In the Middle of Things

I am in the middle of reading five different books.  I hate it when I get out of control like this because I wind up not finishing a lot of the books.  It is a bad habit I revert to, I think because I am actually ADD. So unless a book is all consuming, it takes real discipline on my part to finish it.  And I am okay with trying out a book and realizing that I just don't care enough about it, or there is something bothersome about it, that makes it not worth completing, but when I start not finishing books that I actually do want to finish - that is a different story.

So right now I am reading:

Laddie by Gene Stratton-Porter - a charming Victorian/homesteader novel based on Stratton-Porter's own childhood.

33 Days to Morning Glory by Father Michael Gaitley - this is a wonderful book I'm reading with a church group.

The Element by Sir Ken Robinson - this is a thought-provoking book that really examines what education could and should be.  I don't always quite agree with Sir Ken but he is thoughtful, refreshing and funny to read.  I keep pecking away at the book though even though I should have finished it by now.  For some reason, I can only read a bit at a time.  I definitely feel ADD when I am reading it.

Unschooling Rules by Clark Aldrich - I've heard this book mentioned a million times by unschooly people.  I finally got a copy - but again, I peck at it now and again.  It isn't the type of book you sit and read from cover to cover in a linear fashion.  Or at least to me, it isn't that type.

The Sinner's Guide to NFP by Simcha Fisher - ok, first I can't get over my astonishment at the 'balls' that it took to write this book when you have had nine children in 15 years of marriage.  So whenever I start this book I have trouble with the premise that the author (who is hysterically funny) ever really practiced any NFP at all.  I keep starting this book and then my astonishment rises up and I think, I can not take this seriously!  I understand being a sinner but writing a guide about something you were to all appearances a complete failure at just strikes me as a little too absurd.  I admit, I have not gotten very far at all into the book, so my initial reaction could be all wrong.  I was actually thinking of maybe giving this book to Hannah possibly but would that be icky?  What is appropriate when your daughter is about to get married?  I asked Rick and he said no don't give it but he has always been more squeamish in terms of talking about sex than I have (even though he's the more liberated non-Catholic who doesn't mind sex in movies whereas I am the more 'prudish' one because I adhere to Catholic teaching and don't like movies that exploit sex.)

In addition to this I've started two Teaching Company lecture series.  One is called The Rise and Fall of the British Empire with my favorite professor, Patrick Allitt.  However, Rick wanted to watch it with me.  When we watch together, usually we watch at night in bed before we fall asleep.  However, Rick is into Game of Thrones big time right now.  So he's always reading that.  We've only seen the first two lectures and that was at my request.  So I think I have to be patient and wait until he is finished the books before we can continue watching with any regularity.

The other lecture series is call Medical Myths, etc which tries to examine all the many medical ideas that are floating around in popular culture like homeopathy, the anti-vaccine movement, etc. etc.  I started out really enthusiastic about it, because I have been so inculturated into the ideas of Weston Price and gluten-sensitivity and that sort of thing that I have stopped really questioning things as I should.  However, I've gotten to some lectures where I've thought, the trouble is that science hasn't solved or even begun to solve certain problems.  In fact it is pretty lame in some areas, so no wonder people have resorted to counter measures or folk remedies.  Nature abhors a vacuum.  You have no idea why autism is suddenly a burgeoning occurrence but you are sure that x, y and z don't cause it?  That is no comfort to the parents at all.  I think it is because medicine/science is presented in our culture as so powerful and knowledgeable and in many ways it is but it is also very limited and takes a very long time to figure things out.  And speaking of limitations,  the truth is scientists get stuff wrong and doctors who went to the same medical schools this guy did are promoting things that this teacher says are wrong.  Things are always evolving and reports of the most recent studies often contradict previous studies.  So in other words it is impossible for the layman to distinguish truth from fiction.  Dr. Novella keeps saying you have to look at the consensus of opinion among all the studies that have been done right which makes perfect sense, except that there is a lot of politics going on within those studies.  We'll hear about one study for years only to find that some other scientist says it turns out it was wrong due to such and such factor.  I thought his lecture on ADHD was especially weak.  Rick was listening to part of one lecture where the teacher was explaining confirmation bias and he laughed out loud and said this guy has confirmation bias all over him!  So now I am having trouble working up enthusiasm to finish the lecture series.  Actually, I might listen to the next lecture right now - it will discipline me to keep my mind open at least a little bit.