Review: Man on Fire

Hyperkinetic editing makes this Scott helmed thriller a difficult watch at times.  That's a pity, because underneath the focus shifting, grade manipulation and fast cutting, there's a decent revenge story grounded by some fine acting and lovely chemistry between Washington and Fanning.

Verdict: Attempted drowning of substance by style

Review: On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century

Snyder's slim volume is a Ronseal type book - it does what it says on the cover, no more, no less.  Each lesson is prefixed by a short directive, and an expanded summary of its meaning.  Students of the second World War will find much that is familiar here - but the book also draws upon examples from Soviet Russia.  It would have been great to see a much broader palette of examples from other historical and current regimes.

I was interested to see how lawyers willing became tools of the Nazi state - perhaps in part because of their fascination with the law, even a creeping corrupted version of it.

With its frequent references to "the president", it's clear the book has Trump in its sights and the US public as its audience.

It's possible to pick the occasional fault too. I don't know that I'm quite so enamoured by print journalists as Snyder obviously is.  Nor am I quite so convinced about the email exchanges of politicians being comparable to what happens when models are getting changed or sportspeople showering in locker rooms (ie they should remain private).  Sportspeople and models don't generally hold themselves as guardians of public morals.

But perhaps I'm being a little churlish. In a world, where books frequently spend too long to get to the meat - and that meat is often pretty thinly sliced - a short summary is greatly appreciated.

Verdict: A good field guide for tyranny spotters everywhere. 

Review: The Time Traveller's Guide to Restoration Britain

I've really enjoyed Mortimer's previous guides to medieval and Elizabethan times, but struggled rather more with this volume in the series.  It has taken me months to finish it.

I'm not quite sure why as Mortimer's dry wit is still much in evidence. Perhaps it's because there's still plenty that's recognisable from those earlier books (the plague together with poor sanitation and cruel and unusual punishments still feature heavily) as well as the faintest glimmers of what is modern life.

For example, you can see the essential elements, namely a small shift from the supernatural to a science based way of looking at the world, improvements in transport and greater availability of knowledge, of what will become the industrial revolution slowly slotting into place.  But blimey, progress feels glacial.  At the time, it must have felt dizzyingly fast though - at least in the larger cities, like London.

Verdict: Same, but different. 

Review: Gaslighting: How to recognise manipulative and emotionally abusive people ....and break free

Dr Sarkis' short book is an excellent introduction in how to identify gaslighters in your working and home relationships and steps you can take to mitigate their impact.  On the downside, it is very much US centric so many of the suggested resources and relevant legislation will need localising by the reader.  And if you are being gaslit in the workplace, the only satisfactory option may be to leave.

Particularly strong is the chapter on how to break free and heal from gaslighting experiences with its overview of the different approaches to psychological support.  Some of them were familiar - eg self-talk - although there were a few nice tweaks eg giving negative self-talk silly voices. I also found value in the section on building distress tolerance:

• Finding alternative activities while are not emotion filled
• Pushing away, for example, feelings of uselessness through visualising competence. 
• Acting the opposite to you are feeling. 

On a related note, I recently came across another useful mindfulness technique via the Tim Ferriss podcast - namely noting thoughts and feelings with the phrase "welcome to the party" as though you were the genial host. 

Verdict: While this book won't (hopefully) relevant to all readers, it is a good starting place. 

Review: Healthy at 100

For a book that has a number of case studies covering populations that live to great ages without deterioration in eyesight there was a certain irony in finding this in the large print section of my local library.

Robbins starts by detailing the long-lived populations of Abkhasia, Vilcabambra, Hunza and Okinawa and then the latter part of the book tries to pull out the lessons learnt of how to live long and healthy life.

Diet wise there weren't many surprises there (although I suspect his advice would be out of vogue with paleo and low carb enthusiasts).  Similarly, the recommendations around exercise and movement will hardly come as a surprise.  But he was possibly ahead of the curve in terms of what he has to say around purpose, community and sharing.

Lastly, he finishes with a pragmatic reminder that even if you follow all of the recommendations there are no guarantees and that coming to terms to with grief, suffering and the value of being mindful of our death.

The one really interesting thing I learned was that bonobos - a primate species closely related to us and chimpanzees - are rather more collaborative, empathic and social than chimps.  Robbins contends, and it's probably a bit of stretch, that is a better model for us to follow than the more competitive societies of chimpanzees.

I also rather liked the Gandhi quote:

"Live simply so others may simply live".

Verdict: I personally didn't gain much new insight from this, but as an introduction to increasing health span it has a lot of value.