Robert

Overall, this was a decent book. An easy read with many abbreviated case histories regarding people with chronic and fatal illnesses. While the anecdotes are backed up by more scientific studies and I very much respect Gabor Mate's work I have 2 criticisms. 1. It almost seems like he read Selye's works on stress and became enamoured without viewing the work critically (possibly even missing some of what Selye said later in life). I also disagree with the hypothesis that it is unidentified/ unconscious background stress that is the real culprit in these cases and he nearly identifies that and comes close to noticing other trends related to the cases but doesn't quite make the leap. Still very much worth the read.

This is decent. It's mostly a character driven slowburn, realism, drama (there are a few great one liners too). Some aspects are so-so, there's some questionable continuity and we're left not quite being 100% about why the male protagonist ended up in the situation to begin with/ whether it was entirely planned or if it was just the right time and place because of his trying to run from the reality he faced. With that said there were some really great twists at the end. One i sort of saw coming right before it happened but not all of it. All in all, if you're good with #slowburn , it's worth the view. #greatstory

Great film, more twists than an M Night Shyamalan film.

Decent: Gritty and good realism, Eli Roth style. Unfortunately there were no real twists or surprises, it was basically just an imagining of, 'what Jonestown was current?'

A fun romp (fairly light read) through a very interesting life. Lots of great sciencey tid-bits on subjects from genetics to brains mixed with some great little chuckles. There isn't really much about psychopathy considering, Fallon is more of a normal with a number of psychopathic traits vs a psychopath with normal traits, who gets some notoriety by using the sensationalised but controversial term "psychopath" regarding himself. It certainly raises questions about nurture vs nature and agency vs determinism though and i can hardly hold him at fault for being a little manipulative in using the term 😉 #autobiography

Ultimately i enjoyed it but it's definitely not for everyone. Some interesting symbolism that I'm not entirely sure what to make of; a forestfire rages in the background creeping towards town but we're assured it won't reach them; what appears to be an overlaid b52 bomber dusts the area with fire retardant but the chemical composition described by a character is for hot burning incendiaries or explosives... and we have to wander through the question of when to have faith and when to surrender. Lots of moments where we witness people deciding where to draw which lines/ boundaries. #avantgarde #slowburn #atmospheric

Fantastic book for anyone facing undiagnosed illness (from the angle of clinician or patient)! I can't recommend it enough. Even just to read it for the autobiographical aspect is well worth it.

Much much better than i expected.