Tag: psychology

Well, I Didn’t Know That! #7

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If you are interested in the science behind habits – the good and the bad, then today’s featured ‘bookazine’, Understanding Habits, will be of interest to you.

Before we jump into today’s post, you can check out the introduction to this series here to learn what it’s all about.

This post is coming to you a week later than intended. It’s a little bit ironic given that I’ve been trying to make this post a weekly habit, but there we go. The truth is, I wouldn’t have been able to feature just a small section of Understanding Habits; it’s all one cohesive piece rather than a typical collation of separate but loosely related articles. It is a 128 page ‘bookazine’ with chapters about the science of habit-making, as well as tips and tricks on how to reinforce good habits and break bad ones. 

 

The Science

Even if you are not driven to understand the science behind habits, I would recommend still reading this section. If nothing else, this section of Understanding Habits helps to explain how habits are made biologically. Not only that, but we also learn why we can struggle with breaking bad habits here. No, it’s not just a lack of willpower. There is science to prove that humans will regularly slip back into old habits!

There are aspects of science thrown in the mix throughout the ‘bookazine’. The biological element is explored near the beginning, with case studies featuring later on. Some of the studies featured in the article, which I found interesting, are as follows: –

  • Studies on twins separated at birth have indicated characteristics such as dress sense, hobbies and interests have a genetic link.
  • Social media uses the habits of friends and family to predict our habits.
  • Streaming platforms tailor recommendations – as we all know. However, some will customise everything up to and including thumbnail and imagery to appeal and encourage the habit of using their streaming service.

 

Good Habits

If you’re looking for help with creating and reinforcing good habits, Understanding Habits has plenty to offer. Without going into too much scientific detail, there is a basis for justifying providing yourself with a reward for performing a good behaviour. Even if that reward doesn’t necessarily seem conducive to the habit you are trying to build in the short term, you can eventually take away that reward and maintain the behaviour without it. Over time, the positive reinforcement will have made the behaviour a habit. When you take away that reward, you will still maintain the behaviour. 

If you are looking to try to build up a new habit, do so after well-established habit or routine. Some examples are drinking a glass of water as soon as you get up in the morning, or driving to the gym instead of going home after work on certain days of the week.

And of course, the building of a habit needs to be a conscious effort. Based on the timelines indicated in the ‘bookazine’, you can expect to spend a couple of months building a habit. So, don’t be frustrated if you don’t get there straight away. Persevere and give yourself a chance.

 

‘Bad’ Habits

There are a number of ‘bad’ habits outlined in Understanding Habits, alongside advice on how you can break them. I don’t like to admit how many of these bad habits I have. Personally, I didn’t find all the advice particularly useful. Using nail polish with a bitter taste to prevent nail-biting has never deterred me. Equally, it doesn’t matter how conscious I am at meal times, I wolf my food. Just telling myself to slow down isn’t going to help me, especially when my stomach is protesting like my throat’s been cut.

Just because some of these haven’t worked for me, that doesn’t mean to say that it isn’t good advice. As with all things, everybody is unique and individual. What works for me won’t work for others, and vice versa.

 

Summary

I’ve touched on a very small fraction of what the ‘bookazine’ Understanding Habits has to offer. If you’re intrigued from the highlights of today’s post, then I was strongly recommend getting yourself a copy and going through it. There is plenty to learn from it. There are techniques I will try to help continue building and maintaining good habits.

Let me know if you have enjoyed today’s Well, I Didn’t Know That! post. If there is a topic you would like to see me feature in future, please let me know in the comments.

 

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Monthly Wrap-Up – February 2023

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Good evening and welcome to my wrap-up post for February 2023! I set myself a lofty goal for February, which equated to attempting to read around 107 pages a day.

This was ambitious and I’m not surprised that I haven’t achieved it. However, I am really happy with the reading progress I’ve made. I’ve picked up the majority of the books I set out to, and I have read books from a diverse range of authors in line with it being Black History Month!

Let’s take a look at the books I picked up throughout the month!

 

Books Read

 

The Chimp Paradox

When I drafted my monthly wrap-up post for January, I was 72% into The Chimp Paradox by Professor Steve Peters. If you want to know my feelings on the book, then it’s probably best to go and check out that post. In short, I decided to whip through to the end of this book relatively quickly. This last little push on progress didn’t take too long and I swiftly moved on to my February TBR!

 

The House of Fortune

Next, I picked up the last book I had hoped to read in January. I picked up a copy of The House of Fortune from my local library.

Having read mixed reviews on the book, I didn’t want to commit to buying a copy if I didn’t enjoy it all that much. As it happens, this was a fairly decent read. I didn’t enjoy all of the characters individually, but the overall story comes together really well. I managed to read and return my copy to the library in just over a week. Not bad going really!

 

Illuminae

For my next read, I decided to change pace and genre completely.

Illuminae is written in a mixed media format. The story is told through messaging exchanges between characters, as well as interviews, logs, and other mixed written accounts. If you are a fan of books written in this style, such as The Appeal by Janice Hallett, then this will definitely suit you. I enjoyed the sci-fi setting in combination with this writing style. The different ways in which events are recounted really fit in with the storyline and the events that take place.

Although Illuminae is one of the longer books on my February TBR, it didn’t take that long to read. It being written in the style it was made it really easy to digest, and, in some cases, the word count per page is a lot less than you’d expect if you were reading traditional prose.

 

Becoming

In my next read, I change genre and pace yet again. Going back to a more traditional written format, I picked up a memoir by Michelle Obama – her first book called Becoming.

Becoming was the perfect book to read in fitting with this month’s theme of black history month, and also ticking a box towards my goal of reading more non-fiction. It also turned out to be a brilliant read. Although I’m not overly invested or interested in politics, I felt that Becoming struck the right balance of incorporating the struggles Michelle and Barack experienced in the early chapters of their life, up until their days in the White House. This book is not really political and doesn’t push too much of an agenda.

I expected to enjoy it, but I thought it was going to be more political. I’m glad that it wasn’t as it suited me perfectly.

 

The Rise of the Dragon

I went back to a favourite world in picking up The Rise of the Dragon by George R.R. Martin. I was very lucky to receive a copy of this book as an early birthday present, and it was only fitting I read it this month. The Rise of the Dragon covers the early history of the Targaryens, but in a way that is approachable to all readers. I have read Fire and Blood, the first detailed book of the Targaryen history. This is written more like a chronicle, with a lot of information, analysis and opinion.

That’s absolutely fine if you enjoy that style and are a big fan of the series. However, if you want an overview of the history and the events that run up to the main series (or the history featured in the TV spin off – House of the Dragon), then The Rise of the Dragon is better suited. It is also full of beautiful and detailed illustrations. I really enjoyed going through these as I was reading the stories and enjoying the varied artistry styles.

 

Africa Risen

My last read of the month is my current read, Africa Risen. This is a short story anthology, featuring speculative fiction written by black authors. This book is my book club read with Ezeekat’s book club. Whilst I haven’t completed the book in time for the end of the month, I can still offer some feedback on what I’ve read so far.

I am enjoying this collection of short stories. There are similar themes throughout these tales which are from a completely different perspective I never thought of before. There are some more obvious themes, including identity, racism, slavery, and mistreatment. But there are plenty others. For example, water features repeatedly in the stories in a completely different way to western novels. Whereas in the latter, it is a very basic, mundane and uninteresting element, that is not the case in the stories. Water is revered as life-giving, revitalising, and something special.

To a society that has an abundance of it, there is definitely a completely different attitude to it. And that’s something I’ve never thought of before, even though it is obvious in hindsight.

As of this monthly wrap-up post, I am 68% through Africa Risen. I’m hoping to finish this book very soon; my intention is to finish it within the next day or two, so then I can move onto my March TBR!

 

DNF’s

None to report this month!

 

Unread

I had hoped to pick up another couple of books throughout the month.

The first of these two as a relatively short book at just under 300 pages – The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean. I’ve been looking to pick up this book for a couple of months, and I was hoping it was going to be a good and short palate cleanser to help keep momentum going. Unfortunately, I didn’t quite get to this one. However, I would like to try and pick it up soon.

The second book on my list is a fairly recent acquisition – In Every Mirror She’s Black by Lola Akinmade Aketstrom. I would have been extremely happy if I’d made it to the end of the month having started the book. It’s obviously not quite panned out the way I had hoped, but never mind! I have still read plenty throughout the month and pushed myself to do so, whilst still balancing my time. That was what I set out to do.

 

That’s *all* for today’s monthly wrap-up post for February.

Have you read any of the books featured in this post? What have you been reading?

 

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Sunday Summary – 5th February 2023

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In today’s Sunday Summary post, I have lots of blogging and bookish updates for you!

The first blog post I shared this week was my monthly wrap-up for January 2023. I would normally share this post on or around the first day of the following month. However, this month the first fell on a Wednesday. As I have recently started a series that I share every Wednesday, I didn’t want to conflict with that. As a result, I drafted most of my post ahead of time, adding a few last-minute updates, before the post went live on Tuesday. If you want to find out what I have been reading throughout the month of January, check out that post.

On Wednesday, I shared the aforementioned feature for my new series, Well, I Didn’t Know That! In this week’s post, I shared an article that introduced me to a book I wouldn’t have discovered elsewhere.

On Friday, I shared my planned TBR for February. Even though it is the shortest month of the year, I am not cutting myself any slack. I have set myself an ambitious list of seven books that I would like to get through this month. If you want to take a look at those, check out my February TBR post. Some of the books mentioned in that post are going to feature below in this week’s reading progress update.

 

Books Read

I don’t quite know how I managed it, but I’ve read in the region of 780 pages this week!

 

The Chimp Paradox

As of last week’s Sunday Summary update, I was just over a quarter of the way through The Chimp Paradox by Professor Steve Peters. I had decided to pick up this book as it interested me from a psychology point of view. Not only that, but I was hoping it will be able to teach me some ways in which I can help manage my metaphorical chimp.

In last week’s update, I did voice some gripes about the book. Those didn’t change throughout my reading experience, so it wasn’t the best read I’ve ever picked up. To summarise, the psychology is very simplified, I wasn’t a fan of the condescending tone, and whilst it did give me some useful information, I would say it was limited. This turned out to be a mediocre three-star rated read.

 

The House of Fortune

Next, I picked up the last book I intended to read in January, The House of Fortune by Jessie Burton. This book is the sequel to The Miniaturist, which I read around about this time in 2018. I confess that I had to remind myself of the characters in the first book in order for things to slot into place for the second one. Where the first book focuses on Nella as the main character, for the second book, we effectively move on a generation; Thea Brandt is the focus of the storyline.

I didn’t like Thea as a main character. For an 18-year-old who has lived a fairly sheltered life, she really does think she knows it all. Not only that, but her character is very different throughout the narrative – at times, she is headstrong and bold, and yet in other parts, she wallows away in her bedroom for a month because something happens that she doesn’t like. It didn’t seem consistent. I’m also a bit disappointed that a female author could do the disservice of creating a female character that could be this pathetic.

Small gripes aside, The House of Fortune was a decent read overall. This also ended up being a three star rating.

 

Illuminae

This morning I moved on to my current read, Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff. So far, I am 123 pages into this book. I am already loving it! The target audience for this one is a little bit younger than I am, but the characters are still enjoyable from an adult perspective. The main selling point for this book is that it is written in mixed media. The story is told through messages between characters, interviews and such like. I really enjoyed this when I picked up The Appeal by Janice Hallett last year. Illuminae is different from The Appeal in that it is a kind of mystery in a sci-fi setting… but so far, it’s really working and proving really easy to read. I read the 123 pages towards my current progress just this morning!

 

Books Discovered

If you check out my Wednesday feature post, Well, I Didn’t Know That!, you will know that I have added a book to my reading list this week.

I have decided to add Deep Wheel Orcadia to my reading list as it is a completely new concept to me. If you are not familiar with this book, it is a sci-fi. That is not what makes it unique though. It is unusual in that it is the first complete book to have been written in Orcadian Scots for over 50 years. It does have English translation, in case you are interested in the story but are not bothered by the language element. Personally, I am intrigued by it, and I can’t wait to pick it up!

 

Coming Up…

My first blog post of next week is going to be a book review. This week, I am going to be sharing my thoughts on the next book in the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. I re-read these books in 2021 and 2022 with a view to comparing my experience of reading them as a teenager versus an adult. I have reviewed a number of the books in the series so far, and this is the fifth instalment.

On Wednesday, I will be sharing my next post in my new feature, Well, I Didn’t Know That! If I am entirely honest, I am still deciding on the feature of this post. That’s why I’m not disclosing any more information at this time.

On Friday, I will be back with a First Lines Friday feature. Seeing as how my last post (and the novel way I planned to pick the featured book) didn’t go to plan, I’m not going to christen it this time. Instead, I will share how I went about it in that post.

As always, I will be back with another Sunday Summary update to catch you up on what I’ve been reading and what I have shared throughout the week!

For now though, that is all from me in today’s Sunday Summary post. Have a wonderful evening and week and I’ll catch you in the next one.

 

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Monthly Wrap-Up – January 2023

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Hello everybody and welcome to a very hastily finished off monthly wrap-up post for January 2023! If you want to refresh yourself on the books I intended to read throughout the month, here is a link to my TBR post. 

I would normally shared my monthly wrap-up post tomorrow. However, as this month it falls on a Wednesday, the day in which I publish a regular series, I’ve decided to fast track my monthly wrap-up and publish it tonight. To accommodate the change, I prepared most of my monthly wrap-up post ahead of time, and added the last updates on my current read late this evening.

So, buckle up and let’s dive into my January reads!

 

Books Read

 

The Secret Library

The first book I picked up in 2023 was a carryover from last year. As of the end of the year, I had only made a very brief start on The Secret Library (10% ish). I took the decision not to include that book in my 2022 stats, as I felt more appropriate that it be reflected in 2023.

The Secret Library is a nice short read that covers books shared throughout history – those well known, but more importantly, those lesser known. If you like your facts and tidbits of information, then this is the kind of book that will appeal to you. It was really easy to read, well organised with concise chapters, and the pace was just right for the type of book it is.

The Secret Library was a solid start to 2023!

 

The Secret History

The Secret History

Next, I picked up The Secret History – not to be confused with the previous book I just read!

Unlike The Secret Library, The Secret History is a fictional novel with a dark academia theme. In this book, we follow a group of talented language students and the trouble they manage to embroil themselves in. I had really high hopes for this book based on recommendations from other readers (bloggers and in person), but also, because I really enjoyed my introduction to the genre last year.

I really enjoyed this book overall, although I did find a section in the middle to be a little slow-paced… and I’m not sure about the ending. It wasn’t really how I expected it to end. That said, the narrative is compelling and easy to read, if a little graphic in places. That sort of thing doesn’t bother me, but just a disclaimer that if you prefer your fiction to be less… bloody, maybe pick up a different book.

 

After You

I wanted to pick up After You having read and enjoyed its predecessor, Me Before You some time ago. This isn’t the type of genre I usually reach for, so this made a significant change from my typical TBR.

Again, After You was a hit. If I’m honest, I don’t think it was quite as good as Me Before You. However, as I’m sure you will agree, those are very big boots to fill. I enjoyed that book for the difficult topics it handled. That’s specifically why I wanted to pick it up back then! After You isn’t just an airy fairy love story – this one also deals with topics that may be difficult to address. Grief, loss and moving on are the main themes of the book. I enjoyed how well-rounded it was. Despite the themes of the book, there is plenty of humour to lift the mood throughout!

 

The Chimp Paradox

I am ending the month with my current read, The Chimp Paradox by Professor Steve Peters. As of publishing this post, I am 72% through this one, although I will be taking this book to bed with me and trying to finish it by the end of the night. 

I have already learned some useful information from this book. If you are interested in a basic overview of psychology and how the mind works, this will probably interest you. If I’m honest, I am personally not a fan of the narrative style. That’s not to say it is difficult to read or anything – I would suggest the opposite! Perhaps it is because I’m a former psychology student with some knowledge in the subject, but I find this narrative really oversimplified. That said, the target audience for this book is probably somebody who has very little knowledge at all. I’m not that person.

To me, it reads like the author is talking to a four-year-old. The narrative is repetitive, as well as oversimplified, and it grates on me a little bit. That’s not to say I haven’t been able to take anything away from this book, because that would be a lie. However, I will admit that I am reading this book to get what I can from it and move on.

 

DNF’s

 

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow

Another less successful book on my January TBR was Ezeekat’s book club pick, Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow. Thankfully I had grabbed a digital copy of this book from my library!

Having read the small amount that I did before I put this back down, I’m glad I didn’t get my own copy! I didn’t enjoy the narrative style at all. That can be a big make or break for me. Additionally, I didn’t have any great love or interest in the characters, and I thought the opening events of the opening chapter to be bland. All-in-all, disappointing. 

Needless to say, the copy was returned to the library rather quickly!

 

So, those were the books I picked up throughout the month of January. I hope you have enjoyed today’s monthly wrap-up!

What have you been reading?

 

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Sunday Summary – 29th January 2023

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Good evening all and welcome to today’s catch up post – my Sunday Summary update! As always, I hope you’ve had a brilliant week.

I have been keeping myself busy as usual. I started off the week with a Top Ten Tuesday post, in which featured my top ten new-to-me authors discovered in 2022. It turns out I read quite a few books by authors I haven’t tried before last year. If you want to find out who my favourites were, you can take a look at that post by following the link above.

On Wednesday, it was the turn of my new regular feature, Well, I Didn’t Know That! In this week’s post, I took a look at an article recently featured in New Scientist magazine. The feature of teh article is an experiment in using AI in a courtroom to defend against a speeding ticket.

On Friday, I shared a Shelf Control post. If you are unfamiliar with this series, it allows me to review the books on my to-be-read list and share why I’m excited to read them. This week’s feature is a short sci-fi crime thriller novel that I can’t wait to try.

 

Books Read

As of my last Sunday Summary update, I was coming up to 25% of the way through After You by JoJo Moyes.

Contemporary romance isn’t my typical read. However, after reading Me Before You and discovering it was a series, I knew I wanted to continue. After You is a funny read, even though it deals with grief and loss. I thought the book balanced this out really well to tackle the subject. At the same time, it doesn’t drag the book down. In this particular book, Louisa is struggling to cope. Throughout the narrative, we see her attending group therapy in attempt to move on. But of course, this isn’t the only drama going on. Life doesn’t stop after all.

Personally, After You wasn’t quite as good as Me Before You. However, those were very big shoes to fill. After You was still a solid four star read. For the type of book I don’t pick up very often, it left me a satisfied reader.

I then went on to pick up my current read as of this Sunday Summary post – The Chimp Paradox by Professor Steve Peters. If you are unfamiliar with the book, it is a non-fiction about mind management that deals with some of the psychology behind how and why we do things (or not), experience inner conflict, and how this can be managed effectively.

As of this update, I am 27% of the way through this book. It is proving an interesting read so far. I think there are elements I can take away from it. If I have one small gripe, it is that a lot of the psychology is oversimplified. For the average reader, I would say this is fine. As a former psychology student, I would personally prefer to see less simplification and a little more of the technical side. But, that’s a personal preference, and it’s certainly not going to make me put the book down.

 

Books Discovered

All is quiet on the reading list front this week –there have been no new additions to the mountain of books I already intend to read!

 

Coming Up…

My first blog post next week will be a monthly wrap-up for January. In order to fit this in with my usual schedule, I will be sharing this post late on Tuesday evening, so I can fit in as much progress as I have made as possible!

Then, on Wednesday, I will be sharing the third instalment in my new series, Well, I Didn’t Know That! For that post, I’m taking a look at an article I recently read online. From this article, I discovered several potential reads that I would not have discovered anywhere else.

On Friday, I will be sharing my February TBR. Some of the books on February‘s list are slightly shorter, so I’m being ambitious and sharing six reads I hope to pick up throughout the month. I hope you can check out that post when it goes live.

Then, last but not least, I will be back with another Sunday Summary update to catch you up on all the books I’ve read over the last week, in the usual format.

For now though, that is all from me in today’s Sunday Summary post.

What have you been reading recently? Do you have any recommendations?

 

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First Lines Friday – 14/01/2022

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Hello and welcome to today’s First Lines Friday post! First Lines Friday is a regular series in which I take the opportunity to share the opening paragraph from a variety of books. These may be books I’ve already read, are looking to read, or am even just a little bit intrigued about! Sometimes I set myself a challenge for these posts, but other times I leave it open to feature whatever catches my eye. 

For today’s post, I set myself the challenge of featuring a non-fiction book. At first, I was going through my list of non-fiction books on my TBR to find one to feature, however, today’s book is one I discovered in Goodread’s lists or recommendations whilst I was browsing around.

Can you guess what today’s featured book is?

 

There would be plenty of time for questions later.

For now, the nurses and security were intent upon breaking the lethal nine-hour barricade inside the little corner of hell that resident murderer Robert ‘Bob’ Maudsley had created. Bob and his companion, David Cheeseman, had sealed themselves inside with a third patient, David Francis, a known paedophile. He had apparently riled Bob and David Cheeseman by conducting a homosexual attack on one of their friends. Inside sources had a reason to believe, though, that their preference if opportunity had presented was to ‘go for a member of staff’.

 

 

Inside Broadmoor – Jonathan Levi & Emma French

Goodreads – Inside Broadmoor

Broadmoor. Few place names in the world have such chilling resonance. For over 150 years, it has contained the UK’s most violent, dangerous and psychopathic.

Since opening as an asylum for the criminally insane in 1863 it has housed the perpetrators of many of the most shocking crimes in history; including Jack the Ripper suspect James Kelly, serial killers Peter Sutcliffe (the Yorkshire Ripper), John Straffen and Kenneth Erskine, armed robber Charles Bronson, gangster Ronnie Kray, and cannibal Peter Bryan.

The truth about what goes on behind the Victorian walls of the high security hospital has largely remained a mystery, but now with unprecedented access TV journalist Jonathan Levi and cultural historian Emma French paint a vivid picture of life at Broadmoor, after nearly a decade observing and speaking to those on the inside.

Including interviews with the staff, its experts and the patients themselves, Inside Broadmoor is the most comprehensive study of the institution to-date.

Published at the dawn of a new era for the hospital, this is the full story of Broadmoor’s past, present and future.

 

My Thoughts…

Doesn’t that extract draw you in straightaway? Now, I appreciate that today’s snippet is quite short, however that is deliberate. Something unpleasant happens to David Francis next, and in the interest of keeping my block neutral and not risking upsetting anyone with graphic scenes, I’ve left the rest out. So there is a warning to you – if you’re not squeamish and you want to find out what happens next then you’ll have to pick this up for yourself!

Obviously I have read it and although it’s unpleasant i’m not sensitive to things like this. Naturally growing up you’ve heard of Broadmoor. When studying performing arts in high school one of our plays involved a child who had links to Broadmoor. That said, I wouldn’t say I know that much about the institution or about the people incarcerated there. The thing I like about non-fiction is that it gives you the opportunity to learn something new, and I have much to learn here. As a former student of psychology as well I am interested in the people involved from that perspective as well. Every day is a school day, so they say!

Have you read Inside Broadmoor, or anything like it? Let me know in the comments!

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Shelf Control #33 – 06/08/2021

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Happy Friday and welcome to today’s Shelf Control post! Shelf Control is a regular feature here on Reviewsfeed and is a meme run by Lisa at Bookshelf Fantasies. It’s a weekly celebration of the unread books on our shelves. Pick a book you own but haven’t read, write a post about it (suggestions: include what it’s about, why you want to read it, and when you got it), and link up!

For more info on what Shelf Control is all about, check out Lisa’s introductory post.

I like to share these posts on a regular basis as it gives me the opportunity to continually review the books on my TBR. I can also decide if I still want to read them, or whether perhaps my reading taste has changed and it’s no longer for me. A lot of the early books on my list were added several years ago now; that’s quite a lot of time for my opinion to change. What I have found, since doing the series, is that I have taken a few books off this list. It’s a productive activity, and it gives me some bookish content that I can share with you. And who knows, by featuring those books I still want to read, maybe I can introduce you to something that will take your fancy as well!

This week’s featured book is a non-fiction novel. In the grand scheme I’d say these are in the minority on my list, however there are certain subjects that I will go back to again and again. Psychology is one of them. I studied psychology at school and having really loved the subject, I’ve always kept in touch with a little. It’s not an exact science and I love all the history of the ‘science’ of dealing with mind. That is particularly important for today’s featured book, as it looks at how psychology and mental illness was treated in the 19th century.

 

Lunatics, Imbeciles and Idiots: A History of Insanity in Nineteenth-Century Britain and Ireland – Kathryn Burtinshaw & John Burt

Lunatics, Imbeciles and Idiots

Goodreads – Lunatics, iImbeciles and Idiots

In the first half of the nineteenth-century treatment of the mentally ill in Britain and Ireland underwent radical change. No longer manacled, chained and treated like wild animals, patient care was defined in law and medical understanding, and treatment of insanity developed.

Focussing on selected cases, this new study enables the reader to understand how progressively advancing attitudes and expectations affected decisions, leading to better legislation and medical practice throughout the century. Specific mental health conditions are discussed in detail and the treatments patients received are analysed in an expert way. A clear view of why institutional asylums were established, their ethos for the treatment of patients, and how they were run as palaces rather than prisons giving moral therapy to those affected becomes apparent. The changing ways in which patients were treated, and altered societal views to the incarceration of the mentally ill, are explored. The book is thoroughly illustrated and contains images of patients and asylum staff never previously published, as well as first-hand accounts of life in a nineteenth-century asylum from a patients perspective.

Written for genealogists as well as historians, this book contains clear information concerning access to asylum records and other relevant primary sources and how to interpret their contents in a meaningful way.

 

My Thoughts….

To an extent I touched on some of the topics I expect to be in this book as part of my course. With that in mind, I would say it’s probably not for those of the faint-hearted. Early psychological treatment was barbaric. I’m sure it seemed innovative at the time, but back in the day there was very little understanding of how the mind actually worked and how it could be treated (other than by brute force). I leave it at that, in case any of you are on the squeamish side I don’t want the details!

To think how far along treatment has come in just a comparatively short time, there is a lot that can be covered in this book. It will build upon the topics that I enjoyed at school and I’m also interested to see how changes in the law impacted the subject.

It’s a slightly unusual one, but I’m really interested to see what this book has to offer and I’m looking forward to learning something new!

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Sunday Summary – 23rd May 2021

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Hello everyone and welcome to today’s weekly Sunday Summary update post! I hope you’ve had a really good week wherever you are and whatever you have been doing.

Aside from the usual 9-to-5 grind and the usual reading/blogging, I’ve been doing some work on my knitting and crafting projects. This week’s focus has been working on a dotty cardigan I’m making. I also recently finished a lovely crochet blanket (that has been over a year in the making now) and I’m really pleased that I’m putting aside time to do these. Some people may laugh, but I find it very therapeutic. I’ve always been a crafty person – I don’t think that will change. 

On the blogging front, I have shared a couple of posts with you this week. My first post of the week was shared on Thursday. Last week I decided I wanted to share a Discussion Post on why I think reading books from multiple genres is of a benefit. I still really think this is the case and I would be interested to hear your thoughts as well!

On Friday, I took part in a blog tour for A Knot of Sparrows by Cheryl Rees-Price. The post is a promo of the book and I hope you can check that out. I’ve also included links to some of my favourite reviews from the tour so far too. If you want to find out more, you can do so using the link above. 

 

Books Read

My first priority of the week was finishing You Are Not So Smart by David McRaney. I did in fact finish this at the very beginning of the week as planned in last week’s Sunday Summary post. I had around 30% left to read and I really enjoyed picking up this book. It has elements of humour and the psychology featured really does make you think about yourself, and opens your eyes to the psychological tricks that you yourself are prone to. It was both entertaining and insightful and honestly, it was nice to pick up a non-fiction for a change!

Later in the week, I read the first 50 or so pages of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. I’ve really enjoyed picking up this series again. I haven’t read the books since I was a teenager and it’s really nice revisit. Looking back, they are quite easy reads (at least so far!) but there’s also a lot of detail I have forgotten since reading the books and watching the films when I was younger. I’ve only read 50 pages or so in one sitting, but I will definitely be picking this up more next week. If my experience of the first couple of books is anything to go by, I won’t be reading this one for long either.

I have listened to a little more of A Clash of Kings by George R. R. Martin, however not too much. I must confess I’ve spent more time watching TV of an evening and so I haven’t really done too much in the way of listening to audiobooks.

 

Books Discovered

A nice and quiet report this week-quite simply, there is nothing to add!

 

Coming Up…

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday post is one where I have a little bit of choice. The topic is ‘quotes from books fitting a theme’ – a theme of my choice. I haven’t chosen one yet, but I’m going to have a look at the quotes that I’ve saved on the likes of my Kindle and Goodreads and I will draft a post depending on what I have! It will be interesting to see where this post takes me.

Later in the week, I will be returning with a regular Friday feature. This was temporarily put on hold this week as I was taking part in the blog tour for A Knot of Sparrows. This week it is the turn of my Shelf Control feature post. For those of you who don’t know, in this particular post I take a look at a book on my TBR and review/discuss why I like the sound of the book, why I want to read it and generally just get myself hyped for it! I hope you can join me for that post.

That’s it for today’s Sunday Summary post. What have you been reading this week?

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Sunday Summary – 16th May 2021

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Good evening everyone and welcome to today’s usual weekly Sunday Summary update post. If you are new to my blog, this is my regular weekly update in which I talk about what I have been reading, any new books I have added to my TBR (or ‘to be read’ list) and I also discuss what posts I have planned for the following week.

This week I have gotten back to my usual, slightly calmer posting schedule. I didn’t have any tours this week, which takes the pressure off. In terms of blog posts I have published this week, I shared a book review of This is Going to Hurt by Adam Kay on Thursday and a First Lines Friday feature (no prizes for guessing when…)

 

Books Read

You are not so smart

I have been continuing to make progress with You Are Not So Smart by David McRaney.

As of last week’s Sunday Summary update post, I was around 35% of the way through the book. At the time of writing this post I have made roughly the same amount of progress again this week, taking me to 70%. I don’t have long left in the book in terms of reading time (just over an hour) and so I expect to get this finished reasonably soon.

I haven’t made any audiobook progress this week. Usually I would listen to an audiobook in the evening or on a Saturday after cleaning (now that I’m back to my usual work routine) but instead I have been watching a television show this week. It’s probably only fair that I take a brief break from George R R Martin – I have been reading and listening to a lot of his stuff lately!

 

Books Discovered

Technically I have added a book to my TBR this week, although also in a way, I haven’t. I’ve always known since reading the Six of Crows duology by Leigh Bardugo that I wanted to read her Shadow and Bone series. This is the TV series I have been watching this week and I have absolutely loved it! So, don’t be surprised if I start reading Shadow and Bone soon…

 

Coming Up…

I want to do something a little bit different this week and share my thoughts in a discussion post. I quite often talk about the range of books that I read, but it wasn’t always that way. As a teenager I used to pretty much exclusively read fantasy. It was fun, but my reading taste has certainly evolved… especially since I started my blog. So, my discussion post for this week is about why I think reading diverse range of books is a benefit to any reader. I’d also be really interested to hear your thoughts on the subject!

On Friday I am sharing a promo post as part of the blog tour for a knot of sparrows. As a result, I’ll be taking a brief break from my regular Friday features; this week would have been a shelf control post. Don’t worry, I’ll be back with this the following week!

That’s all from me in today’s Sunday Summary post. What are you reading?

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Sunday Summary – 9th May 2021

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Hello everyone and welcome to this week’s Sunday Summary weekly update post. As always, I hope you’ve had a really good week wherever and whatever you’ve been doing!

There’s been a lot going on over here at Reviewsfeed. My blogging schedule has had a bit of a shakeup this week – I posted three times by Wednesday! Normally my posts are a lot more spread out, however, I was taking part in blog tours back to back on Tuesday and Wednesday. Furthermore, I also wanted to share my monthly wrap-up for April before those posts went live. So, my April Monthly Wrap-up was posted on Monday, my blog tour extract post for Glasshouse by Morwenna Blackwood published on Tuesday and my guest post for The Legacy by Alison Knight was shared on Wednesday. Phew!

Given that I’d had a busy beginning of the week I am glad I decided to leave it there until today’s Sunday Summary post.

 

Books Read

It finally feels like I have an update I can give you this week! At last, I have finished Fire and Blood by George R. R. Martin! In last week’s Sunday Summary update post I only had a few pages left of the book. Finishing it was absolutely on the cards and I did this at the beginning of the week.

Since finishing Fire and Blood, I have picked up a book called You Are Not So Smart by David McRaney. This has been on my TBR for some time, partly because I am interested in the psychology aspect it covers, but also because it’s funny. I’ve made pretty good progress with this book this week as well. As of writing this post, I have read 35% of the book. I’m finding it easy to pick up and put down as the chapters are nicely separated and concise. This one definitely won’t be taking as long as Fire and Blood to finish!

I have also listened to a couple more chapters of A Clash of Kings this week. Nothing much to write home about, but progress is progress. With something as long as this, even chipping away a little bit at a time makes a difference.

 

Books Discovered

Aside from buying my copy of You Are Not So Smart to start reading the book, there have been no other purchases or additions to my TBR this week!

 

Coming Up…

This week I plan to feature a review for a book I read last year based on a recommendation from a work colleague, and I loved it! It’s had quite an effect on me; at times it the easiest, funniest book to read and yet the very next chapter can have some very hard-hitting content that opens your eyes to the truth behind the struggles of the NHS doctor. This is Going to Hurt by Adam Kay was one of my favourite reads last year and I’m looking forward to sharing my full thoughts with you this week.

Later in the week my regular First Lines Friday feature will be back! I haven’t chosen this week’s featured book as yet but that’s half the fun and I hope you enjoy the post once it’s drafted and shared.

 

That’s it for today’s Sunday Summary post. What are you reading this week?

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