Tag: Well I Didn’t Know That

Well, I Didn’t Know That! #16 – Normal Women

In today’s Well, I Didn’t Know That! post, I knew I wanted to feature a podcast. I have gotten out of the habit of listening to them. This post felt like the perfect opportunity to dive back in, find a show/topic that I really enjoy… and feature it! And that I did! In today’s post, I feature Philippa Gregory’s podcast, Normal Women.

The show discusses various topics relating to women throughout the last 900 years. The content stems from research Philippa has undertaken in writing her upcoming book of the same name.

The topic I took particular interest in relates to women, and whether they have been perpetually underpaid for their labour in society.

 

The Statistics

The gender pay gap between young women, whilst it does exist, it far less dramatic than women in later life.

I discovered via this podcast that by the time women are in the 50-59 age bracket, they are paid 80p for every £1 earned by a man. That’s a huge difference! Not covered in the podcast, but when you consider women often lose out on pension contributions if they take a career break to have and raise children – that’s quite a disadvantage!

 

Domestic – Work?

Domestic work used to be classified as work by political scientists (aka economists) in British censuses, even if it wasn’t paid for.

Women either typically worked at home, or assisted their husbands in the labour market. For example, women were the backbone of upholding miners and their labour in the 19th century. They often performed tasks for their husbands that enabled them to do their jobs – mending kit, laundry etc. So much so, wives of miners often experienced more health complications than the men who performed the labour in the dangerous conditions.

Other examples include women working for their husband’s businesses and not being paid equally. As assistants, they were paid for assisting other paid workers… but for some reason, not their husbands. It was also customary to hire men for positions and assume that women would take up ancillary roles (headteacher/matron, priest/pastoral care) to name a couple of examples.

Nowadays, domestic work isn’t taken into account in the modern census even though it’s believed to make up 60% of GDP.

 

History

It may surprise you to learn that there are glimmers of times in history when women could earn as much as men.

 

14th Century

The podcast stated that the Black Death wiped out between 45-60% of the British population in 1340’s. The consequences of that meant that demand for labour skyrocketed. Women not bound into existing working contracts and able to take up casual labour capitalised on the opportunity. They demanded equal pay. Sounds like we’re going in the right direction, doesn’t it? Well, just a few years later in 1351, the government stepped in. To prevent women from being able to demand a fair share, they introduced the Statute of Labourers. This prevented anyone from demanding a wage higher than they earned prior to the epidemic. For women, that meant putting them back ‘in their place’ behind men.

 

16th Century

It’s not the only time the government introduced laws that directly disadvantaged women. The Statute of Artificers 1562 Act meant that anybody, including women doing domestic work around the house, could be called to perform agricultural labour. They couldn’t refuse without suffering imprisonment. Further, women had to be employed year-round – they couldn’t work for themselves. In principle, the law was brought about to control trade and encourage training in skilled professions. In practice, it meant that women were ‘apprenticed’ to domestic chores they were already doing, and not paid a penny for their efforts.

 

Skills women contributed to the economy were also frequently replaced by advances and technology. As they were unable to obtain mortgages or take out loans, they were prevented from starting businesses of any kind of industrial scale like their male counterparts. Their manual labour wasn’t required, and they couldn’t share a slice of the pie either. 

Only in 1919 was UK law was changed to allow women to enter legal professions. Previously, they had been barred from the opportunities for the required education and also to practice.

 

Present Day

Historically, women have been underpaid and severely disadvantaged. Whilst women have significantly more rights than they ever did before, that’s not to say that we’ve caught up.

Normal Women highlighted that in the modern labour force, women hold the majority of low pay jobs even when working – the care sector particularly.

Women are being actively recruited into STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) professions, providing opportunities for specialisation that hasn’t always been available. However, statistically, it has been proven that when women are brought into a profession, the remuneration for these jobs goes down over time. It’s proof of women being paid less than their male counterparts, otherwise the average wouldn’t come down!

 

Summary

If you have enjoyed the content of the podcast and this post, then keep your eyes out for Philippa Gregory‘s book of the same name being published in February 2024.

If you’re interested in other books on this theme, I can also recommend Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Pérez.

 

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Well I Didn’t Know That! #13

In reality, today’s Well, I Didn’t Know That! post would be better named Well, I Don’t Know That… but that wouldn’t be in keeping with the series. You see, I have a bit of a dilemma about Twitter and my continued use of it.

Don’t worry – I’m not going to do anything drastic. But, I wanted to take this opportunity to talk through my feelings on the already established and upcoming changes to the website and why I have doubts about it.

Pros

On the one hand, I don’t want to lose the community I’m already a part of, or the followers that access my content through the website. The biggest proportion of my following comes from Twitter. Making the decision to not continue using it would be quite substantial.

When it comes to social media, I am not the most proactive. To be honest, I try to avoid getting sucked into it. It doesn’t always work. Especially knowing they are designed to keep your attention, I don’t like to spend too much time on them. If I let myself, I could waste a lot of time! I already have a full-time job, a house to look after, and this blog to maintain. I don’t really have the time. Ethically speaking, I’m also not a fan of being manipulated in that way in order to make the networks more money.

I’ve taken a long way round to get into what I’m trying to say, but my point here is that I’m not sure I would be able to rebuild my following on another site very quickly. I don’t really have the motivation to do it as I don’t like using social media. It’s also very difficult rebuilding yourself from the ground up. I may try to divert some of my following two other social media like Threads via my blog and existing platforms as a compromise (wink wink, nudge nudge).

Already many people in the community have already started doing the same thing. Even if they haven’t left Twitter yet, they are certainly preparing for the possibility. It’s a shame, because the once unified community is now becoming fractured across many alternative platforms.

 

Cons

As someone who only uses Twitter to have a flick through content in the bookish community and post my blog links, I’m not remotely interested in any of the changes that are looking to be made on the site. I don’t want an ‘everything’ app. I don’t want an app where I can shop, listen to a podcast, or link my financial information to. HonestIy, wouldn’t want this on a personal account, and my Twitter account isn’t even that. It’s supposed to end up so fundamentally different from the site I signed up to in 2017, and I’m not onboard with the changes.

Whilst I’m being honest, I’m also really not a fan of the rebranding that Musk is doing. I have seen a number of comments along the lines of the new branding making the app look more like an x-rated site… and I’m sure you’ll agree! As the saying goes, if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it! Twitter is an iconic brand. Even if the changes to take and the site changes, it will always be Twitter. 

 

Thoughts?

The upshot of this post is that I haven’t decided what I’m going to do yet. I’m not going to be making any changes in the near future, but it is on my mind. Whilst Twitter (X) still largely resembles a social network and not an ‘everything app’, I will continue to use it. However, I suspect in the coming months I will be trying to build up my following on an alternative platform as I will eventually stop using it.

Those are my ramblings for today’s Well, I Didn’t Know That! post. 

What are your thoughts on the changes that have been made with Twitter so far? Are you onboard, or on the fence like me?

 

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Well, I Didn’t Know That! #12

I’m excited to explore today’s Well, I Didn’t Know That! feature. I recently subscribed to Kindle Unlimited for the very first time. Naturally, I wanted to take the time to explore the content available on the site… and I thought it would be a perfect feature to share in this post.

If you are not a subscriber, then you may be unaware of what Kindle Unlimited gives you access to. Today’s Well, I Didn’t Know That! post is about correcting that!

https://www.amazon.com/Browse-Kindle-Unlimited-Books/

Access to Books

Kindle Unlimited is a bit like a digital library. Whilst you can borrow more books at a time than a traditional library would lend you, there is still a limit as to how many books you can borrow at a time. But, there is also the obvious fact that you are borrowing the books. This means these books won’t be in your library indefinitely. On the upside, if you read a lot of books in a month, paying the monthly subscription could save you money compared to buying the books outright!

Another perk of Kindle Unlimited is that readers can access some exclusive books to the service. Some authors have signed up with Amazon to publish exclusively with them. As a result, you won’t find their books anywhere else.

There are some big titles included in Kindle Unlimited. From the Harry Potter series, to J. R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, there are some popular books available. If you are a fan of Colleen Hoover, you are also in luck.

As a sidenote, I’ve always had a bit of a gripe with Amazon’s bias towards advertising and recommending me romance books. It can only be because I’m female. The site literally has access to my reading and purchase history. There are very few books that fall anywhere near the romance category. And yet, they keep recommending them. Before I paid to remove the advertisements on the lock screen, I always got ads for romance books with half-naked men on the cover. Books I have never bought before, nor frankly will I! 

Anyway, I digress…

 

Magazines

Access to magazines recently moved over to Kindle Unlimited when Amazon chose to wind down subscriptions from their Newsstand.

As a baseline for comparison, I was previously a subscriber of a magazine/newspaper service called Readly. That service had very good coverage of magazines. From big titles to some very niche publications (I found a magazine on the site dedicated to Minecraft, which I featured earlier on in this series). Comparing Kindle Unlimited to that offering, I would say it is reasonable. All the big titles that I would actively look for on Readly are also available on Kindle Unlimited. It probably won’t surprise you to learn that some of the niche titles are not available. However, I would say for the average reader, you are going to find the content you’re looking for.

Categories of content include lifestyle, celebrity, hobbies, sport, nature and science, and even a little bit of news and political. Magazines that I was looking for that are available range from The Knitter to The Writing Magazine, BBC History, National Geographic and BBC Science Focus.

In broad terms, if you like to read popular titles, then you’re covered!

 

Newspapers

If you are looking for access to newspaper subscriptions, then I would suggest looking elsewhere. As I mentioned above, I recently made the switch to Kindle Unlimited from a subscription service called Readly. That particular subscription is dedicated to both magazines and newspapers. It has quite a good selection of the daily newspapers.

I have only been able to find an entry for The Evening Standard newspaper in Kindle Unlimited. Whilst the Newsstand FAQ indicated that limited titles would be available under KU, I didn’t really expect it to be that limited! I didn’t trawl through all the listings, as there were over 200 of them. However, I probably went through about 100. 

As it happens, I’m not a newspaper reader anyway. It’s not something I’ve ever done with any regularity, and frankly, the news is just depressing! I even try to avoid watching the news nowadays. 

 

 

So, there is my overview of what is available through a Kindle Unlimited subscription in today’s Well, I Didn’t Know That! post.

Are you a subscriber? What benefits do you enjoy from the service? Let me know in the comments!

 

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Well, I Didn’t Know That! #11

For today’s Well, I Didn’t Know That! feature, I am sharing a streaming service dedicated to history lovers. I had no idea it existed until I got an offer on a reduced subscription for six months through a professional membership body.

Naturally, as a fan of history, I’ve decided to give it a go – and today’s post is all about making you aware of it!

If you are interested in reading more posts from this mini-series on my blog, here is a link to the original post and an index of the posts I have shared so far!

 

What is History Hit?

The service I’m talking about in today’s post is called History Hit. In reality, it is more than a streaming service… but I’ll talk about more of that below. It also seems to be continually growing, so the features I outline in today’s post could become outdated quickly!

History Hit was set up in order to make history accessible to everybody across modern platforms. And the site does so across a variety of mediums.

Whatever period of history you’re interested in, you can easily find it on the site. Across all of its mediums, different periods of history are segregated by time period accordingly. If you want to read about the ancients, or watch a documentary about the medieval period, they each have their own designated section. Multiple periods of history are covered; from ancient history to 20th century, revolutions and world wars… there is something for everyone!

 

Features

 

Documentaries and Podcasts

Regardless of how or when you like to dabble in history, there is a medium for each occasion. If you enjoy watching documentaries, then there are hundreds available on the subscription service. Again, all of these are broken down by category based on their time period. For example, I recently explored the Ancient section and watched a couple of documentaries on the last days of Pompeii before Mount Vesuvius erupted and destroyed the town in 79 A.D.

The documentaries available vary in length. The shortest documentary I have seen whilst browsing is just 20 minutes long. In contrast, the second Pompeii documentary I watched was around 55 minutes.

If you aren’t in a position to be able to watch anything, then good news! There are thousands of podcast episodes already available on the site, and they are updated each week with brand-new ones. Earlier this week, I listened to a couple of very different podcasts. The first of those was about Tutankhamun and Ancient Egypt. The second was about one of the most famous buildings in Greece, the Parthenon.

Although I have definitely shown a bias towards ancient history here (it’s a period I enjoy, clearly), there is the variety in time periods I’ve already discussed. I’ve only been using the site for a few days, so I still have plenty to explore myself.

 

Articles & Travel Guides

If you only have a few minutes, then there are plenty of articles on that website that you can access and read instead! As a reader, this is obviously something that will appeal to me. I’m hoping the site will be a good way of gaining an introduction to a topic that I might then go away to find out more about. That may be finding other media on their site about it (such as a podcast or documentary) or by going away and reading something else.

One further avenue they seem to be branching out into is travel. Anybody wanting to go and visit key historic sites as part of their holiday travels can also consult the site in order to get recommendations and expert advice. This is something I haven’t explored, but it’s not something I’ve seen elsewhere either. It’s definitely a unique selling point if this is the sort of holiday you like to plan!

 

How can I access it?

History Hit have their own app that can be downloaded on smart devices. I have the app downloaded on my phone so I could watch documentaries or listen to podcasts on the go. They also have an app that can be downloaded onto newer smart TVs, or through services such as the Amazon fire stick, Chromecast or similar.

They also have their website for articles and the travel guide information.

 

I wanted to feature History Hit in this Well, I Didn’t Know That! post as it has such variety in its media. It touches on reading, but also other media to explore depending on personal preferences or situation. I’ve also enjoyed using the site and plan to continue exploring new time periods, whether that’s watching a documentary at home or listening to a podcast at work. 

I hope I’ve been able to share something new with you in today’s Well, I Didn’t Know That! post.

Had you heard of History Hit? Do you subscribe?

 

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Well, I Didn’t Know That! #10

For today’s Well, I Didn’t Know That! post, I was looking for a different type of magazine to feature. If you’re a fan of gaming, in particular Minecraft, then I hope you enjoy today’s post!

If you want to check out more about this series, here is a link to the introduction post for my Well, I Didn’t Know That! posts.

I never expected to come across a magazine dedicated to Minecraft. But, then, again, it is such a big name now that why wouldn’t I? The particular section of the magazine that caught my eye concerns upcoming changes and new features in the new update to be released shortly. In previous years, I have followed the updates and new features quite closely. This year I haven’t so much. I found all those in one place, so let’s talk about them in today’s Well, I Didn’t Know That! post. 

 

Recent Changes to the Game

Before I dive into the latest updates and new features, let’s go over what has been added to the game in recent years. If you played this game in your youth, or you’ve been away for awhile, there are some significant changes. The most significant of those being the overhaul of terrain generation introduced in the Caves and Cliffs update in 2021. Worlds got deeper and taller. Previous generation had worlds generating in a 256 block range, but new worlds post update can be created naturally in a 320 block range, with further capacity to build an additional 64 blocks above even the tallest mountains!

Cave generation was overhauled too, with the sizes of caves upscaled thanks to the generation changes. Several cave specific biomes were also introduced, making diving beneath the surface that more interesting!

A peek at new cave generation from the surface in Minecraft - Bedrock edition

After that, we had the Wild update. In this update, existing biomes were updated, as well as new biomes added. Swamps finally got their own tree type in the game – Mangrove. The Deep Dark and Ancient Cities were introduced in the depths of caves. New mobs and blocks were added, and the ‘builders’ who like to flex their creativity had a whole new block palette to work with.

The latest update, Trails and Tales, is both the explorers and builders dream! Here’s why!

 

Trails and Tales

The long-anticipated archaeology features are finally landing in game. There are new structures to explore, ancient species, relics and flora to uncover, and new tools to explore with. Not only that, but existing structures have also been updated; ocean ruins can also yield new items for the brave explorers!

Builders can also enjoy new blocks and details in this latest update. A new biome is being introduced along with a new wood type – Cherry Blossom. Bamboo is also gaining more uses in this update, as it also gets its own variant of block types (similar to other wood types currently in game).

Some changes to existing items are also exciting – the smithing table (introduced in the Village and Pillage update) is finally going to be functional to players, allowing addition of new armour trims, not just a villager workstation. Even simple changes like being able to hang signs, and interact with both sides, are included. It’s the simple things, folks!

For the technical builders and redstone fanatics (Minecraft’s equivalent of electricity, to those of us undisciplined in its use), a new variant of skulk sensor is being introduced. I’m not a techie, so I can’t explain in detail this change. In essence, I think they can be programmed to react to certain sounds. If you want to look into this one yourself, I’ll have to point you to the Minecraft wiki for more information.

 

Summary

There are so many new features and changes that I couldn’t possibly feature them all here! As of today’s post, Minecraft have just started dropping pre-release candidates to those wanting to test and explore new features. Typically, that means the update is just a few weeks away.

That’s all for today’s Well, I Didn’t Know That! post. 

Do you, or have you played Minecraft? Are you excited for the new update? Let me know in the comments!

 

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Well, I Didn’t Know That! #9

For today’s Well, I Didn’t Know That! feature, I am taking a look at new-to-me features on StoryGraph. If you’re not familiar with the site, it is an independent alternative to the likes of Goodreads. It allows you to track reading progress, organise the books you want to read, and set reading challenges. All of this kind of functionality is already in Goodreads. However, there are differences between the sites. In this Well, I Didn’t Know That! feature most, I intend to explore some of those.

Before I dive in, here is a link to the introduction post for my Well, I Didn’t Know That! series, in case you want to find out more.

Now, let’s go and check out Storygraph’s amazing features!

 

Reading Challenge flexibility

Currently, the Goodreads website only allows you to set a reading goal based on the number of books you aim to finish in a year. Storygraph is slightly different and offers more options for setting a yearly reading goal.

If you want to track your reading based on page count, rather than book count, that option is available to you. The best feature though, especially for audiobook listeners, is that the website can track your reading goal based on time listened. All you have to do is make sure the format of the book is set to audio, and that an option in your settings, records audiobook time in minutes rather than pages. The rest is all done for you!

This is functionality not yet available on Goodreads, and great for audiobook listeners.

 

The Devil’s in the details

Both Goodreads and Storygraph have ways in which to filter down your reading lists. Whether that’s book you’ve read, or books you have on your TBR.

As a veteran Goodreads user, I was surprised to see that Storygraph has a lot more functionality in terms of filtering and sorting books. Each book entry into the site records criteria such as mood, pace, length, format and even content warnings. And even better still, all of these are searchable/usable data points.

If you want to take a look at your bookish stats and see what mood the books you read are, that information is available to you! Here is an example of my stats based on my 2023 reading so far!

 

These fields are also searchable in your reading list section. For example, if you know you wanted to read a faced-paced, mysterious book between 300 and 499 pages long, the website can bring up listings from your reading list based on that criteria. The site is also flexible in that it can bring up entries matching any or all of those criteria! I’ve given just a basic example here, but there is a lot more detail and flexibility in the way in which information about books can be used.

 

Buddy Reads

A feature I haven’t used yet, but would like to be able to use in the future, is Buddy Reads!

Having had a look at the details on the website, you can set up a buddy read with multiple friends and share your thoughts on the book between the group as you go. A really great feature is that comments/spoilers will only be unlocked once your fellow reader has reached the same point at which you submit the comment. Not only is that incentive to keep reading, but this way, you’re not spoiling anything either. You can submit comments/discussion points at your convenience, but not in a way that ruins the other person’s experience.

It is also possible to get recommendations on books to buddy read with a certain group, depending on your individual tastes. This is behind a pay wall, I will disclose. Personally, I don’t pay to access all the features on the site as yet. However, if it continues to improve as I think it will, then I might consider it in future.

 

Upcoming New Feature – Book Club

I also want to make a brief mention of an upcoming feature I discovered when researching for this post. I’m looking forward to trying it for myself. At the bottom of the homepage of StoryGraph, there are details on functionality available on the site. Some of this is much like Goodreads, whereas others are improvements.

The last of these is an upcoming feature – the ability to set up a bookclub, vote on books, and have discussions about them… all on Storygraph. 

If this could be done within a site I already use to track my reading, I would consider this a massive improvement to using a separate site such as Fable. It would also be a great way to reach out to like-minded readers, as the size and popularity of the site will make for a greater community to interact with. 

 

I hope you have enjoyed today’s Well, I Didn’t Know That! post.

Do you use Goodreads, Storygraph, or any other means of logging your reading progress? Do you have any preferences on how you manage your reading?

Let me know in the comments!

 

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Well I Didn’t Know That! #8

Everybody has money on their minds right now. We are in the depths of a cost of living crisis. However bad things may seem, they are arguably better now than they were in Britain during the 1800s… when you could be thrown in prison on an indefinite charge if you owed money to someone, or many people. That is the topic of today’s Well I Didn’t Know That! post. 

To quickly recap the premise of this feature, the aim is to encourage reading in all ways. Whilst I talk about books a lot, there are plenty of other ways to learn. So far, I’ve featured news articles, websites, periodicals and a podcast. Here is a link back to this introductory post for more information. 

 

Today’s Well I Didn’t Know That! feature post covers an article I read in April 2023’s edition of BBC History magazine. Whilst the topic of the post is about the misery many people suffered as a result of the debtor’s prison, the article also highlights that the British economy could not have thrived without it. If you want to read the article for yourself, it starts on page 36.

 

The British economy in the 1800’s

Much like today, the British economy relied heavily on credit in the 1800s. Rather than big institutions as is more familiar today, it was common to owe money to individual traders. How you were assessed for credit depended on your reputation and standing in society. Bizarrely, factors including attending church went a long way to bolstering your reputation, meaning you are more likely to be given credit. There were no such thing as credit scores based on your actual finances in those days!

However, if you fell afoul of your creditors, they could pay a small fee to arrange your arrest and incarceration in a debtor’s prison.

 

What Was a Debtor’s Prison?

There were many debtor’s prisons throughout Britain during the 18th and 19th century. They were places where individuals were held until such time as their financial matters are resolved (either by family or friends, or by working off the debt themselves).

The kicker in this arrangement is that being committed to the debtor’s prison wasn’t free. It was the responsibility of the imprisoned to pay for their commitment costs, as well as for their eventual release. It was also common for there to be better sides of prison than others. For an additional fee, you could upgrade to the better side, and have access to what we would consider basic items now, such as private space and bedding, in exchange for rent.

Depending on your situation, this could be beneficial or not. If you found yourself in the circumstance of having to work your way out of the debtor’s prison, then your profession may warrant the need for private space to work. If your family also joined you in debtor’s prison (because that was a thing – married women were not responsible for finances and could therefore not be legally imprisoned, yet frequently followed their husbands to stay together).

 

What changed?

A shift in the way British people worked changed the system irrevocably. Whereas individuals were frequently tradesmen in their own right in the 18th century, there was a shift towards what is called wage labour by the 19th century. To you and me, that’s working for another and being paid as wage to do so… much as many of us do today. This increase in wage labour enabled people to pay cash for their goods rather than depend on credit. As a result, the need for credit dwindled; fewer individuals defaulted and debtor’s prisons fell out of use. In 1869, the law allowing indefinite imprisonment for owing money to another, without trial, was overturned.

 

Debtor’s prisons shattered the lives of many families. Even famous authors such as Charles Dickens had their lives overturned by this scenario. As many as 1 in 25 men were at risk of being thrown in debtor’s prison at some point. The impact of this practice can be seen in works of Charles Dickens literature; in his novel, Little Dorrit, a character is waiting for release from debtor’s prison. In David Copperfield, a character mirrors Charles’s own life in having to leave school to support his family. His father was imprisoned for three months in 1824.

So, that is all for today’s Well I Didn’t Know That! feature post.

Did you know about the existence of debtor’s prisons? 

 

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Well, I Didn’t Know That! #7

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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Well, I Didn’t Know That! #6

In today’s Well, I Didn’t Know That! post, I take a deeper dive into a website I use several times a week. I do so even without fully using or understanding the functionality available to readers. I’ve decided to discover what more it has to offer!

As you will probably know from my blog by now, I use Goodreads to track my reading. Goodreads is a massive database with a large community of like-minded readers. Yet, this is the kind of functionality that I don’t use all that often. So, if like me, you use Goodreads as a database and not much more, let’s dive into some of the functionality you can make the most of to improve your experience.

News, articles & recommendations

Overview

One of the functionalities I forget about the most is access to bookish news and articles about a variety of topics.

Some recent examples of these articles include recommendations for reading around certain topics (such as Valentine’s Day and Black History Month). There are also articles around topics like best books of the year, anticipated new releases; well, anything you can imagine. If you want to keep an eye on bookish news, then don’t be so quick to overlook Goodreads as a source of scoop. I won’t be any more!

 

Finding These Features – Website

However, you have to know where to look in order to find them. If you are using the web then it is a lot easier.

You can access recent news and articles via links embedded into the homepage. Equally, you can navigate to the browse menu and locate the ‘News and interviews’ page from there.

 

Finding These Features – Mobile App

If you want to locate the same page via the mobile app, click on the Discover tab. At the top of the page, there is a link to the latest post shared. If you click that link, a web browser will open. From there, follow the link to the news and interviews page at the top.

There are also a limited number of small boxes at the top of your homepage (picture above) with links to news articles. However, these are visually unappealing and don’t necessarily indicate where they’re taking you on the website. I would recommend paying attention to them now you know what they are!

 

Community – Groups, Lists & More!

 

Groups – Overview

There are so many community aspects to Goodreads that I just don’t use day today. From making friends and joining like-minded readers in a group, to sharing lists of books with a common theme (and this is very open, you can decide what you like). There are lots of things you can do to share with other readers. You can also interact with other readers and the content they create as well.

Groups are a great way to interact with other readers in a safe environment. Groups are often very well-moderated and vary in topics or themes. If you’re looking for readers of a certain genre, there is absolutely a group for that. If you want to join a catch-up bookclub, there’s a group (or two) for that too!

 

Lists – Overview

The community curated lists are a great way of finding books based on the topic that may not necessarily make it into a mainstream curation article. Particularly if you are a fan of indie, authors, or less mainstream novels, these lists can be a great way of finding new or different reads based on this kind of criteria. For example, I took a look at a few lists that have been created based on favourite and or strong, independent, or smart women. Partly, I wanted to see if this was a thing (and I can assure you it is). But, I also wanted to compare the books in those lists with my future books in the Top Ten Tuesday post I shared yesterday. There are some commonalities, which is great to see. But, more importantly, there are plenty more books that I haven’t yet read.

If you’re looking for recommendations, this can be a great way of finding something new! Having gone out of my way to explore what other functionality Goodreads has to offer, I will be making more of an effort to engage with this content in future.

 

Finding These Features

Finding these features on both the Web and mobile are considerably easier than the previous section. If you are looking for groups, this can be found on the website by Clicking on the community menu, item, and selecting groups. In the app, click on the more tab in the bottom, right screen, and then select groups.

To find lists on the web, click on the browse menu item, and then select lists. If you want to find the same content in the mobile app, they can be located in the bottom of the Discover tab.

 

I hope you have learned something in today’s Well, I Didn’t Know That! post. Did you know about these functions on Goodreads? Do you actively use them?

 

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Well, I Didn’t Know That! #5

In today’s Well I Didn’t Know That! post, I feature an article in BBC History magazine which is topical to my reading theme for this month. Over the course of February, I am picking up multiple books inspired by the fact that it is black history month.

I would like to stress that whilst the topic I’m going to discuss is a controversial one, my views are going to remain impartial in this post. I’m sure a lot of people have a lot of opinions, and I won’t encourage people to get political about it. That’s not what my blog is about. Instead, I am using this post to highlight historic racial injustice when it comes to abortion access and the rhetoric used.

 

BBC History – The Long Fight Over Abortion Rights in the US

I told you the topic was a controversial one. So much so, debated even publishing the post at all. As a compromise, I’m deliberately going to turn the comments off on this post and social media. This post isn’t an invitation to express your opinion. Whilst I would normally encourage any interaction on my blog, we are avoiding any confrontation by switching off this one.

Instead, this post is to emphasise something I learned as a result of this article. Throughout history, abortion and the rights of women versus the rights of children has been a sore subject. But did you know that access to abortions, even during a time when they weren’t strictly legal, has been very dependent on race? If you want to take a look at the article itself, it can be found in the February 2023 edition of the magazine, starting on page 14.

You would like to think that regardless of your heritage or your skin colour, that women are perceived as just that. Especially when it comes to medical aid and care, it shouldn’t make a difference. That’s not to say it comes to pass that way. As I have learnt recently in reading Becoming by Michelle Obama, Black Americans in Chicago would not reach out for help medically, largely due to lack of trust. Her own father suffered with multiple sclerosis and would not seek out help until much too late. He suffered on, never missing a day of work. 

 

Racial inequality over access to abortion

As the BBC History article points out, even when it comes to female care, access to abortion (and even coercion into both abortion and sterilisation) was made more readily available to black people, but denied of anyone classified as white. Some argued that such was “essential to stop the multiplication of the unfit for racial betterment”.

Frankly, I think this is disgusting. It comes from a distinct lack of representation of black people (largely a result of other inequalities, preventing access to education/opportunities etc), and a misguided belief of white supremacy in those who did pull the strings. I had no idea that such prejudice even existed in the abortion argument. It is hard for somebody so open minded to consider that other people are not, or have historically not been, so.

 

Summary

Regardless of which side of the fence you sit on, there are radical and controversial views that colour the argument. My firm belief is that treatment of individuals, access to healthcare and human rights should not depend on your heritage. It shouldn’t matter what colour your skin is, or where your parents came from. We should all have equal access.

With the recent re-emergence of this argument, it is important to highlight disparities that have come before. Mainly, to make sure they don’t happen again.

 

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