Last week I went for a walk below the Scarborough Bluffs, the 12,000 year old cliff along the north shore of Lake Ontario created by a giant glacial river during the last ice age. After a long winter, I walked in the spring sunshine there, and explored the woods that grow in the deep gullies … Continue reading The Lost 11 year-old Loner |Was he really Lost?
Autism and Toronto’s Van Rampage
When a van drove down Yonge Street April 23, 2018, our first real spring day in this city, deliberately attacking pedestrians, killing 10 and injuring at least 14, it was with added dismay that I learned that the alleged driver, Alek Minassian, age 25, has been diagnosed with Asperger's. It wasn't a surprise though. Young … Continue reading Autism and Toronto’s Van Rampage
Rescuing Lee Harvey Oswald | Finding ‘The People v. Lee Harvey Oswald’
One day I did a search for novels in which Lee Harvey Oswald is a character, and, among others, I turned up, The People v. Lee Harvey Oswald, by Walt Brown. Walt Brown is interesting. A one-time FBI agent who went back to school to become a history professor, he says his life-long ambition, since … Continue reading Rescuing Lee Harvey Oswald | Finding ‘The People v. Lee Harvey Oswald’
Rescuing Nature, then trashing her again
When Toronto was renovating its waterfront a few years ago, someone got the idea that a small wetland might be created at the foot of Spadina Avenue. Apparently large pike from Lake Ontario were known to be congregating there every spring, looking for a place where they used to spawn. To the city's credit, this … Continue reading Rescuing Nature, then trashing her again
Dreaming a Novel
When I sometimes threaten to write my own book about dreams, it's only because during my life I've had dreams that I've never seen described in any book. Prominent among these are what I call my 'novel' dreams. These are dreams in which a story continues all night long, despite routinely waking 3-4 times during … Continue reading Dreaming a Novel
Paranormal World |Hypnotism
Most people will tell you that hypnotism is not part of the paranormal. It is a real phenomena, accepted by science. But it has been very neglected by science. Most people don't know that in the great age of hypnotism, the 19th century, it was known to be intimately connected with paranormal phenomena. Are you … Continue reading Paranormal World |Hypnotism
The Big Five Personality Traits | Where did the Introverts go?
Recently I rediscovered the 'Big Five' personality traits. This was in a 2007 online article by psychologist Nathalie Nahai (A Large-Scale Personality Research Method, also published in the 2017 anthology, Know This, edited by John Brockman, published by Harper Perennial and the Edge Foundation). They aren't new. The idea began in United States Air Force in … Continue reading The Big Five Personality Traits | Where did the Introverts go?
Down with the Jungians
Since many shy people are attracted to the ideas of psychologist C.G.Jung, I think I should explain something about my different view of him. Though I've been reading Jung's books all my life, and though I'm still learning from him today, I find many of his self-professed 'Jungian' followers offensive. Some years ago, to get … Continue reading Down with the Jungians
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. Since it was Jung who coined the terms 'introvert' and 'extrovert', he ought to have a say in how they're used. In his book Psychological Types, he proposed that there are … Continue reading Are you an Introvert and an Extrovert?
