit themselves and the women in their lives as well. This new edition of the book formerly titled Mothers, Sons, and Lovers includes a new preface and study questions by the author.
The Inward Eye: Psychoanalysts Reflect on Their Lives and Work (Psychoanalytic Therapy Ser.)
by Laurie W. Raymond Susan Rosbrow-ReichA central, although unappreciated, dimension of psychoanalysis is the complex oral tradition through which analysts verbally reconstruct their lives and careers. The Inward Eye captures a significant portion of this tradition. In a series of interviews initially conceived as an aspect of their psychoanalytic education, Laurie Raymond and Susan Rosbrow-Reich skillfully elicit the fascinating personal stories of 16 senior analysts. The interviewees, who represent diverse theoretical traditions and cultural backgrounds, share a willingness to reflect candidly on their preanalytic years, their formative influences, their entry into psychoanalysis, and their relationships with mentors and colleagues. Out of this skillfully guided journey into the personal past emerges a vital human context for understanding the theoretical preferences and clinical styles of analysts as diverse as Arthur Valenstein, Joseph and Anne-Marie Sandler, Jacob Arlow, Andre Green, Leo Stone, Leo and Anita Rangell, Edward Weinshel, Merton M. Gill, Albert Solnit, W. Clifford M. Scott, James McLaughlin, Rebecca Solomon, Joyce McDougall, M. Robert Gardner, and Janine Chasseguet-Smirgel. Raymond and Rosbrow-Reich succeed in capturing the essential humanity of all their interview subjects, in showing how their subjects' lives outside the consulting room have shaped, and in turn been shaped by, the analytic identities they assume behind the couch. An engrossing read, wonderfully revelatory of its creative subjects, The Inward Eye is also an invaluable contribution to psychoanalytic history.
The Inward Gaze: Masculinity and Subjectivity in Modern Culture (Routledge Revivals)
by Peter MiddletonFirst published in 1992, The Inward Gaze looks at men’s fantasies and self-images from a wide range of texts (notably boy’s superhero comics, modernist literary classics, and a Freudian case-study) to discuss the theories of subjectivity, masculinity, and emotion.The author explores the split between the experience-based claims of the men’s movement and the discourse theories of postmodernism. Does this division reveal a continuing refusal of masculine self-awareness? Why does postmodernist theory investigate desire and ignore emotion?This is a ground-breaking and controversial book which seeks to reformulate the way we think about men’s subjectivity. Its interdisciplinary approach weaves together material from many different sources and will be of vital interest to students of literature, cultural studies, gender studies, and psychoanalysis.
The Inward Outlook: Conscious Choice as a Daily Practice
by Laura BashaEvery day, we take in data from the world around us and store that data in our intellect. Then, without conscious awareness, we listen to that data—a process we call &“thinking&”—and use what it tells us to inform our decisions. But living our lives this way means always living in the past, and it limits us more than we think.In The Inward Outlook, psychologist Laura Basha shares how to discern this habitual way of thinking from the innate wisdom and common sense that we all have available to us at all times. Once we can see this distinction between personal thinking from the past and in-the-moment, impersonal, diffuse thinking, we are awakened to the conscious choice point, which allows us to make choices with awareness and to release judgment of ourselves and of others. We then consciously create ourselves to be the best version of ourselves we can be: our authentic, powerfully creative, compassionate selves. A powerful guide to accessing one&’s own innate health, well-being, and wisdom, The Inward Outlook is an accessible exploration of a principle-based paradigm that educates people in the role thought plays in creating their experience of reality—and a road map to cultivating inspired focus, accomplishment, and peace of mind in one&’s life.
The Irrational Bundle
by Dan ArielyDan Ariely's three New York Times bestselling books on his groundbreaking behavioral economics research, Predictably Irrational, The Upside of Irrationality, and The (Honest) Truth About Dishonesty, are now available for the first time in a single volume,
The Irrational Bundle
by Dr Dan ArielyDan Ariely's three New York Times bestselling books on his groundbreaking behavioral economics research, Predictably Irrational, The Upside of Irrationality, and The (Honest) Truth About Dishonesty, are now available for the first time in a single volume.
The Irreducible Needs of Children: What Every Child Must Have to Grow, Learn, and Flourish
by Stanley I. Greenspan T. Berry BrazeltonWhat do you get when you cross an esteemed child psychiatrist with a noted pediatrician, both at the apex of their abilities? A darned important book, that's what. --"Library Journal" (starred review)
The Irresistible Introvert: Harness the Power of Quiet Charisma in a Loud World
by Michaela ChungLearn the tools to shed your mask of extroversion, develop your own magnetism, and reveal the true you.One third to one half of Americans are introverts in a culture that celebrates-even enforces-an ideal of extroversion and a cult of personality. Political leaders are charismatic, celebrities bask in the spotlight, and authority figures are assertive. It is no surprise that a "quiet revolution” has begun to emerge among the "invisible” half of the population, asserting that they are just as powerful in their own unique ways.The Irresistible Introvert embodies the spirit of this revival and breaks down the myth that charisma is reserved for extroverts only. This mini manifesto shows introverts how to master the art of quiet magnetism in a noisy world-no gregariousness required! Within these pages, you’ll discover how to shed the mask of extroversion and reveal a more compelling (and authentic) you. You’ll also learn how to: Master the inner game of intrigue Manage your energy for optimal engagement Create an emotional ecosystem for charisma Establish introverted intimacy Cultivate communication skills for quiet typesAs a "professional” charismatic introvert, author Michaela Chung demonstrates that you no longer have to forcefully push yourself outward into the world against your nature, but can rather magnetize people inward toward the true you. In the process, you’ll learn to embrace your "innie life” and discover potential you never knew you had.
The Irritable Male Syndrome: Understanding and Managing the 4 Key Causes of Depression and Aggression
by Jed DiamondFrom the bestselling author of Male Menopause comes another life-transforming book for men—and the women who love them—on overcoming the mood and behavior changes caused by fluctuating male hormones. Jed Diamond presents the most up-to-date research from around the globe to reveal why so many normally loving husbands, fathers, and sons suddenly become irritable, angry, and withdrawn. He identifies the four common triggers of Irritable Male Syndrome (IMS)—fluctuating testosterone levels, biochemical imbalances, loss of masculine identity, and stress—and then shows how best to treat this condition that, research shows, affects up to 30 percent of males, especially those in adolescence and midlife.Just as PMS is now acknowledged to be a problem in women, IMS is gaining recognition as an affliction among men. By revolutionizing the detection, understanding, and treatment of this condition, The Irritable Male Syndrome is bringing relief and happiness back to the lives of millions.
The Isaiah Effect: Decoding the Lost Science of Prayer and Prophecy
by Gregg BradenSeventeen hundred years ago, key elements of our ancient heritage were lost, relegated to the esoteric traditions of mystery schools and sacred orders. Among the most empowering of the forgotten elements are references to a science with the power to bring everlasting healing to our bodies and initiate an unprecedented era of peace and cooperation between governments and nations. In his groundbreaking new book,The Isaiah Effect, Gregg Braden turns to the Isaiah Scroll, perhaps the most important of the Dead Sea Scrolls discovered in 1946, to offer insight into a powerful form of ancient prayer. InThe Isaiah Effect, Braden, author ofAwakening to Zero Pointand Walking Between the Worlds, combines research in quantum physics with the works of the prophet Isaiah and the ancient Essenes. He demonstrates how prophecies of global catastrophe and suffering may only represent future possibilities, rather than forecast impending doom, and that we have the power to influence those possibilities. In addition to describing multiple futures, the Isaiah texts take us one step further, clearly describing the science of how we choose our futures. Tracing key words of Isaiah's text back to their original language, we discover how he taught a mode of prayer that was lost to the West during Biblical editing in the fourth century. Braden offers detailed accounts of how elements of this mode of prayer have been applied in a variety of situations, ranging from healing life-threatening conditions to entire villages using collective prayer to prevail during the 1998 fires in southern Peru. In each instance, the correlation between the offering of the prayer and a shift of the events in question was beyond coincidence--the prayers had measurable effects! As modern science continues to validate a relationship between our outer and inner worlds, it becomes more likely that a forgotten bridge links the world of our prayers with that of our experience. Each time we engage ourselves, our loved ones, and our communities with Isaiah's life-affirming message of hope, we secure nothing less than our future and the future of the only home we know.
The Isaiah Effect: Decoding the Lost Science of Prayer and Prophecy
by Gregg BradenSeventeen hundred years ago, key elements of our ancient heritage were lost, relegated to the esoteric traditions of mystery schools and sacred orders. Among the most empowering of the forgotten elements are references to a science with the power to bring everlasting healing to our bodies and initiate an unprecedented era of peace and cooperation between governments and nations.In his groundbreaking new book, The Isaiah Effect, Gregg Braden turns to the Isaiah Scroll, perhaps the most important of the Dead Sea Scrolls discovered in 1946, to offer insight into a powerful form of ancient prayer. In The Isaiah Effect, Braden, author of Awakening to Zero Point and Walking Between the Worlds, combines research in quantum physics with the works of the prophet Isaiah and the ancient Essenes. He demonstrates how prophecies of global catastrophe and suffering may only represent future possibilities, rather than forecast impending doom, and that we have the power to influence those possibilities. In addition to describing multiple futures, the Isaiah texts take us one step further, clearly describing the science of how we choose our futures. Tracing key words of Isaiah's text back to their original language, we discover how he taught a mode of prayer that was lost to the West during Biblical editing in the fourth century. Braden offers detailed accounts of how elements of this mode of prayer have been applied in a variety of situations, ranging from healing life-threatening conditions to entire villages using collective prayer to prevail during the 1998 fires in southern Peru. In each instance, the correlation between the offering of the prayer and a shift of the events in question was beyond coincidence--the prayers had measurable effects! As modern science continues to validate a relationship between our outer and inner worlds, it becomes more likely that a forgotten bridge links the world of our prayers with that of our experience. Each time we engage ourselves, our loved ones, and our communities with Isaiah's life-affirming message of hope, we secure nothing less than our future and the future of the only home we know.From the Hardcover edition.
The Isaiah Effect: Decoding the Lost Science of Prayer and Prophecy
by Gregg BradenSeventeen hundred years ago, key elements of our ancient heritage were lost, relegated to the esoteric traditions of mystery schools and sacred orders. Among the most empowering of the forgotten elements are references to a science with the power to bring everlasting healing to our bodies and initiate an unprecedented era of peace and cooperation between governments and nations.In his groundbreaking new book, The Isaiah Effect, Gregg Braden turns to the Isaiah Scroll, perhaps the most important of the Dead Sea Scrolls discovered in 1946, to offer insight into a powerful form of ancient prayer. In The Isaiah Effect, Braden, author of Awakening to Zero Point and Walking Between the Worlds, combines research in quantum physics with the works of the prophet Isaiah and the ancient Essenes. He demonstrates how prophecies of global catastrophe and suffering may only represent future possibilities, rather than forecast impending doom, and that we have the power to influence those possibilities. In addition to describing multiple futures, the Isaiah texts take us one step further, clearly describing the science of how we choose our futures. Tracing key words of Isaiah's text back to their original language, we discover how he taught a mode of prayer that was lost to the West during Biblical editing in the fourth century. Braden offers detailed accounts of how elements of this mode of prayer have been applied in a variety of situations, ranging from healing life-threatening conditions to entire villages using collective prayer to prevail during the 1998 fires in southern Peru. In each instance, the correlation between the offering of the prayer and a shift of the events in question was beyond coincidence--the prayers had measurable effects! As modern science continues to validate a relationship between our outer and inner worlds, it becomes more likely that a forgotten bridge links the world of our prayers with that of our experience. Each time we engage ourselves, our loved ones, and our communities with Isaiah's life-affirming message of hope, we secure nothing less than our future and the future of the only home we know.From the Hardcover edition.
The Island of the Colorblind
by Oliver SacksOliver Sacks has always been fascinated by islands--their remoteness, their mystery, above all the unique forms of life they harbor. For him, islands conjure up equally the romance of Melville and Stevenson, the adventure of Magellan and Cook, and the scientific wonder of Darwin and Wallace. Drawn to the tiny Pacific atoll of Pingelap by intriguing reports of an isolated community of islanders born totally color-blind, Sacks finds himself setting up a clinic in a one-room island dispensary, where he listens to these achromatopic islanders describe their colorless world in rich terms of pattern and tone, luminance and shadow. And on Guam, where he goes to investigate the puzzling neurodegenerative paralysis endemic there for a century, he becomes, for a brief time, an island neurologist, making house calls with his colleague John Steele, amid crowing cockerels, cycad jungles, and the remains of a colonial culture. The islands reawaken Sacks' lifelong passion for botany--in particular, for the primitive cycad trees, whose existence dates back to the Paleozoic--and the cycads are the starting point for an intensely personal reflection on the meaning of islands, the dissemination of species, the genesis of disease, and the nature of deep geologic time. Out of an unexpected journey, Sacks has woven an unforgettable narrative which immerses us in the romance of island life, and shares his own compelling vision of the complexities of being human.
The Island of the Colorblind
by Oliver SacksOliver Sacks has always been fascinated by islands--their remoteness, their mystery, above all the unique forms of life they harbor. For him, islands conjure up equally the romance of Melville and Stevenson, the adventure of Magellan and Cook, and the scientific wonder of Darwin and Wallace.Drawn to the tiny Pacific atoll of Pingelap by intriguing reports of an isolated community of islanders born totally color-blind, Sacks finds himself setting up a clinic in a one-room island dispensary, where he listens to these achromatopic islanders describe their colorless world in rich terms of pattern and tone, luminance and shadow. And on Guam, where he goes to investigate the puzzling neurodegenerative paralysis endemic there for a century, he becomes, for a brief time, an island neurologist, making house calls with his colleague John Steele, amid crowing cockerels, cycad jungles, and the remains of a colonial culture.The islands reawaken Sacks's lifelong passion for botany--in particular, for the primitive cycad trees, whose existence dates back to the Paleozoic--and the cycads are the starting point for an intensely personal reflection on the meaning of islands, the dissemination of species, the genesis of disease, and the nature of deep geologic time. Out of an unexpected journey, Sacks has woven an unforgettable narrative which immerses us in the romance of island life, and shares his own compelling vision of the complexities of being human.From the Hardcover edition.
The Italian Seminars
by Wilfred R. BionThe Italian Seminars, previously unpublished in English, comprises lectures W.R. Bion gave in Rome, in 1977. The volume consists of questions from the floor and Bion's fascinating and, at times, controversial answers. The lectures are divided in two: the first part was organized by the Italian Psychoanalytical Society and the second by the Via Pollaiolo Research Group. Bion's replies examine such diverse subjects as difficulties in the interaction between the therapist and the patient; music and psychoanalysis; non-verbal communication in the consulting room; and methodology in psychoanalysis.