Sheila's Feel Good Blog
This is an amazing read! It leaps from relativity to Cubism to Surrealism, to the optimism in Star Trek and the nihilism in Casablanca. It explains quantum mechanics using a hilarious analogy of Putin punching a kangaroo. From there it goes on to existentialism, individualism and the space race. Higgs has written a factual book... Continue Reading →
This is an absolutely fascinating read. Written by a scientist, it explores the research into ways our minds influence our physical well-being, our tolerance of pain and our immunity. The first chapter is all about the placebo effect. So far so good, most of us have heard of this and feel slightly self-conscious about the truth... Continue Reading →
This is one of the saddest books I've ever read. That's not to say it isn't good, it is. But it is also pretty unrelentingly sad. Sally Magnusson, daughter of the well-known writer and TV personality, Magnus Magnusson, writes both her mother's life story and the story of the mother's descent into dementia. Along the... Continue Reading →
https://www.facebook.com/mobymusic/videos/10154690698776108/ Watching this powerful video made by Steve Cutts for the song 'Are you lost in the world like me?' reminded me of how much I was impacted by reading The Village Effect by Susan Pinker earlier this year. Pinker makes one point. Yes, only the one point! But she makes it really effectively and what... Continue Reading →
Yesterday evening I enjoyed a lovely meal with a group of girlfriends I hadn't seen for a while. On previous such occasions the main focus of our conversation would be about the personal details of our lives "how are the kids doing?", "Where are you going on holiday?", that type of stuff. But last night... Continue Reading →
The story of a broken family, broken through several generations then formed and broken again, this book is heart-wrenching but brilliant. A debut novel for Taiye Selasi, it won the Granta best young British novelist 2013 prize, deservedly so. It is the story of a Nigerian-Ghanaian family who are trying to make a new life... Continue Reading →
There is a mountain range that should never be climbed. Every time we pray 'Yours Lord is the Kingdom, the Power and the Glory' we are reminding ourselves of three mountains we all make regular attempts to climb. I have just come to the end of a second 'Beginner's Course' - we have gone through... Continue Reading →
On Wednesday evening as part of our Lent course, a group of us from church studied a passage from Romans 12: 9-21. In the CEV the chapter is entitled 'How to live the new life of Love'. How to... indeed... that is the question. This passage gets really specific. 21 instructions follow one after the... Continue Reading →
(this review contains no plot spoilers) This is a book that deserves the widest possible reading. It covers the Palestinian - Jewish conflict through the experiences of one family over sixty years beginning before 1948, the establishment of the State of Israel and ending around 2002. The story traces the lives, loves and losses of... Continue Reading →
In spite of having been an English teacher I never used to like poetry. I think trying to get spotty thirteen year olds to appreciate Coleridge or Keats, ruined it for me (and probably for them). However in the last few years I admit I've been reading it for pleasure. Thank you Alison Farnell, for... Continue Reading →
