All Reviews
Reviews are listed in reverse chronological order, with the most recent review appearing first in the list.
Capital Punishment
For readers looking for general background information on the death penalty–primarily with respect to the United States–this book is a good choice.&nbs…
Close Your Eyes
Robotham’s psychological thriller, about a disturbed serial killer in the southwest of the UK, starts with the murderer reflecting on how he heard about…
Freedom Regained
The book’s title speaks for itself: for it is a defense of free will, and its subtitle adds a useful qualification: Baggini looks for a possibility and n…
Healing the Heart and Mind with Mindfulness
Healing the Heart and Mind with Mindfulness seems intended to be a practical course of study, which applies the theory and practice of Buddhism…
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How Would Buddha Act?
As a new yoga instructor, I’ve developed a casual interest in Eastern philosophy, and I find it beneficial to incorporate some of the teachings of Buddhi…
Inside Ethics
Moral philosophy rarely focuses on moral salience, finding and noticing certain things interesting to moral thought. Crary raises the question:…
Mental Time Travel
This slim volume is engaging and thought-provoking. Michaelian discusses philosophical approaches to and theories of memory and builds a new theory…
On Being Raped
In this slim volume, Ray Douglas describes his rape when he was 18 by a priest and the effect it had on his life. He is a grown man now, married, and liv…
Rosemary
As a psychiatrist, my reason for offering to review this book was obviously because Rosemary Kennedy, the sister of …
The Case for Perfection
Johann A. R. Roduit’s The Case for Perfection is an interesting, concise argument in favor of human (bio)enhancement. Roduit see…
The Dissociative Mind in Psychoanalysis
This book contains 22 chapters, including three authored by the two editors, and one by Elizabeth F. Howell alone. Most chapters are scholarly, arg…
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The Incantations of Daniel Johnston
Daniel Johnston is known for making music and art. He is also known for having a mental illness. His work is very distinctive and it has a lot of fans. T…
The Myth of the Moral Brain
In The Myth of the Moral Brain, Harris Wiseman presents a compelling argument that proponents of moral enhancement often exaggerate or misconstr…
The Philosophy of Pornography
The Philosophy of Pornography: Contemporary Perspectives edited by Lindsay Coleman and Jacob M. Held offers a wide range of articles on dif…
Elbow Room: The Varieties of Free Will Worth Wanting
I. As a child I had a somewhat bizarre fear — I was afraid of morally blind alleys, where a morally blind alley is a situation in which no matter…
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Honor Girl
Maggie has spent a majority of her childhood summers at Camp Bellflower in Kentucky, but the summer of her 15th year is especially memorable because that…
Lab Girl
Hope Jahren reads her own book in the unabridged audiobook, and she makes a strong impression. She is clearly passionate about her work and, like m…
Long Shadow of Small Ghosts
Brownsville, Texas is on the coast at the southeast corner of the state, just north of the Mexican border. In May 2016, …
Mindful Coloring
Adult coloring books have exploded of late: walk into any book store or even any grocery store, and there may be dozens of books promising stress r…
Nutrition Essentials for Mental Health
The author of this book begins by discussing how the standard American diet (SAD, as identified in the book) leads to inflammation, which leads to change…
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Old Age
Michael Kinsley is a columnist at Vanity Fair, a New Yorker contributor, and the founder of Slate. In…
On the Government of the Living
In On the Government of the Living, Foucault seeks to analyze how a particular kind of subjectivity emerged during Christianity in Western socie…
Romance and Sex in Adolescence and Emerging Adulthood
Romance and Sex in Adolescence and Emerging Adulthood: Risks and Opportunities is a book concerning romantic and sexual relationships of young p…
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Sex Object
Jessica Valenti is still relatively young, being 37 at the time of publication of her memoir Sex Object. She has already written, co-writt…
The Beat Goes On
This collection of 31 short stories about Inspector Rebus by Ian Rankin is immensely satisfying. Many of them were hard to find previously, and probably…