- The Perils of Being Your Own Doctor - Nice piece about a person who tried diagnosing himself, thought he had ALS, when he really didn’t. Or did he?
She held up a hand to stop me. It was her opinion, she said, that my symptoms were not an organic illness. They were an expression of some inner psychic distress. It was all in my head, in other words. I blinked. This was welcome news, yes it was. In my own clinical practice, I often believe this of patients, and on rare occasions I’ve suggested this sort of thing directly to them, but it’s a tricky business. Many patients would take it as an insult. I, on the other hand, was delighted by the possibility. - Why I love my possessions as a mirror and a gallery of meâ
Who are my people? Open my front door and the first thing you notice are books. They line the walls, hover overhead, and stack up on tables. Each is a chunk of autobiography, a clue to who I was while reading it, what I found to love inside its pages and where it sent me next. - Letter of Recommendation: Grandma’s Teenage Diaries
These are the most euphoric books I’ve ever read. At first, I could handle only a few pages each night — the experience was just too intense, provoking in me an ecstatic, wondering melancholy and a familial pride that felt both intimate and alien. My grandmother finally came rushing into my life with an adolescent, whooping vitality that felt as if it had been building for the entire century since her diaries had last been opened. - This Is What It’s Like To Watch Hate And Fear Grow After The Attack In Niceâ - Slightly old piece, but still very relevant. I enjoyed reading this.
- Requiem for a Dream - A deeply inspiring piece that delves deeper into Aaron Schwartz’s life.
He went to Stanford, but he thought the students were shallow. “He was a bit distressed and confused by all the high jinks that one sees as an undergraduate,” his father says. “You know, people running around in the fountains. He didn’t like people who did things that were just silly, that seemed to have no purpose.” He didn’t want to go back to college after freshman year, so he didn’t. The normal rules didn’t apply to him. He shook them off.â - The Incredible Benefits Of Being Bilingual
“It’s impossible in the time given to decipher the rules of the language and make sense of what’s being said to you. But your brain is primed to work it out subconsciously. That’s why, if you don’t think about it, you’ll do okay in the test – children do the best.” - The Superhero Genes - One scientist is on a quest to find the genetic mutations that make athletes elite — which may lead to new treatments for the rest of us.
- Zen warrior embraces walk into the sunset - Great piece about Abhinav Bindra’s last Olympic performance.
“If you play this game,” he smiled, “you have to be ready not to come first, but fourth” - ‘Inside Out’ Without the ‘Inside’ Scenes Is Oddly Satisfying - Reddit never ceases to amaze.
Have a great Sunday!