Book Report

I've read three books so far this summer, and they've all been very fun.  One book (Rasselas by Johnson) fell off of the radar, but I've got it out from the library and it has been fun.

One book, Mistakes Were Made (but not by Me), by Aronson and Tavris, has been a lot of fun to read and think about.

It is about cognitive dissonance theory.  Cognitive dissonance theory at least partially states that when a person is met with two of his own conflicting thoughts, that person will push consonance over the two conflicting thoughts.  

They basically announce this in the beginning of the book and then apply it to tons and tons of situations;  using it to explain human actions through this critical lens.  This makes the read compelling, and there is a real pedigree to the book (the end notes are copious); so I am a convert to the cause of calling out self-justification, especially when we're not justified.

There's more to be said about this book that I'll have to come to later.

The next, The End of Overeating, by David Kessler, was good because it provoked me toward thinking about how I overeat.    Kessler's rule theory which contrasts with awareness theory (both put forth here as guides to stop overeating) gave me a reminder of Eckart Tolle's awareness theory.  Tolle put forth the imperative for being aware as much as possible.  I found through my own experience that this is much easier said than done.  Why?  Kessler's rule theory, that we function on habits, and we listen to our own habits;  specifically that we set ourselves up in routines and that this can be positive, sort of reminded me of the opposite.  Writing this now, I feel that in my drive to be aware all of the time, I had forgotten about a more scientific management of routines  and habits.  

Of course, more to be written on this hopefully later.

Last (for now), I read a whole book of Astrology, called Sextrology by Starsky and Cox.  I realize that this isn't the most scientific of reads, but I nevertheless had a great time reading it, and considering all of my friends who are various signs and colors of the zodiac.  

The tragedy is that the truth that I found in the book was suspect at the very least.  Any humor or "truth" found in the book is very dangerous.  

I certainly have more to say about this, too.