Reasons to be unashamed of not blogging

Hi guys!

We meet after a really long time, I know. I’ve been doing some aimless reading lately, picking up books that might help me design quirky characters and twisted storylines.  I have no idea what I am looking for. Just wandering through the two worlds –real and literary, hunting for people and ideas. I just read these two amazing books that triggered the urge to write something.

The first book, which will stay forever in my shelf, is “Reasons to Stay Alive” by Matt Haig.

Matt was 24. He was living in a posh villa in Ibiza, Spain, and his job was organizing parties. But he had severe depression. This book chronicles his suffering and rising from the mental illness.
What I like about the book is that it combines deeply personal narrative with bits of psychological research regarding depression, and all of it is presented with dry humor. The author tells us how depressing thoughts turned his days into nightmares and states that the medicines did not seem to work at all. Then he goes about speculating why that happened, and presents us with the current lines of thinking in neuroscience.

One line of theory is that depression is caused by lower levels of the neurotransmitter serotonin in our brain. Hence, the tablets are designed to increase serotonin levels. However, there is no way to measure the levels of serotonin. So how do you decide upon the tablets?

The second theory looks at the little part at the center of the brain called “nucleus accumbens”. It is believed that a malfunction in this part might be the cause of depression. Is why the group of tablets known as SSRIs (Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors) does not work?, asks Matt, and then tells us all things he tried to combat depression, such as visiting Paris.

So, that gives you an idea of how deep the book is. Plus, it has beautiful similes (no wonder, because the author is British.)  Most of the narrative is honest, direct, and crisp with similes used just for taste like salt.

I have just finished Reasons to Stay Alive and am presently halfway through the second book titled “So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed” by Jon Ronson.

This book looks at how some embarrassing posts on social media made ordinary people infamous around the world and ruined their reputations. It narrates the stories such  PR officer Justine Sacco  whose life was ruined by one stupid tweet –of how she and many others were brought down by social media and then some of them managed to rise  again.  The book looks at why strangers on social media unite to fling dirt on other strangers and in some cases enjoy doing so. Then it goes on to look at how the people who are shamed deal with the humiliation and rise from it.

I discovered both these books via twitter and a TED talk respectively. The twitter hashtag #amreading can lead you to some good treasures.  I never thought twitter could become a tool for searching great books, but apparently it has. And yes, one needs to be careful while using twitter to fish for books.