Review: Outraged: Why We Fight About Morality and Politics and How to Find Common Ground

Outraged: Why We Fight About Morality and Politics and How to Find Common Ground by Kurt Gray
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was a disappointment. I am reasonably confident that we can all see (and feel) the social/moral outrage currently dividing much of America and I was really hoping this work my provide some understanding and potentially a way to mitigate it. Yeah … probably not a realistic expectation; however, even worse, significant parts were completely undermined by my own experience and understanding of the human psyche and social mind. After a reasonable start, the author tries to make the case that humans didn’t evolve as apex predators (completely ignoring the actual definition of apex predator) arguing that if we go back in time far enough, we were obviously not predators … news flash … take ANY predatory organism on the planet and go back far enough and you will find an ancestor that was not a predator, so that is a pretty silly hill to die on … but the need here is because his entire premise is based upon the idea that evolution only accretes and never eliminates (a theory of evolution that is not supported). Okay … so ever worse … if humans are not apex predators … we much be prey? Yeah … No … Not really. But it only gets worse … because “as prey” we must have obviously adopted survival strategies common To prey … such as social groups designed to “dilute” the zone so that predators are over whelmed by too many targets … yeah … it doesn’t actually work that way either … 1) that specific strategies requires a rate of reproduction that out-paces predation, which, given human juvenile timeframes, birthrates and survival stats, doesn’t seem like a good argument and 2) social grouping are common even among apex predators … such as orcas … so there are other reasons for this that are likely to be a better fit to our human evolution. This whole line of reasoning completely undermined part 1 and I almost abandoned the book at that point.

It gets a little better with Part 2 and the author’s examination of harm … while I believe this is still too simplistic an answer that would be better described by using the term “threat [or harm]” it was close enough to get the general idea and more or less seems to be a good fit … especially the idea that, in general, our moral mind, or sense of morality, is founded on the perception of [potential] harm against the individual [or group in which the individual is a member]. What is missing is the how and why this is the mechanism, that determines/encourages social conformity (order vs chaos to improve survivability of the social unit) AND “othering” (briefly discussion without any indication or acknowledgment that ejection from the social group means that the moral mind no longer applies). There was elements that were good and useful, but they are generally hidden by imprecise language and/or outright misrepresentations of organizational dynamics.

Part 3 was the best part of the work and could easily stand on its own. The basic premise here is that facts don’t really matter because human nature isn’t really optimized for facts, but for story telling. This is almost an intuitive observation … if still overly simplified. The best way to counter moral outrage is to share stories from both sides … in other words, to re-humanize opponents (because the first step of justification for violence against an opponent is to dehumanize them). This does help turn down the temperature, but if does’t persuade (then again … the whole author continually emphasizes that the purpose here is NOT persuasion.

The chapters and sections in this work are …

Introduction - Swerve: The Power of Harm
Chapter 1 War: Is Understanding Betrayal?

PART 1: Human Nature - Myth 1 The Myth of Human Nature: We Evolved as Apex Predators
Chapter 2 Prey: The New Human Nature
Chapter 3 Social: The Rise of Morality
Chapter 4 Dangerous: Ignoring Our Obvious Safety

PART 2 Our Moral Mind - Myth 2 of the Moral Mind: There are No Harmless Wrongs
Chapter 5 Legacy: A Recent History of Harm
Chapter 6 Intuitive: The New Harm
Chapter 7 Vulnerability: Explaining Political Differences
Chapter 8 Blame: Moral Typecasting
Chapter 9 Suffering: Self-Focused Victimhood

PART 3 Bridging Moral Divides - Myth 3 Facts Bridge Divides
Chapter 10 Understanding: Telling Stories of Harm
Chapter 11: Hope: Opening Up

Epilogue Humility: Always Learning

Some of the other points that really got my attention (regardless of whether or not I agreed with them) are:

(view spoiler)[

Deep in our minds, every fight about morality comes down to one thing: competing perceptions of harm. We get outraged at people when they deny our assumptions about what causes suffering and when they reject our views of victimhood.

When we look at our moral psychology, the picture is surprisingly simple. Deep down, we all have the same moral cognition. We all have a harm-based moral mind. Harm is the master key that unlocks understanding across the messiness of human moral judgment.

The key point is that perceptions of harm on both sides are sincere, even if they don’t immediately make sense to you. It is tempting to dismiss someone’s feelings of threat as misguided or exaggerated, but studies show that our moral convictions are underlain by genuinely perceived harms.

Comparing politics to war motivates people to donate to campaigns, but it is terrible for democracy, because democracy requires us to cooperate and compromise for the good of the country.

The destruction narrative spells trouble for democracy. If you believe that your opponents are trying to destroy democracy, then you might think the only way to save your democracy is to resort to antidemocratic practices yourself, including illegal gerrymandering, restricting free speech, and forcing gridlock to hurt the other party.

Evolution always builds on top of preexisting mental structures rather than replacing them.

We stand at the very top of the food pyramid. We hunt any animal we please, and no animal hunts us in return. Scholars argue that we are apex predators because of the unique abilities of our body and brain.

There is no doubt that today’s modern humans are apex predators, and that our hominid ancestors were capable of brutal violence and calculated aggression. However, our hominid ancestors were not apex predators.

Morality is the most fundamental of human social contracts. Morality is a set of norms (expectations about behavior) shared by a group. These norms revolve around encouraging cooperation and kindness and discouraging selfishness and aggression.

Moral outrage is the psychological tool that motivates people to punish wrongdoers, even at cost or risk to themselves. It is a “commitment device,” something that commits people to punishment, even though trying to punish someone can be dangerous.

Alexis de Tocqueville, argues that as societies enjoy more economic and moral progress, people get more frustrated at injustices. Tocqueville understood the subjectivity surrounding which acts are judged as “injustices,” and that these judgments hinge on people’s reference points.

This theory partitions our moral mind into five different psychological rooms, two used by both liberals and conservatives (care/harm, fairness), and three used only by conservatives (loyalty, authority, purity).

The whole idea of harmless wrongs argues that—psychologically speaking—people are willing to condemn an act as immoral while also genuinely seeing it as harmless. In other words, in people’s minds there should be a clean break between what people see as harmful and what they see as wrong.

There are two ways to connect harm with virtues. The first is to recognize that virtues outline ways of acting that prevent salient harms in society. … The second way that a harm-based mind understands the importance of virtues is that virtues compensate for harm.

To help reduce this complexity, we have developed a suite of heuristics, also called rules of thumb or cognitive shortcuts, that help us make sense of the world.

Moral typecasting is the intuitive urge to see people as either 100 percent villains and 0 percent victims or 0 percent villains and 100 percent victims. This all-or-nothing division of pain and blame allows us to feel righteous when we excuse the misdeeds of those who suffer or ignore the suffering of those who have harmed others.

When people think about the mind of God, they anchor on themselves. God may be ultimately unknowable, but this ambiguity paradoxically breeds confidence that His convictions are your convictions. People’s moral egocentrism also convinces them that millions of others share their political opinions, sometimes leading to disaster.

But there is a more charitable interpretation of why victimhood is so often invoked on social media. The social distance and anonymity of the internet makes it harder to understand other people. In-person conversations allow for small talk that establishes common ground, allowing people to bond over their common love of music or their common dislike of the weather. On the anonymous internet, this initial connection and common ground is hard to find, especially when people immediately start arguing about politics.

Facts fail to foster respect in political discussions because our moral beliefs are based on intuitions of harm, not objective evidence. Our moral convictions are founded not on statistics but on feelings of threat.

The process of dehumanization starts when you see the other side as fundamentally different from yourself, especially as concerns their minds and morals. Encountering differences is not necessarily bad and can even be exciting, but they can also set the stage for feelings of superiority—and perceptions of inferiority—once conflict arises.

(hide spoiler)]

I was given this free advance reader copy (ARC) ebook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

#Outraged #NetGalley.

View all my reviews

Review: How to Read the Psalms

How to Read the Psalms by Tremper Longman III
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I struggle with poetry in English … you can imagine how much more difficult are the Psalms; I was very interested in how this book might help with that (quite a bit it turns out). The book is divided into three (3) parts, with the first providing a solid introduction on what the Psalms are and how they are used. After each chapter, there are questions/exercises to help drive the point home as well as a list of sources for further research. Each chapter developed a specific theme in clear language that should be easy for pretty much any reader to understand. Of course, this is all an introductory work … so if you are already familiar with any of the scholarship surrounding the Psalms, this may be too simple a read … but I enjoyed it a lot. Part two (2) provides the reader with a few, more complex tools by which we can better interpret and understand the Psalm … somewhat necessary because the historical and cultural/linguistic distance between us and the ancient redactor is enough to make a number of themes difficult to tease out. Again, without too much detail, the author does a great job in explaining the most prevalent. Finally, the author walks you through three examples … a hymn, a lament and a thanksgiving psalm so the reader can see everything come together … all in all, an excellent introduction to the psalms.

The chapters and sections in this work are …

Introduction - An Invitation to the Psalms
PART 1 The Psalms Then and Now
ONE The Genres of the Psalms
TWO The Origin, Development, and Use of the Psalms
THREE The Heart of the Old Testament
FOUR A Christian Reading of the Psalms
FIVE The Psalms, Mirror of the Soul

PART 2 The Art of the Psalms
SIX Old Testament Poetry
SEVEN Understanding Parallelism
EIGHT Imagery in the Psalms

PART 3 A Melody of Psalms
NINE Psalm 98 Let All the Earth Praise God, Our Warrior
TEN Psalm 69 Lord, I Suffer for Your Sake
ELEVEN Psalm 30 Thank You, Lord, for Healing Me!

Epilogue
Appendix Is There a Meaningful Order to the Psalms?

Some of the other points that really got my attention (regardless of whether or not I agreed with them) are:

Thus, the Psalms are a kind of literary sanctuary in the Scripture The place where God meets his people in a special way, where his people may address him with their praise and lament.

We shouldn’t be surprised that we struggle to understand the Old Testament in general and the Psalms in particular After all, they are distant to us in three ways: historically, culturally, and theologically.

Though there are many different types of hymns, almost all of them share a similar basic structure 1 Hymns begin with a call to worship 2 Hymns continue by expanding on the reasons why God should be praised.

The lament is the psalmist’s cry when, in great distress, he has nowhere to turn but to God We discover three types of complaints as we read through the laments 1. The psalmist may be troubled by his own thoughts and actions 2. He may complain about the actions of others against him (the “enemies”) 3. He may be frustrated by God himself.

Besides mood, laments are also united by a similar structure The following seven elements are associated with a lament, though not strictly in the order listed here: 1. Invocation 2. Plea to God for help 3. Complaints 4. Confession of sin or an assertion of innocence 5. Curse of enemies (imprecation) 6. Confidence in God’s response 7. Hymn or blessing Rarely will all seven elements occur together, but a number of them will appear in each lament.

A thanksgiving psalm is praise to God for answered prayer.

Psalms of remembrance. The Psalms do not have a specific historical setting Nonetheless, they frequently make reference to the great redemptive acts of the past.

Wisdom psalms. In thinking of biblical wisdom, we normally turn to books like Proverbs, Job, Song of Songs, and Ecclesiastes In these books we read in concrete ways how God wants us to live our lives.

Usually we read to gain information; we think of it as a cerebral activity While the psalms inform us about God and his relationship with people, they do far more They arouse our emotions, direct our wills, and stimulate our imaginations

As we have observed, thanksgivings are closely related to hymns As a matter of fact, the Hebrew word for “thanksgiving” (todah) is formed from a verb that means “to praise” (yadah) Thanksgivings are further related to laments, since the former is seen as an answer to the latter.

The verb “lift” (dalah) elsewhere literally means to lift a bucket up from a well The verb evokes an image in our minds The psalmist had fallen into a well and the Lord helped him up.

Further, the psalmist asks God’s saints to praise him When we hear the word saints, we tend to think of dead believers The word here translated “saints” (hasidim) is related to a Hebrew word with which we have already become acquainted (hesed), which I have suggested translates as “covenant lovingkindness ” Thus, these saints are those who are in a covenant relationship, a personal relationship, with God.

I was given this free advance reader copy (ARC) ebook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

#HowtoReadthePsalms #NetGalley.

View all my reviews

Review: Seven Deadly Sins: The Biology of Being Human

Seven Deadly Sins: The Biology of Being Human by Guy Leschziner
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

An interesting exploration of the intersection between free-will and brain function/injury with respect to moral decision and the social conventions/limits governed by such. Organized into a chapter for each of the “standard” cardinal sins, the author introduces a medical case study that seems to highlight how the brain controls our ability to conform or not to the social prohibition defined by each sin … and, although it is a strength for some examples, does highlight the contributions made by trauma or injury to various regions of the brain. The author provides remarkable insights from his own medical practice along with some supporting research for each of his points … which was interesting from a scientific point of view, but generally much less helpful from a theological point of view. Still, the material was clear and well organized, making it an easy and accessible read.

The chapters and sections in this work are …

Introduction

1. Wrath
2. Gluttony
3. Lust
4. Envy
5. Sloth
6. Greed
7. Pride
8. Free Will

Glossary

Some of the other points that really got my attention (regardless of whether or not I agreed with them) are:

These Jewish principles were formalised by the Desert Fathers, early Christian hermit monks residing in the Scetes desert of Egypt, in the fourth century, and were listed as eight sins. It was Pope Gregory I in 590 CE who revised the deadly sins into the more familiar Seven Deadly Sins format–lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy and pride.

For all of us, these ‘sinful’ character traits are perhaps less of a moral issue and more of a biological one, raising questions of responsibility, blame and free will in the face of sin. It is only at their extremes that they give rise to untethered human suffering, pain and tragedy.

Amongst our negative emotions, anger is unusual. Unlikely sadness, fear and disgust, which lead us away from the provocation, anger drives us towards it. To confront, to fight.

Through Gage, and others like him, it became obvious that the frontal lobes have a role in regulating and inhibiting behaviour, including impulsivity, anger, and other basic instincts. And, as we will see, in sexual behaviour too.

Neuroscience is therefore gradually exposing the links between childhood neglect and abuse, our genes, and our brain structure and function in those individuals with BPD. Even beyond those with a formal diagnosis of a personality disorder, however, aggressive people also exhibit differences in these brain areas.

By now, it should be apparent that there are many factors present from birth that influence our appetite and our weight, like the genes we are born with, the microbes we acquire as we enter the world, and who we surround ourselves with.

In all three of these soldiers’ cases, damage to their brains had somehow impaired their ability to control their sexual impulses, either in word or deed–demonstrating the presence of neurological mechanisms for restraining ‘lust’.

Since past behaviour is often a predictor of future behaviour, and having a large number of sex partners prior to marriage is a predictor in infidelity in marriage, men tend to evaluate past sexual activity in a prospective partner prior to commitment.

At its core, envy can be defined loosely as the desire of, or the wish to see someone deprived of superior qualities, possessions or achievements that someone else has. ... From a psychological perspective, jealousy involves the threat of someone taking something or someone away from you…

The hallmarks of this personality trait when extreme, as in NPD, result in a sense of being special: an entitlement, feelings of self-importance to the point of grandiosity, preoccupations of brilliance or success, and excessive arrogance. These features are accompanied by a lack of empathy, the tendency to exploit others to achieve their own ends, and attention-seeking behaviour.

Various dictionaries, however, define sloth rather more precisely. These definitions centre on inactivity, akin to these sickness behaviours rather than sleep, on a disinclination to act, to exert oneself or to work. A lack of effort, an idleness or indolence, an inability to generate action. Sloth is the lack of motivation.

In the neurological world, this syndrome is usually referred to as apathy*–diminished motivation to engage in physical, cognitive or emotional activity–and is seen in many common neurological disorders such as stroke, Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s, as well as other rarer conditions.

Search the medical databases for ‘greed’ or ‘avarice’ and ‘neurology’ or ‘psychiatry’, and there is almost nothing to find. Greed eludes our medical lexicon in a way that the other ‘sins’ do not.

In contrast to these evolutionary aspects, greed’s economic benefits are actually very clear. In laboratory tasks, greed has been shown to be associated with trying to use time productively, to reach goals and make progress, to work harder and earn more money.

Greed hinders so-called prosocial behaviours: sharing, donating, comforting, volunteering, and other acts that benefit society. The greedy may have diminished empathic concern–the ability to sympathise with other people–resulting in an impairment of prosocial acts.

It is widely considered that the success and happiness of our children is dependent on their self-esteem, and that we as parents play a crucial part in building it. Children of this new way of parenting seem to benefit.

People with NPD often demonstrate extremely good cognitive empathy–the capability to figure out someone else’s emotions and motivations. … In contrast, people with NPD show little emotional empathy–feeling the emotions of others, rather than simply knowing them.

I was given this free advance reader copy (ARC) ebook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

#SevenDeadlySins #NetGalley.

View all my reviews

Review: DBT Workbook For Emotional Eating: Stop Compulsive Overeating & Quit Your Food Addiction with Proven Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills for Men & Women ... a Healthy Diet

DBT Workbook For Emotional Eating: Stop Compulsive Overeating & Quit Your Food Addiction with Proven Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills for Men & Women ... a Healthy Diet by Barrett Huang
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Book: ****
Performance: ***

Decent Advice for Healthy Eating

The another book in the DBT Workbook series
Previous Review of DBT Workbook for Depression

This is another application of Dialectic Behavior Therapy (DBT) applied to counter emotional eating and the associated health issues. DBT is adapted from Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) that has been found useful in treating emotion based behaviors through talking … with the dialectic presumably using opposing ideas. In that respect, it was not obvious to me how this fits in the DBT treatment arena. Like the previous book, Huang combines personal anecdotes to illustrate the concepts presented in the book, which, while helpful, don’t seem to be that revolutionary or particularly surprising. However, this was good advice and well organized, with an accompanying pdf to help put these ideas into practice. The narration was good for the material as presented and was easy to listen to and stay focused, but was not exceptional.

The chapters and sections in this work are:

Introduction (9:51)
Ch. 1: Understanding Emotional Eating (22:21)
Ch. 2: Dialectic Behavior 101 (11:22)
Ch. 3: Mindfulness Skills for Emotional Eating (17:53)
Ch. 4: Distress Tolerance Skills for Emotional Eating (12:22)
Ch. 5: Emotion-Regulating Skills for Emotional Eating (27:55)
Ch. 6: Interpersonal Effectiveness Skills for Emotional (19:08)
Ch. 7: Developing Healthy Habits (24:08)
Ch. 8: Building a Support System (90:53)
Ch. 9. Dealing with Setbacks and Relapses (8:34)
Ch. 10. Maintaining Long-Term Success (11:22)

Conclusion (3:17)
Appendix (17:20)

I was given this free advance review/listener copy (ARC) audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

#DBTWorkbookforEmotionalEating #FreeAudiobookCodes #DBTWorkbook #KindleUnlimited

View all my reviews

Review: Henry David Thoreau Bundle: Walden, On the Duty of Civil Disobedience, and Walking

Henry David Thoreau Bundle: Walden, On the Duty of Civil Disobedience, and Walking by Henry David Thoreau
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Book: ****
Performance: ***

Great Bundle, Poorly Organized

A collection of classics that most Americans probable encountered at some point in their education (I certainly did) and it was interesting to come back to them many … many years later to contemplate how my perception and understanding of them may have changed. In this case, I definitely enjoyed them more, especially thanks to the excellent narration (I still think he was a loon). As might be expected, the bulk of the bundle is taken up by Walden, with several chapters devoted to certain aspects of Thoreau’s experience. The treatise on Civil Disobedience remains the most interesting IMHO, but it was all good and recommended. The only criticism I have is with the organization … there are no labels to the chapters and entire chapters are devoted to Title and the Words “The End” (You can tell these because they are only 3 seconds long). In light of that, I have tried to outline what is what below.

The chapters and sections in this work are:

Chapter 1 “Walden”
Chapter 2,3,4 - Economy (3:09)
Chapter 5 - Reading (22)
Chapter 6 - Sounds (35)
Chapter 7 - Solitude (20)
Chapter 8 - Visitors (27)
Chapter 9 - The Bean-field (24)
Chapter 10 - The Village (12)
Chapter 11 - The Ponds (54)
Chapter 12 - Baker Farm (15)
Chapter 13 - Higher Laws (25)
Chapter 14 - Brute Neighbors (27)
Chapter 15 - House Warming (33)
Chapter 16 - Former Inhabitants and Winter Visitors (28)
Chapter 17 - Winter Animals (21)
Chapter 18 - The End in Winter (31)
Chapter 19 - Spring
Chapter 20,21 - Conclusions, The End

Chapter 22,23,24 “On the Duty of Civil Disobedience” (53)

Chapter 25, 26, 27 “Walking” (1:12)

I was given this free advance review/listener copy (ARC) audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

#HenryDavidThoreau #FreeAudiobookCodes

View all my reviews

Review: David Hume Collection: A Treatise of Human Nature, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals, Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion.

David Hume Collection: A Treatise of Human Nature, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals, Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion. by David Hume
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Book: ****
Performance: ***

Audible Missing the Principles of Morals book

There really is not much to say about a collection of classic philosophy by such a famous personage. As a classic, it has already stood the test of time and is well worth the effort to explore the concepts and ideas within. It is, however, fairly typical of the genre, so if you struggle with the language typical of the genre, you will struggle here as will (it is not written for the plebeian audiences such as I). Normally that would leave the narration, which is perfectly fine for the task, as the determine factor for my rating; unfortunately, it appears that one of the four books advertised is missing from the audible edition (it is in the kindle edition, which suffers from formatting issues).

The chapters and sections in this work are:

“A Treatise of Human Nature” (21 hrs)
Book 1 - Of The Understanding
- Part 1: Of ideas, their origin, composition, connexion, abstraction, etc.
- Part 2: Of the ideas of space and time
- Part 3: Of knowledge and probability
- Part 4: Of the skeptical and other systems of philosophy
Book 2 - Of the Passions
- Part 1: Of pride and humility
- Part 2: Of love and hatred
- Part 3: Of the will and direct passions
Book 3 - Of Morals
- Part 1: Of virtue and vice in general
- Part 2: Of justice and injustice
- Part 3: Of the other virtues and vices

“An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding”
Section 1 - Of the different species of philosophy
Section 2 - Of the origin of ideas
Section 3 - Of the association of ideas
Section 4 - Skeptical doubts concerning the operations of the understanding (in two parts)
Section 5 - Skeptical solution of these doubts (in two parts)
Section 6 - Of probability
Section 7 - Of the idea of necessary connection (in two parts)
Section 8 - Of liberty and necessity (in two parts)
Section 9 - Of the reason of animals
Section 10 - Of miracles (in two parts)
Section 11 - Of a particular providence and of a future state
Section 12 - Of the academical or skeptical philosophy (in three parts)

“An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals”
** Seems to be missing from this collection **

“Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion”
Part 1 - After I joined the company …
Part 2 - I must own …
Part 3 - How the most absurd argument …
Part 4 - It seems strange to me …
Part 5 - But to show you still more inconveniences …
Part 6 - It must be a slight fabric …
Part 7 - But here …
Part 8 - What you ascribe to the fertility of my invention …
Part 9 - But if so many difficulties attend the argument a posteriori …
Part 10 - It is my opinion …
Part 11 - I scruple not to allow …
Part 12 - After DEMEA's departure …

I was given this free advance review/listener copy (ARC) audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

#DavidHumeCollection #FreeAudiobookCodes

View all my reviews

Review: Religious Appeals in Power Politics

Religious Appeals in Power Politics by Peter S. Henne
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Book: ***
Performance: ***

An Interesting Look at the Use of Religious Appeals for Political Persuasion

This is primarily an academic exercise that looks at the use of religious appeals in three (3) specific instances and draws a few inferences from that. As such, the material is fairly dry, but interesting if you actually enjoy political analysis in any form. Generally we are first given some context of the situation from which the religious appeal is used, followed by how the religious appeal was constructed and finally an analysis of how effective the religious appeal was. In some respects, the targeted view here makes it difficult to make any over arching generalization outside of sometimes it works as expected and sometimes it doesn’t, but such appeals can’t be ignored within the political process. There primary explanation for this is a combination of source credibility and target material gain … which seems somewhat intuitive to me where such things a proof texting is used to justify already existing inclinations … in other words, religious appeals are primarily used to allow people to do what they already wanted to do without any guilt or moral condemnation. As such it seems that such appeals are purely machiavellian.

The chapters and sections in this work are:

Preface (4:06)
Introduction (42:40)
Chapter 1 - Why, How, and When Religious Appeals Matter in Power Politics (1:09:15)
Chapter 2 - Religious Appeals in a Middle East Rivalry: Saudi Arabia and the Islamic Pact (1:33:37)
Chapter 3 - US Engagement in the Global War on Terrorism (1:29:27)
Chapter 4 - Russia: Undermining Western Opposition to the Russky Mir(1:19:10)
Chapter 5 - Expanding the Analysis (45:32)
Conclusion (1:11:09)

I was given this free advance review/listener copy (ARC) audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

#ReligiousAppealsinPowerPolitics #FreeAudiobookCodes

View all my reviews

Review: Classroom Management for Effective Teachers: How new teachers learn to stop reacting and start delivering smarter lesson plans that captivate and inspire.

Classroom Management for Effective Teachers: How new teachers learn to stop reacting and start delivering smarter lesson plans that captivate and inspire. by Catherine L Brooks
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Book: ****
Performance: ***

A Solid Reference, but more for younger students

It is actually a fairly basic reference that most teachers are probably already aware of; although perhaps a bit of review and reinforcements might help here. In addition, the focus is really on the younger side of the targeted students, with very little that I could see that would provide “effective” for middle school students. The narration was also pretty solid enough for a reference book, so that wasn’t much depth needed in the performance other than a good pace and intonation to keep your attention on the lecture. There are both about a 3.5*, so I am splitting the difference and rounding up, giving the nod to the book as it is also available in kindle unlimited.

The chapters and sections in this work are:

Introduction (6:13)
Ch. 1: Utilizing active learning in your classroom (29:15)
Ch. 2: Promoting student agency (32:38)
Ch. 3: Creating a happy and productive classroom (27:41)
Ch. 4: Instilling positive disciple (22:39)
Ch. 5: How to manage a loud or disruptive classroom (16:52)
Ch. 6: Dealing with bullying and teasing (19:26)
Ch. 7: How to get the parents on your side (21:11)
Ch. 8: How can the parents facilitate their child’s education? (20:32)
Conclusion (6:53)

I was given this free advance review/listener copy (ARC) audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

#ClassroomManagementForEffectiveTeachers #FreeAudiobookCodes #KindleUnlimited


View all my reviews

Review: DBT Workbook for Depression: The Complete Guide for Treating Depression & Anxiety with Dialectical Behavior Therapy | DBT Skills for Men & Women for Mindfulness, ... Emotional Health

DBT Workbook for Depression: The Complete Guide for Treating Depression & Anxiety with Dialectical Behavior Therapy | DBT Skills for Men & Women for Mindfulness, ... Emotional Health by Barrett Huang
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Book: ****
Performance: ***

Clear Help with Dialectical Behavior Therapy

This book was a good introduction to the concept of DBT, which is one approach to Cognitive Behavior therapy. As I had not really heard much about DBT, I was interested both in what it was and how it works … with the later amply demonstrated through personal anecdote of examples on how this helped the author. This overview highlights the four (4) main ideas behind DBT as mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotional regulation and interpersonal effectiveness to specifically address some of the author’s mental health struggles. To some extent, this book may come across a little as a personal catharsis for the author, but that would sell short the ability of this story to actually show how these concepts improved the author’s quality of life that comes into play once the author dives into the actual workbook sections of the book (and the accompanying 107 page pdf). Over all, this looks to be an excellent resource with clear, well organized exercises that could support an individuals effort to deal with a variety of mental health issues along WITH a qualified mental health professional.

Introduction (16:31)
Depression 101 (36:55)
Living with Depression (12:34)
What is Dialectic Behavior Therapy? (16:52)
DBT Core Skills (0:31)
Mindfulness (27:38)
Distress Tolerance (37:36)
Emotion Regulation (29:02)
Interpersonal Effectiveness (20:26)
Continuing the Road to Happiness (12:36)
Conclusion (02:57)
Appendix A - PHQ9 Depression Self-Assessment
Appendix B - Journaling for Depression Relief (03:29)

I was given this free advance review/listener copy (ARC) audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

#DBTWorkbookForDepression #FreeAudiobookCodes #KindleUnlimited

View all my reviews

Review: Holding It All Together When You're Hypermobile: Achieve a Better Life Experience with EDS, POTS, and Joint Instability

Holding It All Together When You're Hypermobile: Achieve a Better Life Experience with EDS, POTS, and Joint Instability by Christie Cox
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Performance: ***
Book: *****

A Helpful Guide to Living with a Chronic Condition

This book is a balanced look at coping with hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (hEDS) and the associated comorbidities; the latter being what drew me to it as I have friends and family with POTS and gastroparesis, which are very common along with EDS. Some have managed there condition well and others not so well … and this book seems like it would be a great help for both. Unfortunately many of the resources are imbedded within the text with a few being out of date; it would have been better putting them into the companion pdf (which was missing for my audible) or better yet a public resource list on author’s website (which is still live). Regardless, there is still quite a lot of value to this fairly personal story about the author’s journey to better health, making this book a combination of inspiration/motivation and useful advice/tips for adopting the lifestyle changes required to manage a condition that will never completely go away. That by itself make this a worthy read for anybody struggling with any of these conditions.

Each chapter starts with some description and/or definitions about some aspect of the how and why the symptoms are what they are before the author goes into her own experience with trying to manage those symptoms … and across the book it is clear that the author have tried a lot of things, both conventional and controversial. Each time she reinforces the fact that everybody is different and just because it worked or didn’t work for her, doesn’t guarantee the same for others … and that before starting anything, it is very important that you coordination with your health care provider team. Each chapter closes with a quasi summary of recommendations (assess, act, affirm) followed by one or more positive self affirmations to encourage those following along her journey to keep moving forward to obtaining a better quality of life (because this may take awhile to achieve, but it is possible).

The chapters and sections in this work are:

• Introduction: Straight from the Zebra’s Mouth (17m)
• Part I: One Patient’s Perspective
• Chapter 1: My Story (17m)
• Chapter 2: EDS and Me (25m)
• Chapter 3: Comorbidities of EDS (29m)
• Part II: Coping with EDS
• Chapter 4: Dealing with Pain (51m)
• Chapter 5: Navigating the Medical System (45m)
• Chapter 6: Miracles of the Modern Mindset (33m)
• Part III: Learning to Heal
• Chapter 7: Mastering Stress (22m)
• Chapter 8: Managing Autonomic Dysfunction (24m)
• Chapter 9: Mindfulness and Meditation (30m)
• Part IV: Healing Habits for your Body
• Chapter 10: Movement (12m)
• Chapter 11: Meals and Minerals (14m)
• Chapter 12: Massage and Physical Therapy (13m)
• Part V Healing Habits for Your Soul
• Chapter 13: Make Time for Self-Care (31m)
• Chapter 14: Maintaining Relationships (18m)
• Chapter 15: Mustering Up Support (26m)
• Conclusion Making It (18m)

I was given this free advance review/listener copy (ARC) audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

#HoldingItAllTogether #AudibleGiveawaysGoodRdsGrp

View all my reviews

Review: Integrating Psychology and Faith: Models for Christian Engagement

Integrating Psychology and Faith: Models for Christian Engagement by Paul Moes
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The was very interesting exploration of what we believe about ourselves with respect to agency/freewill, morality and self. The book is divided into two (2) parts with the first part looking at prevailing concepts and ideas within psychology and the second part looking at the integration between secular and religious approaches to understanding the human person. Each chapter was well explained in accessible language for somebody new to the concepts (without going into too much detail) and summed up with reflections and conclusions as well as questions for discussion.

Part one brings the reader up to speed on a large number of terms and concepts, such as cosmology, ontology, epistemology and teleology, that form the basis for knowing what we know about ourselves with respect to ideas and concepts such as is there free will (or are we completely controlled by environment and physical makeup … with behavior only determined by our firing neurons) … and even how much we can know for certain. What was especially interesting was the exploration of how our own worldview (or bias) is projected into our own understanding of self and how each of the typical worldviews today approach human psychology, with a comparison between what might be termed as secular vs religious influences. Amazingly enough it does an excellent job of explaining different approaches in Christian thought to nature and grace and how they are expected to engage with he world around them.

Part two begins the discussion on how to integrate the views fund in contemporary psychology and contemporary religion to gain a more complete picture and potential a more effective means of behavior modification, beginning with how each engages in reductionism (pro/con) to simply what is arguably a very complex reality. Ultimately there are a lot of terms and ideas that are presented here and if nothing else, you gain a good, layman’s understanding of what science and religion believe about what it means to be human from several different vantage points.

The chapters and sections in this work are:

Part 1 Philosophical Foundations
1. Worldviews and Natural Science Beliefs
2. Worldviews about Human Nature
3. Views in Contemporary Psychology
4. Views in Contemporary Religion

Part 2 Models of Integration
5. Scientific Reductionism
6. Biblical Reductionism
7. Complementary Models
8. Humanizers of Science

Some of the other points that really got my attention are:

Postpositivism. In recent decades, several investigators have become dissatisfied with strict positivism and have moved toward postpositivism. Perhaps the most common form of postpositivism, critical realism, accepts that there is an objective reality that can be discovered but that humans always understand that reality imperfectly.

Another example of teleology influencing psychology comes from the world of therapy. Therapists often differ on the best practices or processes in therapy, but they also differ on what constitutes a good outcome.

Because a person’s religious beliefs impact the way they view knowledge, science, human nature, and the wider society or culture—which in turn influences their view of psychology.

I was given this free advance reader copy (ARC) ebook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

#IntegratingPsychologyandFaith #NetGalley

View all my reviews

Review: Women and Warfare in the Ancient World: Virgins, Viragos and Amazons

Women and Warfare in the Ancient World: Virgins, Viragos and Amazons by Karlene Jones-Bley
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

There is an interesting presumption about the participation of women in warfare, which is arguably an activity largely restricted to men; so I was very much interested in the potential for this book, especially given the fairly recent news of DNA results reclassifying some “warrior” burials (bodies interred with weapons) as female instead of their original classification of male. This had given me the impression that the historical record might be incorrectly over looking the contribution of woman warriors. Unfortunately, this book does very little to change what is arguably a consensus that actually taking up arms and fighting in the rank and file is a predominantly male activity. The focus here appears to be more on myth (gods and legends) and power (queens and commanders) which are more an exception to the rule than anything else and are not really anything new.

That is not to say I didn’t enjoy reading about these famous and powerful women, I did … but I was looking for something different here … evidence about what the “average” woman did in war … and as might be expected (although only hinted at here) is that this was primarily restricted to a defense of home and hearth (under or alongside the husband unless they were away) … with the potential exception of Scythian horse archers, the presumed inspiration for the amazon legends (which absolutely makes sense). In fact, the focus on female deities does not IMHO do anything to support the concept of human women in war (especially given the prevalence of such deities within societies that had near complete prohibitions of such). In addition, the area of investigation was restricted to what is largely considered to be the western world (and immediate influence such as Persia). So while the information was interesting, it remains a disappointedly incomplete treatment of the subject.

The chapters and sections in this work are

Chapter 1. In the Beginning: Mythological Figures
Chapter 2. Indo-European Goddesses Affiliated with War
Chapter 3. Legendary Figures - Mortal and Supernatural
Chapter 4. Archaeological Evidence
Chapter 5. Historical Women Through the Roman Period
Chapter 6. Historical Women from the Roman Period to 1492

Some of the other points that really got my attention are:

The military women we will examine in this work possess at least three characteristics in common. They are recurrently thought of, or described as, virgins, are characterised as viragos and very often labelled as amazons.

Although we have a fair amount of evidence for women working outside the home in antiquity (see Stol 2018: 339–90), for much of human history a woman’s place was thought to be in the home, bearing children and taking care of the needs of her family.

Although we might think that the archaeological evidence would clarify the question of what defines women warriors–she who has weapons is, she who lacks them isn’t–it does not. In fact, the archaeologists’ conclusions often lead to further questions. Some scholars take the presence of weapons as proof of ‘warriorhood’, but others do not. Weapons alone do not confirm military activities.

The weapons represented with the goddesses are, usually, less tangible and more generic, serving more as identifiers of their warrior aspects than weapons to be used in combat. The intangible weapons used by a number of the goddesses fall primarily into three categories: magic, interference or in a number of cases–particularly the Irish–sex.

Furthermore, other Semitic cognates of btlt render the term more as a ‘nubile girl, adolescent’, and not precisely ‘virgin’ in the modern English sense. The nubile designation also comports with the general depiction of her as ‘young and nubile, with small breasts and a thin body’ (ibid., 83), leading Walls to use the term ‘maiden’.

The term ‘virgin’ did not always refer to a physical state, one which implied chastity … [T]he term may well have been a figurative one which pertained to age, not necessarily chronologically, but qualitatively. A virgin was in the youth of her powers, in the process of storing them, and, as such, her ‘batteries’ were ‘fully charged’. Indeed, virgins not only stored untapped energy for men, but they were also able to transmit their powers to them in a nonsexual manner, without diminishing those powers.

There may be a memory also of the priestesses of the god of war, women who officiated at the sacrificial rites when captives were put to death after battle. The name Valkyrie means, literally, ‘chooser of the slain’, and in the eleventh century an Anglo-Saxon bishop, Wulfstan, included ‘choosers of the slain’ in a black list of sinners, witches, and evil-doers in his famous Sermo Lupi.

To the Greeks, the thought of Amazons brought fear of chaos. Amazons were a symbol of female aggression and this was no way for a woman to behave.

The shieldmaidens (skjaldmær) appear in Scandinavian mythology and folklore as young women who choose to fight as warriors. A shieldmaiden is said to keep men at spear’s length, approaching them only when she is armed with a spear or axe. These shieldmaidens are females (it is not completely clear if they were maidens in the chaste sense) who chose to go into battle.

The results concluded that the skeleton of the Birka warrior in grave Bj.581 was, indeed, that of a female, establishing her as ‘the first confirmed female high-ranking Viking warrior’, and that she also has a genetic affinity to the population of what we can consider the Viking world (ibid., 5).

The earliest reference to women engaging in this activity comes from a senatorial edict of ad 11 that bars women from the arena and a later, ad 19, edict that ‘banned the descendants of senators and equestrians (as well as the wives of the latter) from fighting in the arena as gladiators’ (ibid., 956).

This extraordinary woman was never directly involved in the military, but she lived through war and revolution. Her Book of Deeds gives diverse advice on how to select a campground, what was good camp food, how to attack a stronghold, how to defend a castle and what was required for a general’s bed.

I was given this free advance reader copy (ARC) ebook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

#WomenAndWarefareInTheAncientWorld #NetGalley

View all my reviews