Sunday Support Group: Thorny Issues (*Added: Sale Update)

[Ed. note: This is my second-to-last post until December 27th. I'm taking a few days off for Christmas. The problem with that is that this is what I like doing, and I don't particularly like not doing it. But our year-end holiday break is traditional!   :-)  ]

-

A few supportive recommendations this Sunday, some reiterated:

Confused about food? How Not to Diet is out, and it's utterly wonderful. An encyclopedia of diet demystification. I've been reading it since two weeks before it was published (thanks to the publisher for the advance copy). Michael Greger (and team—I refuse to believe any one man could do all this on his own) gives an exhaustive rundown of the latest state of the science of what to eat and why demonstrably poor diets (keto, paleo, low-carb, etc.) are so popular. Michael goes through every single scientifically validated strategy for weight loss, all of them "put to the test" to use his catchphrase.

Here are his latest two fascinating videos, which I'm putting to the test myself: "Time Restricted Eating Put to the Test" (watch this one first) and "The Benefits of Early Time Restricted Eating" (this is a continuation of the first). I just love eating for health, and I find this stuff fascinating.

Keep yer nose clean: Blackheads...um, seriously, Mike? But sure. If you have blackheads—those little black dots on your nose (they're clogged pores) try Bioré strips. They work so well it's quite astonishing. Made me marvel at the cleverness of us humans. We really are clever; I could wish we were more wise instead, but we truly are clever.

Problem with alcohol, and/or curious as to whether you are an alcoholic or just a person who likes to drink? Under the Influence is a landmark in my life, and my latest run through it was just as rewarding as the earlier ones. Really wonderful, clear book about this most mysterious of maladies. Just the chapters about the stages of alcoholism (chapters 4, 5, and 6) are worth their weight in gold. A brief, practical, plainspoken, disburdening read.

Sleeper lens: A lens I keep forgetting to talk about is the Sigma 45mm ƒ/2.8. Small, portable, reasonably priced, of a natural focal length, with nice bokeh...what's not to like? For Leica L mount and Sony E mount.

Suffered trauma? Arguably the world's leading authority on trauma is Bessel van der Kolk, who is going through (ahem) his own trauma right now (he's been fired from the institute he founded, for undisclosed reasons); but let us not throw the bathwater out with the baby. (We should have a discussion of this sometime—do questions of personal integrity invalidate works? Certainly pertinent to artists. I first confronted this years ago in the case of Bruno Bettelheim, who wrote a wonderful book called The Uses of Enchantment that I liked (a Freudian look at fairy tales) but who was later beset with personal and scholarly accusations, including that he borrowed the ideas of others too liberally in that very book. The question of whether it's still a good book is thorny*. Most recently I confronted the issue in the case of photographer Fred Herzog, who was accused of being a holocaust denier on the basis of an awkward answer in an interview. I studied the issue considerably, even hearing from some of Fred's personal friends, and have decided—just for myself—to forgive him. I do think he was struggling with the issue in his mind, which he too freely revealed; I imagine he was looking for plausible explanations other than the obvious one, and did not want to believe the worst of his countrymen (Fred was born German); but in my judgement he was doing so in the spirit of inquiry, and was very far from having taken the sorts of hardened positions that should rightly tar a man's character.)

But back to Bessel. The work in this case is The Body Keeps the Score, a summation of a lifetime of work in the field. I'm a good reader and reasonably sharp, but this book was tough. It's just a difficult and complicated subject, and the ideas are challenging, the writing weighty. But if you have suffered traumatic experiences (or suspect you have—trauma memory is not processed like normal memories), this difficult book may open your eyes and might even alter your life.

Stuck with a project? An excellent book on creativity and how normal people can succeed at artistic pursuits is Art & Fear, which lays out useful strategies for overcoming roadblocks and getting your creative juices flowing.

I'd like to thank all our readers collectively for their book recommendations over the years. I think half the books I've read in the last five years have been recommended by TOP readers! Thank you.

Mike

*I think yes.

Original contents copyright 2019 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

Please help support The Online Photographer through Patreon

(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

LL: "How did the big sale go?"

Mike replies: Really splendidly. Big success, lots of happy customers. In $, second only to Peter Turnley's first sale here—and barely, at that. Really helped my year. Ctein writes:

"Two-thirds of the orders are shipped, but not much will be happening for the next week because of the holidays. Then shipping will resume. Everyone who placed an order should have gotten an email from me confirming their order OR an email indicating that their order has shipped OR their prints. There will be no communication from me between confirming the order and shipping it, but anyone who has not gotten at least one of those things should contact me."

The only reason they're not all shipped yet it because it was such a success! Big thanks and best wishes to everyone who participated.

David Dyer-Bennet: "The question of the author's belief system is particularly important for artists, arguably—art communicates in many ways, and I'm not sure I want to allow a piece of slime (some hypothetical artist whose positions I don't like) that great an access into my head. I find this in many ways more important than the question of 'giving my money to some evil person'; there are so many ways for me to experience the art without giving money, many of them even legal (especially for books, the thing I really care about: libraries, borrowing from friends, used copies, etc.). For a chemist, on the other hand, it hardly matters what they believed, since anything important they worked on, if it's going to remain part of chemistry, is being or has been verified by others both explicitly and by building on the old work (the tower will collapse if the lower stories are unsound). Philosophers and even political scientists and to some extent historians are closer to artists for the purposes of this distinction, though."

Jack: "I already bought the Sigma 45mm via your B&H link this past summer. It’s a wonderful buy. Let me add a book recommendation. Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher: The Epic and Immortal Photographs of Edward Curtis, by Timothy Egan. If you like stories about Indians, the American West, and photography, you will be enchanted. You last promoted it October 21, 2012, but it’s worth reminding readers."

Mike adds: Has it been that long? Wow. That ebook is free if you have Kindle Unlimited, or you can buy a used hardcover for as little as $2.68. Still recommended. Here it is for the rest of the world.

Comments

[Clayton]

When I went to look for my preordered How not to Diet, I pushed one button too many, and now also have How not to Die. Have only read the first, and enjoyed it. If I had seen his snake oil approach videos before buying I would not have bought either. He is a good writer, but do lot like his speaking style.

[John Krumm]

I’ve been reading and enjoying How Not To Diet. I tend to talk to much about what I read, and the main person who suffers through this is my wife, a family physician. Today in the car we were listening to a physician’s podcast, the kind you can get credit for, and the subject was red meat. I found myself wanting to yell at the stereo because of the bad information he was spreading. The book triggers my angry teacher side.

[Ray L Hudson]

If you like Freudian stuff, and Bettelheim, try 'Freud and Man's Soul'. A different look at the once master.

[Gene Mushak]

"not throw the bathwater out with the baby" - I'd opt to keep the baby, tie a nice bow - toss the bath water - and wish all a Merry Christmas . . . Ha Ha Ha . . .

[David Bennett]

"Father loss during childhood has negative health and behavioral consequences, but the biological consequences are unknown. Our goal was to examine how father loss (because of separation and/or divorce, death, or incarceration) is associated with cellular function as estimated by telomere length." Scholarly article on telomere shortening

[Rob L]

Merry Christmas to you and yours, Mike, and thanks for another year of learning. Your insights and this gathering place for photographers, artists, and malcontents of all sorts are proof that the internet can be a wonderful place. Thank you for giving us all a spot to linger and talk (and more important, to hear) about what we love.

[Jeff]

Lucky for me that I didn't read Geiger's book since I lost 50 pounds and have kept it off for 7 years, ended a spell with diabetes, i.e. got my A1c and fasting insulin levels back to normal, by doing low carb and intermittent fasting. The way I got heavy and got diabetes in the first place was by listening to this kind of well meaning but generally wrong (for most overweight people in the U.S.) advice to eat more carbs, whole grains, beans, less fat, etc. Plus some/lots? of the iffy studies pushing carbs that high carb authors like to quote are funded by the high carb/junk food industry. High carb diets used to work well for people in places like China and Japan where people never ate sugar and never became insulin resistant growing up, but thanks to the introduction of Western sugary junk foods they are starting to have obesity problems too among kids.

Maybe in a year or two you can update people on how you are doing diet wise. Generally any diet is better than the SAD (standard American diet) for a year or two. Then many people start to have problems with the carbs.

[Francisco Cubas]

Thanks to Jack and you for mentioning Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher..., I had great joy reading Empire of the Summer Moon, which you recommended here and I've also been fascinated by the work and life of Curtis for a while.

My question is, which edition is better? The used hardcover of 2012, for a pretty good price; or the new paperback of 2013, at double the price. Are they very different in quality?

Please excuse me asking about such a minutia, but I'm fastidious about the physical experience of books (I avoid ebooks unless is completely necessary).

[I'm afraid I don't know. —Mike]

[Yoram Nevo]

On the question of an artist persona vs art the classical read is George Orwell’s “Benefit of Clergy: Some Notes on Salvador Dali”