#oliver keller

[quotesfrommyreading]

Fireflies, known as lightning bugs in the South and Midwest, are neither flies nor bugs. Scientists save the word “bug” for a specific kind of insect with sucking mouthparts—a definition that excludes ants, butterflies and beetles. Fireflies are beetles—magical, but still six-legged insects.

Adult fireflies use their glow as “a love song in light,” as Tennessee-based firefly expert Lynn Faust puts it. A male will flash his signal, and a female will flash a response when she recognizes one of her own species. The females of a few firefly species Heckscher studies can also manipulate their flashes to lure fireflies from other species, which they then eat. In firefly larvae, the glow warns predators of toxic chemical defenses, much as the red of a ladybug or the orange of a monarch butterfly does.

A number of land creatures make light from chemicals, including various fungi, earthworms, millipedes and fungus gnats, Lewis writes. But beetles are the champion, with about 2,500 different species that make light, most of them fireflies. Their glow comes from an abdominal organ called the lantern. Inside that organ, oxygen interacts with a small, energy-packed molecule called luciferin. Some scientists believe fireflies create their pulsating patterns by regulating the flow of air.

There are at least 2,200 firefly species around the globe. Each has a glowing larval (immature) form. These larvae eat snails, slugs and worms, punching way above their weight in the web of life. But not all firefly species have adults that glow. Roughly 60 to 75 percent do, according to Oliver Keller, a biologist with the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, who is putting together a checklist of the world’s firefly species. These species are mostly found in Asia and in North America, east of the Rocky Mountains. Fireflies thrive where the air and the ground are moist, and the American West is generally too dry for their taste.

The remaining firefly species are “dark” fireflies. They glow in their juvenile forms, and often as eggs, but not as adults. Instead, these adults find each other through scent-like pheromones, which they detect with elaborate antennae. These fireflies lack the lantern organ that fireflies use to flash. (There are also intermediate species that have both a tiny light organ and elaborate antennae to detect pheromones.) In some other species, the female firefly emits a weak, steady glow but does not fly. She merely crawls to the top of a blade of grass or, perhaps, up a tree trunk.

  —  The Illuminating Science Behind Fireflies

[news-buzz]

Beautiful fossil trapped in amber reveals beforehand unknown species that lived in the course of the time of dinosaurs

Join CNN’s Marvel Concept science e-newsletter. Discover the universe with information on fascinating discoveries, scientific developments and extra. When dinosaurs roamed Earth, their environment regarded very completely different than the world of at the moment. However there have been additionally some similarities. And now scientists have confirmed a brand new one: Various firefly species lit…

[lindseymcdonaldseyelashes]

Leverage 3x12 - "The King George Job"

[mypustakbookstore]

Discussing How Used Books Enhance the Experience of Reading Classic Literature

Classic literature is called classic for a reason; they do not age or lose relevance over time. Therefore, it does not matter if someone is reading the same from a used book or a brand new one. The stories and books this article will be discussing offer the same charm and glamour regardless of source. The pages can be torn and old, but the content in them can never go wrong for a classic. This elaborate piece will also discuss the top 5 advantages that can be enjoyed by reading the classics from old pages or a used book.

1. Historical Insights and Continuity

Reading a used copy of Paradise Lost, you are not merely absorbing Milton's epic poetry; you are also connecting with prior readers who have left their thoughts and interpretations in the margins. These annotations act as a dialogue across time, offering a layered reading experience where past perspectives shed light on universal themes. Each handwritten note or mark enriches your understanding, linking you to a continuum of readers who have pondered similar existential or theological questions.

2. Economic and Practical Benefits

Acquiring classics like Oliver Twist and Animal Farm in used condition can be significantly more cost-effective. For students and avid readers on a budget, used books provide an affordable way to access a broader range of literature. This accessibility not only democratizes knowledge but also stretches your literary budget, allowing for greater exploration within the same financial means.

3. Personal Discoveries

First-hand notes or dedication in books make them more interesting to read since it’s like the author is speaking to the reader directly. Thus, someone’s notes in a used copy of The Story of My Life, such as their thoughts about Keller’s accomplishments, may foster a more intimate connection with the book. Such personal feelings make the reading more touchy and personal.

4. Aesthetic and Sensory Experience

Used books have worn-out covers and soft pages, and the smell of old paper makes the reader perceive the book as a friend. Tending a book such as Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare, now dog-eared and smudged with ages of fingerprints, can bring you nearer to the author’s epoch and make you feel more physically linked to the text.

5. Environmental Impact

Buying used books is environmentally friendly as well. It contributes to reducing the demand for new papers, saving energy, and reducing the quantity of books that are discarded. Thus, picking up a used copy of Animal Farm means that you support these sustainability initiatives, which is a solid foundation for your literary journey.

Conclusion

The act of reading literature through second-hand books is not simply a financial or environmental decision. It is a more profound approach to literature that allows for a more profound understanding of the work, a personal association, and a direct connection to the cultural memory. Every page of a used book has more than the written words on it, it has the history of its previous owners, their ideas and their era. For this reason, the factors mentioned above make used books to be an attractive option to the reader who wants to get a deeper understanding of the original work.

[red-might-be-dead]

i could say so much about so many little guys but i cant be bothered

[cuhven]

ㅤㅤhands are immediately shoved into jacket pockets as footsteps sound. pressing lips together, oliver makes a sound of frustration before turning to face the approaching @philomelia. dark alley, hood up - someone might think that he's up to something. ❛ bit late to be skulking around in the dark, don't you think? ❜

[geekylainelove]

First Time Watching The OC

So I’ve met Oliver Trask and the next episode, where I watched 5 or so minutes of before stopping to do errands, is the Palm Springs ep

Every time I see him I think of Chris Keller from OTH. I even looked him up and it said otherwise but he looks the same. It’s blowing my mind.

I can’t wait till he leaves

[hockeymusicmore]

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[sorrymcm]

in keller's defense, the place is weird. even someone with his limited ability can tell that the energy of this place is almost suffocating. it's left him on guard, tense even as he wandered as casually as he could manage from room to room — you can't let them know you're afraid, after all. still, the heightened awareness that at any time something could decide to sink its theoretical (or literal, he doesn't know) claws into him has made him quick to act ... to the point of almost taking someone's head off in his panic.

it doesn't take him long to realize that the person he almost murdered is, in fact, entirely human; even keller can tell that. he immediately yanks the skillet back, free hand going over his mouth in shock. "shit, i'm sorry, oh my god, dude, i — i thought you were a demon, i'm so sorry," he starts, voice high pitched and full of anxiety. dark eyes widen almost comically, and if this was a television show, keller would probably be memed into oblivion. he's awkwardly fretting over the other when another man comes in.

it takes keller's eyes a moment to focus on him in the dim lighting, gaze trailing first from the — is that a cross? he almost asks, stupidly, if it is indeed a cross necklace, but then he looks up at his face. oh. oh no. oh no. keller's chest tightens a little as he looks at him, heat creeping up his neck to his cheeks as he takes in his serious expression and processes the sound of his voice. keller kang has never had good timing because how has he actually managed to find the prettiest man in existence in a haunted, abandoned hotel of all places after almost killing (presumably) his friend? good grief, why is there such a pretty man in a place like this anyway?

"okay, before you do some ... weird prayer to smite me or something," keller interjects, gesturing vaguely at what he's still fairly certain is a cross, "i thought he was a demon! this place is crawling with them and i thought he was gonna kill me!" he waves around the hand holding the skillet as he speaks, careful to not hit anyone with it as he does. "what are you guys even doing in here? it's not safe!"

normally, chae seungjae didn't do this sort of thing. before he had met oliver and kaede, anyway. back then, he focused mostly on possessions, on people that seemed to be suffering from a similar fate that he once had, in a different lifetime. the walking around in abandoned buildings with suspicious activity had always been more of kaede's thing... yet, it seemed she never failed to drag him along for it somehow. however, even though seungjae had said this kind of job was not what he was looking for, he couldn't deny the strange energy he had felt the moment he had stepped inside. it felt almost familiar, in some way — like it was trying to gauge why he felt different from the rest... like it was trying to pull him in.

it had left him unsettled, feeling unsettled as they walked through the hallways and peeked into different rooms. kaede and oliver didn't really seem to notice anything different yet, chatting as they normally would whenever they were out on business like this — after all, seungjae had always been a little more sensitive to such energies than they had been.

in his attempt to tune them out and focus on what they actually came here to do, though, it seemed the exorcist had completely missed the noises coming from a fourth unknown person in that building — only becoming aware of it once he heard a very startling yelp, followed by oliver shouting incomprehensible words in return.

seungjae became more alert almost immediately, taking quick and long steps to pass ahead of kaede and see what was going on. he wasn't feeling any strong evil energies coming from this room, but... could he have been wrong? his mind was still thinking of all the possibilities and preparing for the worst as he clutched the rosary wrapped around his hand tightly, brows furrowed as he stepped closer to his companion. his eyes were still searching for the source of the original noise when he spoke, voice low, but firm. " oliver, what's going on? "

[athleticscorpion]

56. Oliver Keller, 25

[kevinskorchinski]

Everything you need to know so far about the NHL all-star weekend ↴

[article: NHL All-Star, this is just a summary]

📍Scotiabank Arena, Toronto, CANADA

🗓️ February 1-3

FAN VOTE IS BACK: you will get to vote for 12 players, 8 skaters and 4 goalies. You can submit a ballout 10 times.

FEBRUARY 1: PLAYERS DRAFT

A player (the captain) will be paired with a celebrity. They will pick 11 players (9 skaters and 2 goalies)

Entertainment

Man of the Year will be announced

PWHL (Professional Women's Hockey League) will have a 3-on-3 (more information below)

FEBRUARY 2: SKILLS COMPETITION

12 Players will compete in 8 events. The player with most points takes home $1 million (USD) (or $1,329,136 in CAD). Each player will compete in 4 of 6 events. THE EVENTS:

Fastest Skater

Hardest Shot

Stick-Handling

One-Timers

Passing

Accuracy Shot

Top 8 point-earners will advance to the 7th event: the SHOOTOUT-> each player will choose a goalie to shoot against.

The top six point-earners will advance to the 8th and final round: the OBSTACLE COURSE-> points doubled.

FEBRUARY 3: ALL-STAR GAME

3-on-3 tournament between 4 teams, winning team receives $1 million (USD)

There has already been a player chosen from each team (here are the players): [Name, team, position]

Frank Vatrano, ANA, F

Clayton Keller, ARI, F

David Pastrnak, BOS, F

Rasmus Dahlin, Buff, D

Elias Lindholm, CGY, F

Sebastian Aho, CAR, F

Connor Bedard, CHI, F (injured)

Nathan Mackinnon, COL, F

Boone Jenner, CBJ, F

Jake Oettinger, DAL, G

Alex DeBrincet, DET, F

Connor McDavid, EDM, F

Sam Reinhart, FLA, F

Cam Talbot, LAK, G

Kirill Kaprizov, MIN, F

Nick Suzuki, MTL, F

Filip Forsberg, NSH, F

Jack Hughes, NJD, F

Mathew Barzel, NYI, F

Igor Shesterkin, NYR, G

Brady Tkachuk, OTT, F

Travis Konecny, PHI, F

Sidney Crosby, PIT, F

Tomas Hertl, SJS, F

Oliver Bjorkstrand, SEA, F

Robert Thomas, STL, F

Nikita Kucherov, TBL, F

Auston Matthews, TOR, F

Quinn Hughes, VAN, D

Jack Eichel, VGK, F (injured)

Tom Wilson, WSH, F

Connor Hellebuyck, WPG, G

Vincent Trochek (New York Rangers) and Kyle Connor (Winnipeg Jets), to replace Connor Bedard (Chicago Blackhawks) and Jack Eichel (Vegas Golden Knights).

FEBRUARY 1st ENTERTAINMENT

PWHL 3-on-3 showcase

There will be 2 teams 12 players on each, 10 skaters and 2 goalies.

Team King (Cassie Campbell-Pascall): named after Billie Jean King

Team Kloss (Meghan Duggan): named after Ilana Kloss

MASCOT SHOWDOWN

Thursday 1st, 6:00-7:00 p.m: Dodgeball

Friday 2nd, 5:00-6:00 p.m: Skills Competition

Saturday 3rd, 12:00-1:00 p.m: Street Hockey Game 

Sunday 4th, 1:00-2:00 p.m: Musical Chairs

2:00 PM: Championship Trophy and "Most Valuable Mascot" Belt Presentations

THE FAN VOTE RESULTS: [name, team, position, votes]

Thatcher Demko, VAN, G: 1,398,699

William Nylander, TOR, F: 1,393,578

Cale Makar, COL, D: 1,065,367

Elias Pettersson, VAN, F: 976,716

Leon Draisaitl, EDM, F: 967,975

Mitchell Marner, TOR, F: 946,154

J.T. Miller, VAN, F: 839,215

Morgan Rielly, TOR, D: 830,480

Brock Boeser, VAN, F: 762,378

Sergei Bobrovsky, FLA, G: 712,100

Alexandar Georgiev, COL, G: 584,071

Jeremy Swayman, Boston Bruins, G: 578,739

10 players have been selected and you can vote for 2 more skaters:

Auston Matthews

William Nylander

Nathan MacKinnon

Cale Makar

Connor McDavid

Leon Draisaitl

Nikita Kucherov

Jack Hughes

David Pastranak

Elias Pettersson

Quinn Hughes and J.T. Miller were voted in to participate in the All-Star skills competition.

NHL All Star Jerseys:

🔴Pacific Division

🔵Atlantic Division

⚪Metropolitan Division

🟡Central Division

THE CAPTAINS HAVE BEEN ANNOUNCED!

Team Matthews: Auston Matthews, Justin Bieber. Assistant Captains: Morgan Rielly.

Team McDavid: Connor McDavid, Will Arnett. Assistant Captain: Leon Draisaitl.

Team Mackinnon: Nathan MacKinnon, Tate McRae. Assistant Captain: Cale Makar.

Team Hughes: Quinn & Jack Hughes, Michael Bublé.

[thejugheadparadox]

Chapters: 5/15

Fandom: Riverdale (TV 2017), Archie Comics & Related Fandoms

Rating: Not Rated

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings 

Relationships: Archie Andrews/Jughead Jones, will add others as they appear lol

Characters: Jughead Jones, Archie Andrews, Betty Cooper, Veronica Lodge, Toni Topaz, Cheryl Blossom, Donna Sweett, Dilton Doiley, Bret Weston Wallis, Kevin Keller, Ethel Muggs, Ben Button, jughead and his million billion pet dykes, Hiram Lodge, Alice Cooper

Summary:

Upon waking, Jughead remembers why he generally tries to avoid falling asleep at his desk. Goddamn weak fucking bones. He has to contort his shoulder blades, get past the pain in his neck. Then, he opens his eyes, and sees a jar of olives spilled on the floor - the memory surfaces, half-formed and woozy, of Veronica insisting they make “proper martinis”, and this endeavor not ending particularly well.

[bluepunkmon]

As part of a joke on Last Night with John Oliver, the host parodied the then-new book Marlon Bundo's A Day in the Life of The Vice President, a book about the pet rabbit of the Pence family, by having A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo published.

Although initially concieved as a parody, the result is a genuinely heartwarming picture book about love and gay marriage. The writing is solid and the art is top-tier cartoon work.

I was therefore happily suprised when I saw that the same team, writer Jill Twiss and illustrator EG Keller, worked together again to create The Someone New.

Once again, The Someone New is simple yet empathetic, with gorgeous illustrations to underscore it's tale. I highly recommend it for any reader - I checked it out from my library and enjoyed it a lot!

[lindseymcdonaldseyelashes]

Leverage 3x12 - "The King George Job"

[tryingadifferentsong]

Schloss Einstein Rewatch Folge 68 - 70

Scheint wohl echt ungeschriebenes Gesetz zu sein, dass man erstmal fies zu neuen Referendar:innen war, aber wenn man sie dann kannte und lieb gewonnen hat, war man in der Lehrprobe die vorbildlichste Klasse überhaupt. Richtig süß, wie Oliver die anderen nochmal dran erinnert ein schlaues Gesicht zu machen und natürlich Tom, der Herrn Fabian quasi durch den Hinweis auf die Bälle die Lehrprobe rettet!

Pasulke ist ja so ein Schatz, nimmt sich sogar einen Tag Urlaub um Atze mit dem Auto zu helfen 🥺 und nach dem erfolgreichen Verkauf steht auf einmal Atzes Vater wieder auf dem Schrottplatz - chapeau, das war schon wieder ein richtig guter Cliffhanger! Und auch wenn ich kein Fan von Atzes Vater bin, die Versöhnung und wie er (und natürlich v.a. auch Alexandra) ihn davon abhält aus dem Nichts nach Kanada zu gehen (Wie stellt Atze sich das bitte vor?!) war schon eine schöne Szene.

Oliver und Ava hätten sich gut verstanden, beide reparieren komplett ungefragt die Fahrräder ihrer Mitschüler:innen bzw Lehrer:innen 😁 Und ja, ich wiederhole mich hier in fast jedem Post, aber wie cute sind Nadiver schon wieder zusammen? Sie wuschelt ihm einfach im Weggehen kurz durch die Haare 🥹

Budhi und Katharina kriegen mich dagegen als Paar ja schon von Anfang an nicht besonders, aber wie sie sich an "ihrem Platz" treffen wollen und Budhi am See und Katharina in der Eisdiele wartet und später umgekehrt, fand ich tatsächlich sehr unterhaltsam. (Ich war übrigens Team Budhi und hab auch gleich an den See gedacht)

"Sagt mal läuft da was zwischen Atze und Alexandra?", also ich weiß, dass die noch ein Paar werden und die Geschichte baut das auch wirklich mal schön auf, aber ich find das schon immer so unangenehm, wenn einer Junge-Mädchen-Freundschaft sofort unterstellt wird, dass da doch was laufen muss 😒 als Atze Alexandra später den Blumenstrauß ins Internat bringt und sie sehr deutlich betonen, dass sie "nur gute Kumpel" sind, während sie sich in die Augen starren wird's dann aber schon etwas offensichtlicher ♥️

Was ist Kim denn so griesgrämig? Okay, wir erfahren, dass sich ihre Eltern vor kurzem getrennt haben und eine ihrer engsten Bezugspersonen (ihre Mutter) nach Köln geht. Kommt das hier irgendjemand bekannt vor? *looking at you, Noah Temel* 👀 Aber hier muss ich Vera auch mal kritisieren, Kims unfreundliches Verhalten ist jetzt kein Grund, um ihr Abführmittel ins Essen zu mischen - finde das passt auch gar nicht wirklich zu Vera, dass sie so fies ist. Trifft sich also gut, dass sie die Flaschen vertauscht haben, klassischer Fall von karma strikes back. Kim muss trotzdem noch einen oben drauf setzen und zerreißt Veras Zeichnungen, die als Rache dann bei Kims Musikkassette (!!) das Band rausreißt. Anschließend gibt es eine Versöhnung im Keller (kann sich SE denn gar nichts neues ausdenken 🤡) und Kim und Vera freunden sich an. Das war jetzt ein sehr kurzer Enemies-to-lovers Plot.

Oh Gott, wie süß ist bitte das Gespräch von Atze und Budhi, der natürlich nur für einen Freund fragt, der ein "gewisses Interesse an einem Mädchen hat", die "nur an wissenschaftlichem Kram interessiert ist" und dann als Budhi Alexandra erwähnt so tut als ob er sie nicht kennen würde 🥺 und dann wird Budhis Vorschlag mit dem Filmpark gleich in die Tat umgesetzt und Atze will unbedingt einen Sombrero für Alexandra beim Schießen gewinnen. Alexandra will ab jetzt bezahlen, "oder bist du so ein altmodischer Typ, der sich nicht von Mädchen einladen lässt?". Yes girl, say it louder for the people in the back! Aber Atze tut mir echt leid, er nimmt seinen ganzen Mut zusammen und legt seinen Arm um sie, und dann denkt er, dass sie deswegen wegrennt und will sie schon nie wieder sehen. Alles wird gut Atze 🫂🥹

Die Kaugummi-Forschung auch sehr süß, aber mein innerer Monk war sehr froh darüber, dass Frau Gallwitz anschließend nochmal über ein paar Grundlagen der empirischen Forschung aufgeklärt hat 🤓

All in all haben mir diese Folgen auf jeden Fall richtig gut gefallen!

[justforbooks]

The River of Consciousness by Oliver Sacks

These posthumously published essays range from psychiatry to plagiarism to near-death experiences

One March in the mid 1990s I checked into a hotel in Helsinki. I dropped my bag on the floor and, wondering what Finnish daytime television was like, switched on the TV. A darkened room with a dining table came into focus, and around it were six people having a conversation. To my surprise, all were speaking English, then a face I knew filled the screen – it was Oliver Sacks. Then another, Stephen Jay Gould, and another, Daniel Dennett. I had books by all three. It was snowing outside, and Helsinki seemed suddenly less inviting; I sat down on the bed and began to watch.

A Dutch TV company had assembled these men, together with Freeman Dyson, Stephen Toulmin and Rupert Sheldrake, for the round-table finale of a documentary series on science and the meaning of life. The series, A Glorious Accident, didn’t seem to have invited any women to take part but even so I watched it to the end – three hours later. The participants’ areas of expertise were diverse: biology, physics, palaeontology, neuroscience, philosophy. As the only practising clinician, Sacks made perceptive and valuable contributions – and was clearly having fun.

Sacks died nine years ago in August 30, 2015. A melanoma of the eye, diagnosed nine years earlier, had recurred and metastasised to his liver. The New York Times had referred to Sacks as the “poet laureate of medicine”, and carried an obituary that said that neurological conditions were for him occasions “for eloquent meditations on consciousness and the human condition”. In his last year he put the finishing touches to a memoir (On the Move), and completed some final magazine essays collected soon after his death (Gratitude). In one of his last newspaper pieces he wrote: “I have several other books nearly finished.” We might expect further posthumous essay collections to be on the way.

Millions of Sacks’s books have been printed around the world, and he once spoke of receiving 200 letters a week from admirers. For those thousands of correspondents, The River of Consciousness will feel like a reprieve – we get to spend time again with Sacks the botanist, the historian of science, the marine biologist and, of course, the neurologist. There are 10 essays here, the majority published previously in the New York Review of Books (the collection is dedicated to its late editor Robert Silvers). Their subject matter reflects the agility of Sacks’s enthusiasms, moving from forgetting and neglect in science to Freud’s early work on the neuroanatomy of fish; from the mental lives of plants and invertebrates to the malleability of our perception of speed.

The essay on speed has some characteristic flourishes: of Parkinson’s disease, Sacks writes that “being in a slowed state is like being stuck in a vat of peanut butter, while being in an accelerated state is like being on ice”. He is as good on near-death experiences: “There is an intense sense of immediacy and reality, and a dramatic acceleration of thought and perception and reaction.” Sacks has a Jain-like reverence for insects, and delights in comparative neuroanatomical facts: an octopus may have six times more neurons than a mouse; many plants possess nervous systems that move at a thousandth the speed of our own.

Plagiarism troubled Sacks, and an essay on memory dovetails with one on creativity, examining how someone can copy another’s work through unconscious repatternings of memory. “Memory arises not only from experience,” he concludes, “but from the intercourse of many minds.” He quotes the letters between Mark Twain and Helen Keller on plagiarism, and his own correspondence with Harold Pinter (whose play A Kind of Alaska was inspired by Sacks’s Awakenings). Most of his books are mentioned in passing, and the chosen essays stand as a kind of testament or gazetteer to their range. Reading them, I was reminded of something��Annie Dillard said about the essay form: “The essay is, and has been, all over the map. There’s nothing you cannot do with it; no subject matter is forbidden, no structure is proscribed.”

Some of the slighter pieces here suffer from being placed between more substantial work, and in one, only one, Sacks’s argument loses coherence. But even then I was conscious of the great premium he placed on flights of ideas: “If the stream of thought is too fast, it may lose itself, break into a torrent of superficial distractions and tangents, dissolve into a brilliant incoherence, a phantasmagoric, almost dreamlike delirium.”

Sacks was deliriously in love with details – to the irritation of his editors – and he crammed his books with them. When the text couldn’t take any more, he spilled them over to the bottom of the page. It’s in the footnotes that his treasures are often to be found: in a two-page footnote to his essay “Scotoma: Forgetting and Neglect in Science”, Sacks outlines how urgent is the need for reconciliation between psychiatry and neurology, divided now for nearly a century. A “scotoma” is a blind spot in the vision, an area of darkness conjured by irregularities in brain or retinal function:

If one looks at the charts of patients institutionalized in asylums and state hospitals in the 1920s and 1930s, one finds extremely detailed clinical and phenomenological observations, often embedded in narratives of an almost novelistic richness and density ... this richness and detail and phenomenological openness have disappeared, and one finds instead meagre notes that give no real picture of the patient or his world.

Through the course of the 20th century, the US Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (a book conceived to facilitate health insurance billing) has, Sacks insists, impoverished clinical language. “Present-day psychiatric charts in hospitals are almost completely devoid of the depth and density of information one finds in the older charts, and will be of little use in helping us to bring about the synthesis of neuroscience with psychiatric knowledge that we so need.” Earlier in the book he singled out one of the defining moments of that schism, when in 1893 Freud gave up looking for elements of brain pathology that might be relevant to mental health: “The lesion in hysterical paralyses must be completely independent of the nervous system,” Freud wrote, “since in its paralyses and other manifestations hysteria behaves as though anatomy did not exist or as though it had no knowledge of it.”

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at Just for Books…?