Currently Reading #4 (cont #2)

[littlerdog.livejournal.com]

I finished the Donald Crowhurst book some days ago but have only just got around to putting my thoughts together. It's an interesting book and well worth reading if you have any interest in sailing in general, sailing round-the-world, or what can happen to people who are isolated from others for a long time.

I thought the authors did a good job of trying to put together Crowhurst's state of mind, although I think they overlooked his head injury as a possible contributor to his psychotic break. If his dopamine levels were already elevated, it might not have taken much of the Dexedrine known to have been on board to take him to the break point. As Crowhurst talks repeatedly of working long hours and/or through the night, it's possible he was taking the Dexedrine at times.

His desperate attempts to contact his wife made me very sad. Maybe if they could have talked, things would have ended differently. The poor guy was obviously looking for a way out right from the start.

The thoughts he wrote down after his break reminded me very much of Philip K. Dick's Exegesis. Not surprisingly, I suppose, as both were probably dopamine-fuelled. And the whole 'if you believe it, it will be true' approach that I discussed in an earlier post does seem to have been instrumental in events.

Talking to my father about the book, I discovered that he was at Cambridge with Nicholas Tomalin, and even knew him, slightly. Dad says Tomalin was a nice guy.

Recent Acquisitions #7

[littlerdog.livejournal.com]

All these trips to town are probably damaging our finances. However, I came away from the last one with a hefty tome:

The Slave Trade: The History of the Atlantic Slave Trade 1440-1870 by Hugh Thomas.

It should go nicely with Sweet Water and Bitter: The Ships that Stopped the Slave Trade by Sian Rees.

Which is perhaps an odd way of putting it.

Other books were purchased at the same time, but not for ME, so I shan't bother listing them here.

Currently reading

[monissaw.livejournal.com]

Still reading. These "stories" all seem to be idea-driven. As in, "here's a cool idea, let's stick in some characters and a setting and call it a story". Also, I've decided the main character is the same person each time. Not sure I care enough to read more.