PositiveSlate...she combines journalism and therapy, most notably in her \'Dear Therapist\' advice column for the Atlantic, which itself somewhat makes the argument for therapy based on the fact that the questions are often far too complicated ever to be answered in the span of one response, though Gottlieb does her best ... There’s something satisfyingly voyeuristic and intimate about getting to listen in on anyone else’s therapy, a feeling Gottlieb amplifies by contextualizing what is actually happening in each session from a more clinical perspective. She does this by gently and constantly explaining to the reader what exactly therapists are trying to do with their patients, sharing language and frameworks ... It’s strange to see Gottlieb, a therapist herself, seemingly imply that someone can be too \'together\' to benefit from talking to someone. And yet, I’m glad she grapples with this. Watching her come to the realization that the process has things to offer her beyond a quick solution is a lesson in and of itself.
David Wallace-Wells
RaveSlate...a frightening, compelling text that re-raises the question: In the face of existential threat, what role can storytelling hope to play? ... Wallace-Wells is an extremely adept storyteller, simultaneously urgent and humane despite the technical difficulty of his subject ... he takes pains to explain where in the world things will be the worst (usually poorer places closer to the equator) ... Wallace-Wells does a terrifyingly good job of moving between the specific and the abstract ... Each chapter is complete enough to work as a standalone essay, and yet together they serve as....well, if I had to sum it up, a critique of our perception that the human story is one of progress ... One frustrating part of the book, though, is the way it simultaneously backs up its central thesis—it is worse than you think—while consistently reassuring us that there is still time to do something about it ... The Uninhabitable Earth isn’t a guide to how to actually do this, though it does suggest that the barriers to action aren’t as high as we think ... He inverts a somewhat classic debate on liberal hypocrisy so delicately I gasped ... What I can’t help but wish is that it also offered them a plan, in part because Wallace-Wells has proven himself to be such a skilled argument-maker and remarkable storyteller on the hardest subject of our time.
Ed. by Bandy X. Lee and Robert Jay Lifton
PositiveSlate...The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump, is an anthology of essays primarily written by mental health professionals following a Yale conference about the 'duty to warn'... These essays argue all kinds of things, but primarily they assert that not only is Trump crazy, he is dangerous and making the rest of us crazy, too ...far more surprising and interesting text...greatest contribution is that it could help end the endless discussion of the Goldwater rule... All of this analysis is alarming, but very little of it is new ...this last section that the book feels most useful — not because it offers a 25th Amendment – like path for escape, but because in taking the time to explain the forces surrounding Trump, it imparts some smaller, but more specific lessons.
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay[/caption]
