Wormwood

Short and Great, very easy for repetitive reads!

Reviewed: 08-14-23

It's illuminating to find a lot of ideas and credo where Joe Rogan emerged from. This is a not to bad self-help book for the creatively minded person, but it really doesn't matter what application.

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Not Oliver Sacks, but a still significant voice

Reviewed: 07-23-22

True; he's not the best narrator but I much prefer authors reading their own books. Karl has really weird pacing of words, but that's just how he talks in real life. It's not burdensome.

The book is remarked as purple but I give the benefit of the doubt that he is putting it the way he really wants to put it. I like some of his artistry, but oftentimes your subjectivity of certain word choices and allegories feel awkward.

Karl Deisseroth is a god among men in the Biomedical neuroengineer domain so being able to exit scientific writing and pen from his own conscience and character is a sure welcome. The quality of his writing mixed with his aesthetic is perhaps not competing the quality of Oliver Sacks, but again, aesthetic is about taking some risks so I give him a 4/5 in context for learning about his journey in optogenetics and psychiatry and seeing what he believes is worth attention for readers.

Despite others' critique, I encourage Deisseroth to continue his creativity with his research reporting; I want his voice.

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best musical I've ever read

Reviewed: 01-05-22

I haven't found any other version of Gravity's Rainbow, but this one was as good as it could have been. I find that his old, grandpa voice adds to the humor.

he also sings some the songs and reads the poems in the more proper ways they should be sung or read, which I think is incredibly valuable compared to just reading the text

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1 person found this helpful

A good summary of Bret/Heather's work

Reviewed: 09-17-21

This book functions as an excellent summary of Bret and Heather as their roles in the intellectual dark web as evolutionary biologists. It resembles both their good insights, inquiries, possible solutions from science and their troubling and tricky aspects.

Overall, it's an excellent place for the layman to introduce themselves into the biological science of being human and learn how modern traits and choices affect lifestyle, quality, and sustainability using scientific method and logical extrapolation. It provides useful and agreeable tips using this method and is direct on what works and what wouldn't for fact. Even without science most of the tips seem common sense, but what seems common sense is not really the goal of the book.

The issue like another review put more eloquently is that the two often slip in views that are pooled from their amalgamation of experiences that are politically and philosophically based that is partly influenced by scientific research but not necessarily directly derived, sometimes not at all. This is a delimma because societal structure and culture do play indisputable roles and are thus a necessary part. This is what makes this book fall into political categorization and thats where things get tricky, but they choose to embark an attempt on solving it and addressing issues becuase of how detrimental politics and larger society has become. The big criticism is that the science is professed but its also done alongside their own opinions so a unwary reader may be caught off guard. It perhaps would have been more helpful if they overexplained the philosophical entities and made opinioned positions more lucid.

And so, the book overall is solid knowledge-wise. It gets really sticky in the last several chapters that dig into current issues like postmodernism and how to keep stability in a democratic, free society assuming that's where you want to live, anyway. But that's by design, because they are just trying to figure that out based on their knowledge of evolutionary biology and anthropology and feel necessary to do that here since societal structure is part of life. Obviously they have to philosophize a solution, and that is where you can agree or disagree. It certainly would have helped if they sourced information as much as possible despite that burden, especially in the late chapters to build their argument.

Overall, it's a great way to encapsulate the dozens of hours of Heying and Weinstein into a single book filled with much sound advice on scientific literature. It should also be read with careful inspection.

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26 people found this helpful

as good as it gets

Reviewed: 08-17-21

This is the kind of work that requires visual reading since single lines pack immense punches. Reading visually will help you give times to pause and think about what he is saying.

however, this is the best choice for listening while doing something that requires your motor skills.

Be warned though because this is quite a challenging and sporadic work that requires upmost attention to detail and book marking lines is not easy on this platform. A physical copy to accompany you will really help you keep up if you are getting lost or aide your holistic view of the book.

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a.k.a. Hyper-Masculine Americans on Horseback

Reviewed: 11-14-20

Diffinitely worth listening to if you need to find some motivation to toughen through the day or experience the gallancy surrounding Teddy Roosevelt's personality through his tour with his adored gang of every type of ultra-masculine American; from Yale athletes to cowboy bounty hunters and Appalachian miners to Cheerokee riders. Although there is not a lot particularly insightful or quotable, except for the famous line in Chapter 2, this account of Roosevelt in Cuba inspires the wanting FOR neediness to perform whatever is needed--no matter how seemingly labourous or mundane--as something to be proud of.

The reader also really comes close to what a young Teddy might sound like, so its extremely immersive.

It's also a little shorter than it feels, as the last 4 chapters are appendices.

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1 person found this helpful

Nice

Reviewed: 11-12-20

Compact appropriately and the chapters are easy to replay independently. Very quotable and offers the author seems very self-aware of their position to who the reader may be.

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A+ Prose, but current research is more convincing.

Reviewed: 11-11-20

It's intersting, articulate, and engaging although keep in mind that many of his statements are speculative. Although I was already convinced of psychedelic legalization (never experienced them, however), some of his proposals, especially in the conclusion, were unconvincing. I kept in mind this book was written in 2012 and recent research has immensely bolstered the positive perspectives on these drugs. If I read this without knowing of the recent studies, I would have likely unchanged my negative perceptions of psilocybin and DMT.

However, much of the actual history is well told and informative and the stories of the ancient peoples were highlights.

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