I got (and indeed gave) a few books for Christmas. Some are worth noting here (such as the new Pratchett, others are not (a couple of Michael Crichtons which I expect to enjoy but not revel in).

I also finished "ADD and Creativity" just before the holiday. It's a good book, much more optimistic and affirming than many other ADD books I've read. Lynn Weiss broadly takes the same view as Thom Hartmann in that her take on ADD is as a difference rather than a disease, but a difference for which no allowance is made in current society. Her view not as lyrically expressed as Hartmann's epithet "Hunters in a Farmer's world", but it is probably more useful. In any case, she sticks to using the term ADD because that is the label being used now by those who know anything about it, but is vehement in saying that it's a bad name. Of course, I do the same thing by saying that I have ADD symptoms rather than that I have ADD per se... these things can be important in maintaining self-esteem!

Weiss draws many parallels between those people whose brains are wired in an ADD way and those who are thought of specifically as creative; there is a lot of overlap, but the creative types tend to be given more room to be, and to learn to be, themselves. She goes on to talk about ways to reawaken suppressed creativity, to find the avenues of expression which best fit your personality, and to approach those tasks which you might have most difficulty with in a creative way.

Like I say, it's a good book which offered me important insights into many areas of my life.

I'm still reading The Mind's I but it's one of those books that is both an easy read and too intense to read solidly, so I've been reading two or three chapters at a time between other books. I was going to read more of it over Christmas but found that because it is an anthology of "the best bits" there are few intellectual pauses to catch up in. Light and spicy, if you will, compared to GEB's hearty zestiness.

Leaving aside that rather questionable food metaphor, we bought ourselves a new PAL-capable video for Christmas and can once again mine my extensive collection of British TV. We watched Bernard and the Genie on Chris2mas Day, which we both enjoyed a great deal, and will probably move on to Eddie Izzard next.

Posted by Dunx at December 30, 2003 11:17 AM