In one of my books – not sure if it's in The Shyness Guide or my first novel, The Birdcatcher (could be both) - I said that reading and writing are older than speech. That's an idea that I have never seen anywhere else. But this week, re-reading the James Hillman/Michael Ventura book, We've Had … Continue reading Rescuing the Past and/or Anthropology and/or Psychology |How reading and writing preceded Talking
The Autism Matrix |A new look at Autism
Back in 2017 I did an earlier post on this remarkable book. Let's look at it again. The biggest problem with autism is still that there is no agreement on what it is, or what causes it. That's why the debates about it are so confusing and unrewarding. The decision of the American Psychiatric Association … Continue reading The Autism Matrix |A new look at Autism
Paranormal World | Children who speak of past lives |Rajul Shah and the Mountain
Rajul Shah was born in Vinchhiya, India, in the state of Gujarat, on August 14, 1960. She would become another child who psychologist Ian Stevenson would examine in his life-long investigation of children talking about a past life. One day when she was 2 1/2 years old, Rajul came running into her grandparents house. Asked … Continue reading Paranormal World | Children who speak of past lives |Rajul Shah and the Mountain
Shyness vs Everything else |the problem with diagnoses
When I was a boy, I was intensely shy, more avoidant than anyone else I met then in any of the schools I attended. No one in the working-class neighborhood of the North-American steel town where I grew up had heard of 'autism', but my behavior fit autism pretty well. If I got myself assessed … Continue reading Shyness vs Everything else |the problem with diagnoses
Rescuing Shyness|Why being a loner may be good for your health
The above refers to a Feb 28/2018 “Best of BBC Future” post by Christine Ro. After acknowledging that there has been a lot of research into the negative psychological effects of 'social isolation' (for example, the Royal College of General Practicioners in the UK say that research has found loneliness to have a risk level … Continue reading Rescuing Shyness|Why being a loner may be good for your health
Rescuing Reality |Selfies on the Brooklyn Bridge
One summer evening a couple of years ago, back visiting New York, I took a walk from the High St subway station out onto the Brooklyn Bridge. I wanted to see again, at sunset, the magnificent views up and down the East River. I did a post about that mildly traumatic experience then, and I … Continue reading Rescuing Reality |Selfies on the Brooklyn Bridge
Paranormal World | Children who talk of past lives |Re-reading Old Souls
This morning while I was drinking coffee in a Wendy's with traffic passing outside the window, I finished reading, for the second time, Old Souls, New York journalist Tom Shroder's book about psychiatrist Ian Stevenson and the children who speak of past lives. As I put the book down, it occurred to me that these … Continue reading Paranormal World | Children who talk of past lives |Re-reading Old Souls
Are you an introvert and an extrovert?
In my book The Shyness Guide, I've written about C.G. Jung's different conception of 'introvert/extrovert' - different, that is, from the view of most people today. In his 1921 book Psychological Types, he proposed that there are four principal functions: Two perceiving functions: Sensation and Intuition Two judging functions: Thinking and Feeling We … Continue reading Are you an introvert and an extrovert?
Homo Selfish|C. J. Meyer and A World Undone
Throughout my life I've been mildly sceptical of this almost universal belief that Homo sapiens is a true social animal. Even primitive humans are always depicted as living in tribes, not in small families or alone. But there is a lot of evidence to the contrary. Sometimes where you don't expect it. For example, recently … Continue reading Homo Selfish|C. J. Meyer and A World Undone
Alan Conrad 